Twelve-year-old Spartacus Zander isn't looking for trouble. He just wants people to call him by his middle name and for his family to be normal. But it's not so easy when you live in a small town with a bullying brother and gruff, hard-hearted father--oh, and an adoring yet hugely eccentric Human-Cannonball mother. And when his mom gets kidnapped by Bartholomew's World-Renowned Circus of the Incredible and no one believes it? Yeah. That throws a wrench into things. It's up to Spartacus to be the hero. And he definitely doesn't want to be the hero. Armed with clues from his mom's postcards and the internet-wizardry of his best friend, Eli, Spartacus sets off on a zany rescue mission to save his mom. Between destroying small town libraries, diving from slow-moving vehicles, and running from cops (of the local and clown variety), Spartacus hobnobs with felons and goths, sideshow folk and lemurs and dangerous old ladies. And as the stories about The Incredible get stranger (and Spart's enemies get weirder), he realizes the truth: The only way to bring his family back together is to bring the big top down, once and for all.