Genre: Urban Fantasy/ Detective/ Mystery/ Adventure/ Magic
Description:
“When Dark’s Diverse Delights arrives by night to set up shows and
rides that promise fun and excitement for one and all, the outskirts of Rannit
begin to look disturbingly like the nightmares that plague Markhat’s sleep.
Mama Hog has sent him a new client, a cattle rancher with a missing
daughter. Markhat’s search reveals genuine terrors lurking amidst the
carnival’s tawdry sideshows, where Death itself takes the main stage every
evening, just past midnight.
The orchestrator of the murderous, monstrous mayhem is the mysterious
carnival master, Ubel Thorkel. And after Buttercup the Banshee is threatened,
Markhat is in a race against time to find the carnival’s dark heart and strike
it down once and for all—or die trying.”
Author:
“Frank Tuttle lives and writes in the perpetually humid wilderness of
North Mississippi. Frank tried to be a proper Southern author and write about
pickups and hound dogs, but trolls and magic kept creeping into his stories, so
Frank is a fantasy author. Although hounds do make occasional appearances in
his fiction.”
To learn more about Mr. Tuttle’s series, The Markhat Files, and his
other Young Adult series, Paths of Shadow, check out his website or follow him on Facebook.
Appraisal:
In this seventh book of The Markhat Files, I see changes on the
horizon. Markhat’s world is shifting. Characters are transforming, growing in
ways I would never have foreseen. However, Markhat’s expanding abilities are
not surprising to me. I think past installments of the series foreshadowed
these changes. This story also introduces two new personae who will no doubt be
appearing in future sequels. One mystical, named Shango the storm-sniffer, and
the other a runt of a troll named Slim. Up until this story, I felt that most
of The Markhat Files could be read as standalone books and in almost any order.
While this is still true of the overall book, the secondary characters are
gaining importance in the continuing story line and many nuances may be lost
when read out of order.
If you are one to feel uneasy about carnival sideshows and clowns, you
may find The Darker Carnival
unnerving. What starts out as a simple missing person investigation quickly
turns dark and nefarious. This is no ordinary carnival; magic compels
everything about Dark’s Diverse Delights. When Buttercup is captured, it
becomes personal for Markhat and Mama Hog. With Evis deathly ill and Stitches
indisposed, it is left to Markhat and Mama Hog to get to the heart of the
carnival and set things right again. It is a rollercoaster ride of twists and
dead-ends until puzzle pieces start falling into place. Then Markhat finds
himself confronted with something he never imagined he would find himself doing
or having the will to carry out.
This is a game-changing installment in The Markhat Files and I am
looking forward to further additions. Frank Tuttle’s books are, as always, a
must buy for me.
Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK
FYI:
The
Darker Carnival is Book 7 in Mr. Tuttle’s series, The Markhat
Files. I think this book could be read as a standalone; however, some character
nuances would be missed. I don’t think that would lessen your enjoyment of this
story. Original review posted March 30, 2016.
Format/Typo
Issues:
I found no significant issues with proofing or formatting.
Rating:
***** Five Stars
Reviewed
by: ?wazithinkin
Approximate word count: 60-65,000 words
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