Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Prior to my BFF giving me this book and the second Dirk Gently book, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, for my Birthday a couple years ago, I had no idea that Douglas Adams had written other books than the ones in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. I'm so glad she set me straight about that!

While I think The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is probably his best work, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency isn't far behind. Also, I think it's a bit unfair to compare the two since the first started out as a radio series before being rewritten into a novel and polished.

Regardless, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency is everything you could hope for from a Douglas Adams novel. It's Sci-Fi that doesn't take its self seriously, and it's a wonderful way to escape from reality for a bit. It also makes you wonder if the story isn't more real than reality as we know it, which is what I love about Adams' writing. I'm greatly looking forward to The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul. ( )

I keep trying to read various Douglas Adams works because so many people seem to find them wildly amusing adventures. Most of the time, I'm just left confused and feeling a bit like I've missed the boat. ( )

I laughed out loud a couple of times and it was really nice to get into DA’s old style of storytelling again, but I didn’t connect fully with the characters and story. ( )

I read the print version of this book long ago (in fact, I owned it, but it has mysteriously disappeared), but thought the full-cast audio version sounded fun. And it was--a lot of fun! Of course, Adams is a perennial favourite of mine, and can pretty much do no wrong, so your mileage may vary. I like these books only slightly less than the Hitchhiker's Guide series, and Adams is at his witty best in them. ( )

This book takes its time in world-building, and sets up a truly magnificent mystery! And then it all goes to shambles when [SPOILERS] a fucking alien ghost did it. [/SPOILERS] What a stupid ending! I have the suspicion that this book would be 2x as good if it had been cowritten with someone who had said "No, Doug, let's not put aliens into our great murder mystery story." But not if that person were Max Landis.

I read this book as a kid, and vaguely enjoyed reading it. I reread it now after having watched a bit of MAX LANDIS' TV ADOPTION OF DIRK GENTLY. And man, the book is so much better. I know that I'm supposed to be talking about the book and not about Max Landis, but jesus that guy is a hack fraud. How could he have possibly messed up such a great book into such forgettable TV?

Anyway anyway, with that in mind, I guess the book is actually pretty good! Or at least, so much better than it might have been in the hands of someone else. I dunno. Go read it I guess. ( )