Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Great read. Interesting and very funny. It was a joy and I am definitely now a fan of the late Mr. Adams.

I love all of Douglas Adam's books so it will come as no surprise I enjoyed this one too. As with all his other novels, the central character in this one is a bit of a wacky, eccentric sort who has a few gifts and has decided to play detective in order to capitalize on the gullability of his clients.I just loved reading this book and the other "Dark Tea- time Of the Soul". They are just great, easy to read, funny, enjoyable and light fun reads that make me wish so much that Douglas Adam's had remained alive longer so we could have had even more pleasure enjoying his unique way of constructing a good yarn.I wont go into the plot here, many paople know this book backwards as do I. I have read it a multitude of times over the years and intend to carry on doing so every couple of years.Just enjoy it, it is an utterly unique style of book, juts like all the others in the Hitch-Hikers series. Thanks for reading my review!!

such a ridiculously great read! this was Douglas Adam’s whackiest story ever. such a shame we will never get a sequel!

Let's be perfectly clear - while these novels attempt to be genre-busting, they are mostly Fantasy novels, with a fair amount of mystery, but not much. Gently does indeed make deductions, but it's established early on in the books that he's psychic, and it's established halfway through the first book that the universe he lives in is a magical one. I feel like I was duped into reading a couple of fantasy novels. They are funny, however, and worth reading for Adams's wit, colorful descriptions, and light-hearted take on society.= Spoilers =Taken individually, each book has its flaws. The first one hinges on time travel, and employs a traditional time travel cop out to resolve the predicament the characters find themselves in. The second book is less a mystery for Dirk to solve and more of a supernatural adventure that he's thrust into. His involvement in the resolution is accidental, and while he does follow a trail of clues, he does so more as a device to expose the grander story to the reader than as an active participant in the plot.

But tremendous. Will search out the sequel asap.Glad to have discovered this. They want eight more words, so here they are.

Four Stars minus, because while I can admire this book, I could not quite enjoy it. I doubt that I will read any more of the books in the series. What a very quirky, strange book this is. All of it is clever. And much of the time that cleverness is entertaining. But some of the time, it is chaotic and borderline irritating. Our story begins with multiple threads that are not yet woven together. We have the Electric Monk and his horse wandering around what seems to be an alien setting. We leave them and jump to Gordon the corporate mogul driving in his Mercedes and about to be murdered and turned into a ghost who will pop up from time to time. Then the narrative jumps briefly to Susan (Gordon’s sister and Richard’s girlfriend) before the reader meets Richard, our main character, at a Coleridge dinner at Cambridge with his old college don. And I haven’t even mentioned the themes with music, mathematical equations, or Michael’s story line. All this time, we have no idea what will be important, very little idea about what is actually happening, and we have not met Dirk Gently. Finally, Dirk arrives on the pages. You might think as a detective that his focus will be to solve George’s murder and clear Richard from suspicion, but that would be too straightforward, and not a task for a holistic detective agency. By the end of the story, some of the threads have been woven together and the reader understands much of what was happening. Like Terry Pratchett’s Disc World books, this book is both humorous and absurd. But, the humor is not as funny in this book and the absurd never quite makes as much sense as in the Terry Pratchett books.

If you liked The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy you will most likely enjoy this book as well. If you like Terry Pratchett offerings, you will probably feel right at home. If you like droll, mostly understated British humour you will find this a very delightful read indeed. I have been a long time fan of Doug Adams, but somehow overlooked this particular novel until I saw the BBC mini-series of it. What a treat. Thank you, BBC. Mr. Adams certainly knew his way around fantastic and/or absurd situations. Perhaps not as fantastic as Hitchhiker's Guide. At least not until toward the end. Still, it's science fictiony enough for the imaginative.I doubt if I am alone in appreciating his facility with the English language. How many authors do you know who could use the phrase "exuberantly prolific loquacity" in a sentence and make it read utterly normally. Personally, I doubt if I have ever even used two out three of those words and certainly not in the same sentence.My advice: don't skim. Take your time to allow all the gags to sweep over you. They are on every page.

While Douglas Adams is most well know for his Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy series, his Dirk Gentley series has also been making waves for the past few years. This series features much of Adams trademark humor and hijinx, along with a mountain of call backs to make for a great story,Since this is a box set, the book is divided into two parts, the orginal 'Dirk Gentley's Holistic Detective Agency', and it's sequel, 'the Long Dark Tea Time of the soul'. The first features Richard MacDuff, a software engineer, on the run after a murder. Fortunately, Dirk Gentley is a college friend of his and agrees to help him out. For a fee of course. The book incorporates a ridiculous number of sci-fi moments, ridiculous characters, and funny jokes, all of which come back in the end to explain the central mystery. The whole novel is one of the best I've read from Adams.The second book, however, was a bit of a let down. Like the first, the series starts with Dirk investigating a murder, but unlike the first, most of the books humor is Kafka comedy. Dirk is repeatedly assaulted and humiliated, to the point where it stops being funny. The story also wraps up far too quickly to be satisfying, with Deuteragonist Kate not even getting a proper sendoff. Essentially, it had all the same problems that made the last Hitchhikers book bad.I give the first book 5 stars, and the second 3.

Assisti à série na Netflix e fiquei apaixonado! O livro é excelente, leitura cativante e envolvente! Recomendo a todos. Leitura imperdível

Excerpt from back cover :“What do a dead cat, a computer whiz-kid, an Electric Monk who believes the world is pink, quantum mechanics, a Chronologist over 200 years old, Samuel Taylor Coleridge(poet), and pizza have in common?”“A THUMPING GOOD DETECTIVE-GHOST-HORROR-WHO DUNNIT-TIME TRAVEL-ROMANTIC-MUSICAL-COMEDY-EPIC” – The authorDouglas Adams is truly like no other. His combination of creative imagination and rib tickling humour is unparalleled. It starts a bit slowly, making you wonder whether all that promised on the back cover is actually in there…but by the time you finish, all that is delivered and more.Its my serious advice that unless you want to make a giggling fool of yourself, do not read this book in a public place!

Excellent

E' un libro di Douglas Adams ed in quanto tale non servirebbe aggiungere altro.Consiglio questo libro a tutti coloro che hanno letto e gradito l'opera più famosa di Adams: Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. Anche in questo libro si nota subito lo stile inconfondibile che caratterizza gli scritti di Douglas Adams, col suo umorismo inglese spesso un po' non-sense, ma sempre molto intelligente e mai banale.

Buen libro, el detalle es que viene en inglés completamente y yo no me dí cuenta, pero me sirve para animarme a aprender.