Nightmare Alley is a novel by American writer William Lindsay Gresham, published in 1946. It is a study of the depths of show business and its immoral inhabitants—the dark, shadowy world of a second-rate See more

Stanton Carlisle watches the geek show at a Ten-in-One where he has recently begun working. He later asks the carnival's talker Clem Hoately where geeks come from. Clem explains that geeks are … See more

In a 2010 review, American critic Michael Dirda proclaimed, "I was utterly unprepared for its raw, Dostoevskian power... It's not often that a novel leaves a weathered and jaded reviewer like myself utterly flattened, but this one did....it's more than just a steamy noir classic. … See more

• (reprinted in) Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1930s and 40s, Robert Polito, ed. (Library of America, 1997) ISBN 978-1-883011-46-8
• 2010 reprint by New York Review Books ISBN 978-1-59017-348-0
• 2013 reprint with four Gresham … See more

• A film adaptation of the same name - as a film noir starring Tyrone Power as Stanton Carlisle - was released in 1947.
• A graphic novel adaptation of the novel was produced in 2003 by underground cartoonist Spain Rodriguez. See more