Hitch Hikers wasnt Adam's only book (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams)

Member Name: kylecoare

Product:	Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams
Date:	06/10/03 (68 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great humour, good plot

Disadvantages: not as widely known as HHGTTG

DOUGLAS ADAMS - DIRK GENTLY'S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY
---------------------------------------------- ---------

So here i am, sat awake at a stupidly late hour, i cant sleep, which is pretty much how every night goes, well i thought to myself, why not read a good book, so completly at random i decided to pick up one of my old favourites, Dirk Gently's holistic detective agency.

This is the first book in a trilogy which sadly never got finished due to Douglas Adams' untimely death, although the first few chapters have been released in the last Douglas Adams book, The Salmon of doubt.
But what better way to celebrate a great writer than to look back at some of the material that made him famous.

Douglas Adams wil always be known as that bloke that wrote Hitch Hikers guide to the galaxy, which is a great shame, as people tend to miss out the fact that he also wrote a few other books along the way.
HHGTTG, was an amazing piece of work, and it was very hard to pick fault with, although it was never intended as a novel, it worked so well.
But the fans didnt really take to Dirk Gently quite as well, this is a shame because there is actually a much more balanced storyline running through these books.

The main reason most didnt take to this is that it didnt contain any of the Hitch hikers crew, or happen in space, but what it does have is great writing and an interesting if a tad confusing storyline.

The story is about Richard Macduff, and a lot of strange things that occur around him, such as a sofa on the stairs, that mathamatically shouldnt have been able to get where it is and definately wont come back down now its found a nice home in the middle of the stairs.

The story takes you on an interesting journey which includes a horse in a bathroom, the ghost of Richards girlfriends dad, Richards old college professors and lots of other unexpected things.

Luckily or unluckily for R
ichard, is that an old friend from his college days, Dirk Gently is on the case, but unlike most detectives Dirk has his own more unique style of solving cases, this involves the ultimate interconectedness of things, so instead of actually knowing where he is going he will just follow the next available car, and in some way that will connect with the whole case.
This is a nice way to keep the story going and you almost feel sorry for Dirk in a way, although he does have a bit of a darker side.

The book is very funny, easily up with the humour of Hitch-Hikers, if not surpassing it a little. Some of the set pieces will have you in hysterics, and i mean laughing your guts out, this also can be quite a sad little novel, with an intresting twist on the whole Detective style novel.

Some may find it a little confusing at first but stick with it and the story unravels itself really well towards the end, although it definately needs a second read to bring it all together in your mind.

The charactures are very well created, unlike HHGTTG, where although they were good, there were times where they didnt have a lot of depth, here they are full of characture, you can almost imagine bumping into Dirk as he's following a complete stranger in hope for a lead on his latest case.

Any fan of HHGTTG should really try this book, as it offers a lot more storyline and holds the attention really well.
Also any Terry Pratchet fans would like this as the humour is fairly similar, although Adams' does tend to be more pythonesqe.

When i bough this it was a paperback pacaged with both Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and its sequal The long dark tea time of the soul all for the small sum of 4.99. So it is a great purchase.

Thanks fr reading, please leave any comments.

Kyle.

Summary: