Don't come into this expecting the same level of enjoyment as the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Consisting of two novels, overall they were an enjoyable reads. They had the signs of Douglas Adams' humour, complete with anamorphic objects and events. The story back drop is set in London and area and has the side effect of being written very british - notable particularly in the dialogue. At times I got the impression that though this was a Douglas Adams story, I felt like it had been written by someone else.

In both books we follow Dirk Gently, a not-psychic investigator. Actually, we don't really follow him so much as follow every other character who has some sort of tie into the story. Dirk is very much a secondary character in his own books. Perhaps this was done because overall, Dirk isn't a particularly likable character and even his methodology, which he has none though he claims he does, left me thinking very low of this character's overall intelligence. I kept wanting that moment of genius when all the pieces fell into place, and when that moment came it fell flat. In the first book "Dirk Gently Holistic Detective Agency" the grand reveal was the best 10 chapters or so, but it was so out there that i struggled to connect the consequences of what they had chosen to do. In "The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul" the last 10 or so chapters drew on a out of this world scenario that was impossible to guess at. When the big revealed happened, I asked: HOW? WHen?
In both books the ending felt rushed.


Dirk Gently Holistic Detective Agency
By far the better of the two books. Not the sort of content matter that typically interests me as a reader, but I do enjoy the author's work. We are first introduced to Reg and Richard, two characters I couldn't keep straight until the middle of the book. Through Richard we are introduced to his boss (whose name I've forgotten) who plays a surprisingly minor role in the overall plot development, but through which we are introduced to Susan, Richards girlfriend, who in turn introduces us to the spoiled... antagonist (or so we're lead to believe). We're introduced to Dirk via dialogue early in the book, almost like an excuse for not having a genuinely interesting character to follow as our hero. Dirk himself is introduced about 1/3 of the way in.

If the above is not a clue, it takes a while for the story to get rolling. Not that stuff doesn't happen, it's just a lot of stuff that could have been left out, but i suspect was included to add some life to an otherwise slow read. By the time we meet Dirk, the story shifts to have us explore how Dirk does his thing, which is in essence a series of long winded explanations that the reader just has to accept, but not necessarily understand. This is one of the reasons I don't much care for dialogue driven narratives - they underestimate the value of illustrating the idea.

The best part is definitely the last 3rd of the book when all of the key characters come together to confront Reg.

Worth reading? If you're a fan of the author, yes. If you're looking for a quirky tale in the realm of science fiction, maybe. Keep in mind that this particular science fiction story is set up in modern day london (1980's i think) set up through the lense of a mystery novel.


The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul
This story started off fairly strong for me. The consequences for dirk being well, dirk, were established pretty early on, after some incident at an airport involving some woman who was chasing after some absentee boyfriend. kate (who I thought was Jane for most of the book) is some hot blond career woman who writes a column for some high-end magazine, but sux with da-guys. Beyond her initial role in the airport, she could have remained off screen for the rest of book while dirk explored Woodshed Hospital, but I guess the author needed to give her something to do. The whole sub-story between Kate and Thor meandered to serve very little purpose. Even now, I'm struggling to see where the character development occurred that Thor hadn't managed to do for himself in the end. Why was Kate required at all? her last contribution to the plot was, how many rocks were there in Wales? Why that was relevant, I have no idea.

Unlike the previous the climax here only heavily illustrates just how much information wasn't shared with the reader. I get the sense that we're supposed to be in awe of how Dirk put it all together, but I left the revelation feeling like he just bumbled his way through it with just as much understanding of what was happening as i had. I don't like leaving a book feeling confused, but this one I did.

Overall, this book is a supernatural story set in modern London that delves into Norse mythology.


Both books have their faults and their strong points. Again, unless you're a fan of the author, I probably wouldn't recommend these books. Especially, The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul. That one is a clear miss.

This radio show is amazing!

*Audio version by BBC*
Delightful and weird as you would expect from Douglas Adams.

After finishing these one after the other (more due to circumstance than any compelling urge after completing the first), I decided to write notes about them together despite their fairly different plots (effectively only the titular character carries over).

I found both works surprisingly readable (I don't know why my recollection of later Hitchhiker is somewhat dense and winding) and fast-paced – if completely confusing by the end. In some ways, it was almost more like Murakami (having a joke) than my earlier impressions of Adams, at least on a large-plot scale. I probably missed plenty of things along the way, but it was an enjoyable & strange time without much a point to it. The moments definitely had plenty of potential, but everything ran headlong to a conclusion without really playing with all the pieces that were introduced. (Adams does a great job introducing and then bringing together the cast [more so in book 1 than 2], but then the ending just sweeps them all together into a mound of mild confusion.)

I've been thinking about this, and the only conclusion I can come to is that I did not like it. I've had it since I was a teenager, and I may keep it out of nostalgia reasons (undecided on that front), but I just don't like it. This book contains the two Dirk Gently novels, which are loosely supposed to (I think) be sort of cosmic mysteries that Dirk is somehow peripheral to. They read as random plot non sequitur after random plot non sequitur. Which really works in the Hitchhiker's series (which I love), but for me doesn't work here. Because these don't have enough of a centre to coalesce around. That may be the point. But I'd argue is perhaps not the best structure for what is nominally a mystery plot.

I think either 1) some of the characters needed to be more likeable, or 2) the books needed to be a bit more charming, as opposed to just random and clever. I did like some of the elements (the electric monk, as an example), but I think part of the problem is that it doesn't work as well in a world that is essentially our own. The randomness works better in Hitchhiker's because there's no real goal, you're in space, everything is changed, and the characters are more fun. Also, Hitchhikers has Arthur as a sort of common thread. In this, it takes 100 pages before you even meet Dirk, and when I did, I just found him unbelievably irritating.

I will say, in hindsight, the first novel is considerably better than the second. Picked these up because I wanted something light. They are that. But I also in the end didn't enjoy them.

Some good concepts and some brilliant lines, but I lost the will to live about a hundred pages into the second book and realised there wasn't any substance backing up the witty jokes.

This is Dirk Gently's Detective Agency and the Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul. Both stories are connected.
A great "next step" for the creator of the Hitchhiker series.

Douglas Adams fan

I live the strange and obscure. I especially like that he picked Norse mythology for this series. Its interesting that Neil Gaiman does the same.

Dirk Gently is a holistic detective. Which means every odd thing he comes across is somehow connected to his case. And there's a lot of odd things. A horse in a bathroom. A ghost. Some gods wandering about. A chopped off head on a turntable.

I'm entertained and confused. But mostly confused.
I didn't care much for the stories and characters themselves. I just liked the jokes (some of them) and the weird bits that you get an "aha"-moment for later on in the story.
Is it weird to read a whole book and relate the most to a couch?

"Why haven't I heard of this book before? I mean, he's written Hitchhiker's!" You may have asked yourself this question before, and the answer is because this book isn't within the same league as THHGTTG. It's not even within the same solar system (I know they're different units of measurement, but you know what I mean) the main point is that the two Dirk Gently books are a huge letdown.

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency is largely forgettable sluiced with vague annoyance and a strong urge to punch Dirk in the face throughout the whole thing. Lots of random paranormal stuff happens that seem to be loosely connected, then it all ties up at the end which was enjoyable only because I finally knew what happened after 200 pages. Seriously still want to punch Dirk in the face.

The Long Dark Tea Time Of The Soul was much more enjoyable than the former since it seemed to be shorter (they're both about 246 pages long) and that's because the story is much more connected and I didn't have to wait until the very end to know what was going on. Also, there were Norse gods and I'm somewhat familiar and fond of those - and they didn't act as randomly as the characters of DGHDA. Kate was a refreshingly sharp and put-together woman who managed well despite the confusion of having to travel with Thor (not quite like Trilliam from THHGTTG; Kate's much more human). Dirk got punched in the face in this one, so that desire was sated.

Anyone who has read THHGTTG is familiar with Adams' style - he tends to stray a little off-topic and provide inconsequential details throughout the whole narrative which may or may not become relevant later on in the story. More often than not, they're funny, quirky, and enjoyable.

That same tendency is present within this omnibus, only I had to skim over them because they were decidedly not as enjoyable and only provided lengthy descriptions of a single point and wasted time and effort of concentration.

If you had to pick between the two, go for The Long Dark Tea Time Of The Soul. You don't really have to read DGHDA to continue to this book. All you need to know is this: Dirk Gently is a "private holistic detective" who "detects and triangulates vectors of the interconnectedness of all things" which is to say that he finds the solution to the problem even if it means that the solution includes the impossible (ie. ghosts and shit) - and he's right. He's extremely lucky in many areas except for money - for example, if he were to give a quack fortune for a quick $20 the universe would somehow make it true even though he isn't psychic.

All in all I'm glad I finally read this since it's been on my bookshelf for years and I had never tried to read it. Time to shuffle it to a lower shelf and give its previous spot to a more-deserving book.

Все същия дъгласадамсковски стил с много хумор, абсурди и ирония. Просто удоволствие на стил, език, плетеници и фикция.

The only down side to the Dirk Gently books is that there's not more of them! Love them!