{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20260424T163327Z","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/1662533306?tag=bookfrontier-20","asin":"1662533306","authors":["Dean Koontz"],"book_id":"9781662533303","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/the-friend-of-the-family-1662533306","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781662533303.jpg?v=20260424T163327Z%3A2026-04-24T16%3A33%3A27Z","description":"In this historical novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz, a girl liberated from a carnival sideshow discovers her mysterious purpose in a moving story about family, sacrifice, and transcendent love. The human “oddities” in the Museum of the Strange are less wondrous than the gawking rubes had been promised. But Alida is something else. The real thing. Traveling Depression-era America from carnival midways to speakeasies, Alida is resigned to an exploited and lonely life on the road as the museum’s golden ticket. 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