This book is grittier than its predecessor "Dirk Gently's hollistic detective agency" , though it follows similar themes.
We follow Dirk as he tries to solve the murder of his former client, (who he presumed to be insane, as the man was raving about a monster with a scythe coming to kill him- but was actually very very sane) as it turns out, he was actually being chased by a monster with green eyes and a scythe.
Dirk discovers this when the police find his client's head revolving ungracefully on a record, stuck singing the words “don't pick it up, don't pick it up…”
Throughout one day Dirk has his nose broken, tries to find cigarettes, gets chased by a giant Eagle, loses his secretary to “an act of God”, (she gets turned into a coca cola machine), uncovers a conspiracy concerning a hot potato and how his client is inexorably involved, follows some homeless people to Valhalla, has his street destroyed by the eagle that turns out to actually be a fighter jet, and finally gets rid of his old fridge- which unfortunately turns into a new god. (But fortunately, he kills the monster with the scythe and its accomplice)

The charm and humour of this book series is due to Dirk’s belief in 'Inter-connectedness of all things', which always turns out to be true.
Dirk improbably meets people involved in the case around him and believes in the ridiculous, and since life is utterly ridiculous, he's always a step ahead of everybody else.
This quote pretty much sums up his methods:

n  n    "The impossible did not bother him unduly.
If it could not be possibly done, then obviously, it had been done impossibly. The question was how?"n  n

This makes Dirk a very enjoyable character to follow through his misadventures and exploits.
However, as with the first book I will need to look up the synopsis of the book to clear up some unexplained questions I have, as the writing style is clever and reveals and explanations are often buried confusingly within the book.
This book is definitely not as good as the first one, I felt that it was all building up to something good, but the explanation was so confusing that it fell flat.
It was funny, though. I did laugh out loud several times.

my review of the hitchiker's guide to the galaxy

⭐️3.2
14+
cws: violence (descriptions of bloody wounds/injuries, murder etc)
su1cide references (short scene: they meet an old woman who wants to off herself, but it's very satirical/dark comedy- esque.)

A hot potato, a new fridge - hand delivered from the black market - and a severed head on a record player.
Dirk Gently is on a new assignment, or so it seems.
Is it really possible that a blast in Heathrow T2 is an "Act of God" or is it just a neat and come-in-handy clause in the insurance policy?
Is it true that you can´t get a pack of cigarettes after sunset anywhere in London and St Pancras Station resembles Valhalla?
Have the old Norse Gods sold out, or been caught in a hostile takeover?
And as if these questions are not properly holistic, what about the infamous man with the scythe and all the eagles?
The truth is out there with the Coca Cola vending machine and loads of fresh crispy white bedlinen of the absolutely best quality.
Please have your ticket and passport ready, or you will not be allowed on the plane.

This is for you who want to believe - to everyone else its 300 pages of psychobabble.

Sometimes, even if you’re Thor, it’s very hard to get to Oslo.

At least, if you’re Thor in a universe where humans created gods, and the gods need ongoing worship to exist. See generally http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php.... This book might have been my introduction to the idea that humans created gods in our own image. And the pathos of being a being created to be worshipped once the worship stops.

It also may have been the first book I read where a lawyer and an advertising executive got together to do something really nasty to some naïve . . . being. . . using a cleverly written contract. That might have had some impact on how I approach questions of substantive unconscionability in contract cases. Hm.

Anyhoo, a lot of the plot happens off the page in this book and must be inferred from what happens. Some of it – like why an eagle keeps attacking Dirk, who is not much of a Sisyphean figure and why Thor travels around with his own Coke vending machine – are explained at the end, more or less, but others – like why Odin’s man servant has a giant green monster with a scythe and why Dirk’s refrigerator ended up there – are left as exercises for the reader. As well as what exactly Dirk did to keep a particular contract clause from being enforced . . . though Thor finding his inner Thor-ness rendered some of that moot.

Dirk Gently of this book is much less like The Doctor of Doctor Who than the Dirk Gently of the Holistic Detective Agency. He’s drifting towards Susan Sto Helit of Discworld (Death’s adopted granddaughter and more than a little bit eldritch herself, despite her stark skepticism of the supernatural) and Shadow of American Gods (though Shadow lacks Dirk’s lively imagination). A more-or-less human character who can see the divine drama, be profoundly moved by it, and figure out the trick of it. I would have loved to have seen where DNA took it.

It is also, quietly, freaking hilarious.

Dirk Gently is still not on the level of Hitch-hiker's Guide, obviously, but this sequel is a better read than the first. Easier to follow, and very funny, the story is intriguing. I do wonder though, with the irreverent Norse gods hanging around, did this or American Gods come out first?