I love the way Douglas Adams writes, and I chuckled my way through the first two books in the Dirk Gently series. The stories are a little hard to follow at times, especially the first one (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency), so four stars rather than five (for me). But I really enjoyed this book, and found it as brilliant, absurd, and laugh-out-loud funny as I've come to expect from Douglas Adams.

I recently listened to The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul written by Douglas Adams and narrated by Douglas Adams.

This was a novel focused on Dirk Gently and his holistic detective methods. These seem to primarily rely on the concept that everything in the universe relates to every other thing. Based solely on this theory, any random event, he believes, will help him solve his case.

What's his case here? Well his newest client is dead, having been killed by an invisible monster that no one else can see. Dirk sets out in quest for justice, or at least a pack of cigarettes. Worry not valiant reader, he shall not be deterred, even by lawyers from the music industry.

The narration was decent, but I must say there were a few moments when he sounded muffled. It generally was a decent job, but it could have been improved upon.

Conclusion: This book is a tad bit of a slow starter. It starts on a surprisingly depressing note for material written by Adams. While it does eventually come into its own, you will likely need to be patient in order to see the payoff. That being said, if you enjoy dry British humor, I think you will find it worth the wait.

The Dirk Gently books are absurd, entertaining and amusing - a combination that I truly enjoyed. Lots of laugh out loud moments, lots of mystery surrounding what's going on and the sci-fi/fantasy angle to each story was great. I have not read any other Douglas Adams books, so this is my first go and I really enjoyed them. His descriptions are comical and thoughtful sometimes. A way of looking at the world in a completely different way, and I found that endlessly interesting. A lot of people said they didn't care as much for Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency as much as The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, but I think I enjoyed the first one better. But they are both very much worth reading. If you want something light, fun and entertaining, then these books are definitely going to fit that bill.

I was super unfamiliar with this work (I knew it had been made into a TV show but didn't watch it before I read this,) but I loved Hitchhiker's Guide and thought maybe this was going to be a funny twist on the noir genre. I wouldn't call it exactly that, though it is pretty funny. I found the first one (it's a two-book set, if that wasn't clear) a little difficult to get into, which is common for me, but the build up took a while. Once I kind of figured out the pattern, though, it got a lot easier and I found more time for it to be funny. It wasn't as laugh-out-loud funny for me as Hitchhikers but it was sort of wry and dry in a similar fashion, and the tone felt familiar enough that I still really did enjoy it.

Zany tales

Quite convoluted storylines with loads of side stories that you wonder if it will ever be resolved in the end. Pretty entertaining but not as good as Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Not my favorite Douglas Adams work

I was extra interested in reading these books after barely liking the tv series. My frustration with both comes down to Dirk Gently. I much preferred the character as a main character in the 2nd book. When I think back on the first book, I see how he came in about the right time, but he brought this sense of chaos that made me dread whatever insanity was going to drag the story along. Characters don't have to be likeable, but I can't get over not liking Dirk Gently. I don't know if I can add anything to help any other readers decide whether or not to read this. If you've seen the show and you liked it, you'll probably like this too. There's a similar spirit of the plots and Dirk Gently is basically the same in both. If you like Douglas Adams, read these books and you'll see more of his writing. If you want to read a really good series, maybe not this one. I was going to read this series no matter what I read. My curiosity has been satisfied, as has my completionism. I might reread passages because Douglas Adams, but I doubt I'll ever reread these books.

More like a 3.5 stars. I really enjoyed his writing and the bonkers stories, but there were times when I felt like he had enjoyed the writing more than I was enjoying the reading. A couple of times I found myself saying, "Come on already!" or "Yeah, yeah, you're very clever." That said, there were also times when I was eager to get back to reading and find out what he dished up next or found myself truly laughing out loud. So it was a worth buying and spending time reading overall.

So odd. But rather enjoyable! Never sure what to make of the main character, but as they say, all's well that ends well!

DIRK GENTLY'S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY
So much cleverer than Hitchhiker's Guide, this is a fantastic novel and an appealing character, and it's such a shame that there aren't more Dirk Gently's around.

THE LONG DARK TEA-TIME OF THE SOUL
An interesting sequel that doesn't quite live up to the surprising solutions of the first book but is every bit as witty and fun.

Love love love. :D I found I liked the storyline of the first book the most, but the technical language (real or not) was at times a bit off-putting. I can't help but wish that Adams had been able to write more of the series, but hopefully the BBC might take up the gauntlet since they did so well with their adaptation.

I actually just read the first (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency) and left The long Dark Teatime of the Soul for a later time. I've read this several times now and while I enjoyed every read I really did not get what happened until about the third read. It is complicated, inevitable when you combine a time machine and a ghost story with extraterrestrials. Oh, and throw in some poetry as well. Colleridge fans like me get to feel smug 'cos (after the 3rd reading anyway) we get the references. It is laugh out loud funny in places, tragic in others, the best kind of story.
Characters are fairly well drawn in Adams' whimsical way. I suppose most of them are amped up stereotypes but not necessarily stereotypes I'm familiar with (not being remotely associated with Cambridge). So that works for me.

Both series of the BBC Radio 4 adaptation of the two complete Dirk Gently novels. The books are basically stand alone stories that revolve around the title character. In the radio version there is much more crossover of ideas and characters; as well as lots of links to the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

I prefer the books: they are more subtle, slowly revealing the clues as you would expect in a detective story. These are much more open and upfront, so contain lots more irreverent jokes that don’t move the story along; particularly the second series.

Well worth a listen as they are very entertaining, but don’t skip on reading the books because you have listened to this series. In fact, if you haven’t read the books first, then you should before listening to these series, and only when you’ve done both can you seek out the two TV adaptations.