Maisy York
is a freak. An oddball. One of the outliers who clings desperately to the
golden mean in a futile attempt to feel normal. Born with congenital
analgesia, she lacks the ability to feel pain, but this seems to mean she's
unable to feel pleasure as well.
Unemployed,
betrayed, and left with no other options, Maisy joins Cirque des Curiosités, a
traveling circus with a heavy emphasis on the strange and exotic in order to
appease the infinite curiosity of the peanut-crunching crowds.
Intending to
work the concession or sell tickets, her unique oddity is quickly discovered
and rockets her to the front of the house, the centre ring, the main
event.
And of
course there is a man. There's always a man. A Fire Breather named Cairo with
the darkest eyes and most beautiful lips she's ever seen. She's swept up in his
intoxicating attention, his muscled arms, his tattoos, his beard and thick dark
hair...
In order to
prove she's incapable of falling in love with Cairo, she accepts his
dangerously seductive father's offer to join After Dark, the erotic after hours
version of the Cirque. There, her unique condition once again makes her a star,
seemingly the ultimate masochist with no end to what she can handle.
But nothing
in life is what it seems, and in a world built on illusion and deception, this
lesson hits home with a blunt force.
When girls start to disappear from After Dark,
Maisy is determined to find out what happened to them. Will she be able to
uncover the truth in a world built on lies? Will her own life be put in danger
in her relentless quest to slake her curiosity? And will