Review: Finally a full-length (sort of) Markhat novel
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 7, 2009
I've bought all of Frank Tuttle's previous Markhat the Finder offerings, as well as Wistrel Compleat, and enjoyed them all. Hold the Dark is definitely the longest and most enjoyable of the three Markhat stories.  I added the "sort of" qualifier in the review title because it ticks me off when publishers (I assume they make this decision) add excerpts from other works at the end of a Kindle edition.  Since Kindle edition works have no page numbers, readers use a percentage display to gauge how much of a work they've read.  Hold the Dark ends at 89% of the Kindle document and the last 11% is excerpts from the other two Markhat works, which is ridiculous because they are really just short stories, and from a work by some other author presumably from the same publisher.I realize that printed novels have also started appending excerpts but with a printed work you can find out easily see that excerpts are there and determine on what page the book will actually end. This is not so easy to do when reading a Kindle edition which for me meant an unpleasant surprise when the book prematurely ended with me wanting more Markhat.Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy Frank Tuttle's writing and the especially the Markhat character and would buy another one sight unseen.  Several new and possibly recurring characters are developed in Hold the Dark which hopefully will find their way into future Markhat works.  I won't add spoilers about the plot but will suffice to say it is a page-turner.  I suppose Hold the Dark stands alone but readers would probably find it more satisfying if they read the two previous Markhat short stories first.Frank, if you're reading this, and I suspect you are given that you reviewed one of your other Markhat books yourself, please get your publisher to cease and desist or at least put a disclaimer at the beginning of future works warning Kindle readers that excerpts are at the end.  Down with excerpts I say!