Technically a spooky clown book, a premise so stale that it kept me from this title for years. What a pity! The Grin of the Dark isn't about scary clowns at all but instead anxiety. Researcher Simon is writing a history of an old vaudeville star and as he does so his life falls apart. Is he losing his mind or is the deranged clownishness of his subject somehow taking a grip of the world around him?