Non è un giallo perfetto, non è un capolavoro, il finale lascia a desiderare sia perché ti aspetti il colpo di scena ed invece la fine è più banale di quanto ti immagini, sia perché ci sono dei particolari non chiari che non mi portano; tuttavia le avventure di Lucas Corso, un cacciatore di libri rari su commissione, mediatore tra collezionisti e librai di edizioni antiche e preziose, tra Madrid, Toledo, Sintra e Parigi, alla ricerca delle due copie ancora esistenti del libro “Le nove porte del regno delle ombre” stampato a Venezia nel 1666 dallo stampatore Aristide Torchia, bruciato sul rogo per stregoneria, mi hanno catturato. A questo punto ci si può chiedere cosa c’entra Dumas, messo là nel titolo. C’entra perché Corso ha anche avuto un altro incarico, quello di verificare l’autenticità del manoscritto del capitolo 42 de I tre moschettieri di Dumas, dal titolo “Il vino d’Angiò”; non basta, le avventure che gli capitano sono come un deja vu delle pagine del libro di Dumas, in cui incontriamo, tra gli altri, la perfida Milady de Winter e l’intrigante Rochefort, gli agenti del cardinale Richelieu.
Il tema demoniaco si unisce dunque a quello letterario in modo perfetto, tanto da aver suscitato e tenuto acceso il mio interesse per tutta la durata del libro. Insomma, mi sono divertita e appassionata (ed in più ho anche conosciuto qualcosa della vita e delle opere di Alexandre Dumas, che ignoravo).

A lot of fun for this Dumas fan! This book is somewhat similar to what I imagine you would get if you crossed The Name of the Rose with Angels and Demons; lots of demonology, antiquarian books and Dumas in a thriller.

My only regret is that I didn't read it last year once I had completed the entire d'Artagnan series. At least my memory of the characters and events was relatively fresh.

♠️ tenebris mysterium - dark mystery

Rating: ⭐⭐ ½
Genre: Mystery Thriller

"The Ninth Gate," the film starring Johnny Depp, captivated me with its blend of mystery and bibliophilia. Eager to delve deeper, I sought the source material, Arturo Pérez-Reverte's "The Club Dumas." While the initial premise—a rare Dumas manuscript, shadowy book collectors, and a potentially real-life Athos—oozed with promise, the experience fell short of expectations.

The writing, likely due to the translation, felt dry and academic, struggling to capture the dynamism of the film's atmosphere. Perhaps the Spanish version had a different energy, but in English, the prose lacked the necessary spark to fully ignite the story.

The book's greatest strength lies in its ambitious concept. The blurring lines between reality and fiction, the tantalizing secrets hidden within dusty tomes, and the whispers of a world beyond the printed page—these elements are undeniably captivating. However, the execution stumbles. The story goes off in too many directions, with side plots that do not add anything to the plot and come across as narrative filler. At times, I felt lost in a maze of subplots, struggling to keep track of the central thread.

I can see how this disjointedness could be appealing to some; it is like a maze through literary history and magical lore. However, for me, it left the story feeling unfocused and, ultimately, unsatisfying. The ambiguous ending, while perhaps open to interpretation, felt more like a shrug than a satisfying conclusion.

"The Club Dumas" holds the potential for a thrilling literary adventure, but its execution stumbles under the weight of its own ambition. I'm aware I might be in the minority here, as the book has garnered significant acclaim. Perhaps it's simply a matter of taste, or perhaps, as I suspect, the magic of the Spanish prose is lost in translation. Whatever the reason, my journey through "The Club Dumas" left me wanting, with the promise of a literary treasure hunt ultimately unfulfilled.

Nothing like a mystery involving books, the rare book trade, bibliophiles involved in various unscrupulous and barely legal dealings, and then, of course, murder. This book has many parts and once it gets going it becomes an addictive read. Enjoy. I call it a cerebral mystery as there is quite a plot to follow. If following the works of Dumas and tracing the back story on some 17th century occult texts sounds interesting (and believe me it is), give this a try.

This book is an homage to the swashbuckling adventure story, particularly the Three Musketeers like stories of Alexandre Dumas, pere. But I recommend it to anyone with a deep love for books (... which I would assume would be anyone who has taken the time to join this site in the first place...). I think that you'll recognize yourself in some of the characters, even in their most ridiculous adventures. I found myself variously giggling aloud, gasping in shock, and turning pages faster and faster like a fiend. Which is /exactly/ what a book of the swashbuckling adventure genre should do. Except that this book isn't about that most of the time. It is about wandering scholars, crazed professors, and eccentric, obsessed bibliophiles.

My favorite book of Perez-Reverte's remains "The Flanders Panel," but this book is still very high on those that I love. And it has a higher action/creepout factor for those who like a little more "swash" in their swashbuckling homages.

I highly recommend it. It's a great, absorbing read. One note: I suggest reading some Dumas, or you lose about half of the fun and cleverness of the novel. The end reveal couldn't possibly be as good without that background, I don't think.

As a final note: I heard there was a movie made of this. I chose not to see it, and I heard I chose correctly. Don't judge it by that! This book is absolutely fantastic, and I'm sure the plot was mangled to make it more exciting for Hollywood audiences. Don't base your opinion of it on that.

Pas de note pour ce livre que j'ai lu dans des circonstances peu favorables, entre fatigue et voyages.

L'intrigue policière a eu du mal à me captiver, les personnages ne m'ont pas trop intéressés mais... l'auteur sait parler des livres des autres. Voilà qui m'a donné l'envie de me plonger dans les livres d'aventures du XIXe, surtout les Trois Mousquetaires dont il est beaucoup question ici, mais aussi les autres romans d'Alexandre Dumas et Rocambole, Les Mystères de Paris...
L'envie aussi de se promener dans les librairies, les bibliothèques et d'admirer les livres comme beaux objets. Alors, Arturo, merci.

For the first half of the book I thought I would give it it 5 stars. I loved the writing, the characters and the mystery.
Sadly the second half, and mostly the ending, kinda lost me and it turned out to be a bit silly. Too bad...
Still, an entertaining read! And I'd recommend it to books and Dumas lovers.

Lucas Corso, middle-aged and cynical, is a book detective, a mercenary hired to hunt down rare editions for wealthy and unscrupulous clients. When a well-known bibliophile is found hanged leaving behind part of the original manuscript of Alexander Dumas's 'The Three Musketeers', Corso is brought in to authenticate the fragment. At the same he is given the task of proving the authenticity of three books that that supposedly enable their owners to summon the devil.

The two tasks seems relatively straightforward, but the unsuspecting Corso is soon drawn into a swirling plot involving devil worship, occult practices and swashbuckling derring-do among a cast of characters bearing a suspicious resemblance to those in Dumas's masterpiece. Aided by a mysterious beauty named for a Conan Doyle heroine, Corso travels from Madrid to Toledo to Paris pursued by a sinister and seemingly omniscient killer.

It is apparent that Perez-Reverte has done an awful lot of research into Dumas in particular as well as some art masterpieces. Also it soon becomes apparent to the reader at least that Corso is following two separate trails but the author manages to carry them both off admirably at the same time keeping me interested in both. However, despite really enjoying most of the book I found the endings something of a disappointment. The Dumas Club are simply a group of enthusiasts who like to dress up as their favourite characters and meet up once a year. Corso gives them the missing manuscript but isn't even asked to join. OK the climax of the other thread will be more spectacular. No that rather fizzles out as well although I'm not sure how you could have done it in print rather than techni-colour. Nor is the true identity of Corso's accomplice true identity or why she chose to assist him properly revealed.

Overall a thoroughly enjoyable romp that fell at the last fence. A generous 4.

Fajne, wciągające czytadło.

Ciekawy zabieg formalny polegający na lekko postmodernistycznym pomieszaniu ról narratora, uczestnika, twórcy i tworzyła. Zapachniało chwilami dekonstrukcjonizmem.

Ale poza tym, to się świetnie czyta, to jest to po prostu powieść sensacyjna w stylu Dana Browna. Nie najwyższej próby także dlatego, że postaci są z schematyczne a dialogi nabzdyczone. Możliwe jednak, że to też jest zamierzony postmodernistyczny efekt Chociaż obawia się, że nie i niestety obawiam się, że niedługo zapomnę o tej książce.

Za to obejrzę sobie film.

Хареса ми „Деветата порта“, въпреки че имах по-големи очаквания. Криминалният сюжет и персонажите не ме впечатлиха особено, обаче историята е разказана сладкодумно и със силна любов към книгите, което няма как да не ме развълнува... Авторът по много приятен начин отдава почит на легендарния приключенски роман „Тримата мускетари“!



„Когато говорим за литературата като среда, интелигентният читател може да се наслаждава на стратегията, посредством която сам той бива измамен. Основният подтик за участие в играта е удоволствието. Същото важи за четенето или писането на дадена история.“

A decent thriller built around a well developed Literary Detective - hard edged, cynical, gin swilling Lucas Corso. Arturo Perez Reverte joins with his debut novel a club of writers for book lovers who built their stories around rare books, dusty libraries, obscure texts or frequent references to popular novels. I'm talking about Umberto Eco, who gets a nod in the Club Dumas and may have inspired the author, and of the likes of Jasper Fforde and Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I've considered and discarded Dan Brown from this lists, as he seemed more interested in conspiracy theories and cheap tricks than in ancient manuscripts and the people who wrote them.

The story in Club Dumas has two major components that weave around one another and drive the mystery forward: the popular authors of adventure serials in 19th Century France and the esoteric / cabalistic researchers of 17th Century Toledo, Prague or Venice. Lucas Corso is on a mission to find the connection between the loose pages of the original handwritten draft of a chapter from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and the Devil summoning tome of a Venetian printer burned by the Inquisition in the year 1666.

I didn't give 5 stars because, although I enjoyed the story, this is one of the books where the journey is more important than the destination. It is also apparent for me that this is a debut novel, and the author is still searching for his particular style. The lovingly chosen quotes from Dumas, Zevaco, Sabatini, Poe, Melville or Doyle give flavour and illuminate some of the story points, but in other places the extensive research done on the above mentioned subjects feel like infodumps. Some other passages where Reverte uses dark streets , stormy nights and mysterious shadows to create the desired mood feel like exercises in imitating his favourite authors.

Conclusion: a good starting point for Arturo Perez-Reverte showing a lot of promise for his later work, and a well of information about Dumas and his fellow adventure writers