Open Door,Office Love and A Stapler. (The Portable Door - Tom Holt)

Member Name: English Lady

Product:	The Portable Door - Tom Holt
Date:	12/08/04 (76 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: a good read for Holt Fans, A good read for Non-Holt Fans.

Disadvantages: You'll not be able to put it down!

My husband almost ran up to me the other day in town ?I need £5? he said, puffing slightly. I knew he had been in WHsmith and I also new my hubby didn?t rush for anything so I handed over the money and watched him disappear into the distance.

When I caught up with him I saw what had inspired him to such exercise excess and I must say I was slightly deflated.

It was a book. A plain paperback, cream coloured bog standard book.

Not just that it was a Tom Holt book. I read ?Falling Sideways? and loved it but any other attempt to read a Tom Holt title had ended up in me giving up after a few chapters with an annoying headache. However hubby was happy and well £6.99 to satisfy my husband is cheap and it would keep him quiet.

Or so I thought.

Yes my darling beloved was happy, his head buried in his book at every possible moment, giggling like a little schoolgirl and Quoting quotes at me and telling me ?You?d love this book?? and ? You really should read this book?? over and over again. So when he finished it, just to shut him up I picked up ?The portable door.? and I began to read.

I really thought I?d read a few chapters, get a headache and say ?Sorry darling I did try.? And that would be the end of that. However five hours later I put the book down and I?d finished it. It actually turned out that my husband was indeed right! I loved this book!

Paul Carpenter Has just finished college and is looking for a Job. One day he sees an obscure advert in the paper ?junior clerk wanted.? and applies for it as it doesn?t involve being shot at or A-level Sanskrit.

However as he looks at Dog boy, Pre-Raphaelite beauty and tall thin girl he didn?t have a chance at this. Confirmed by the fact he answered none of the interviewer?s questions well. When asked ?what do you admire about Chekhov?s? works?? Paul answered ?The way he say?s ?Course laid in Kep-tin? is pretty cool but mostly he doesn?t get to do much.?


So when he got a letter informing him he?d got the job he was rather mystified. On his first day he gets lost on the way to his boss?s office. Then finds himself working in what looks like a broom cupboard with the thin girl from the interview who is still as cold as ice and twice as painful and turns out to be called Sophie.

His job was to sort out tonnes of pages of statistics into some kind of order. Boring paper pushing. The only thing that keeps him in the job is Sophie, the new love of his life. Yes it took him about 5 seconds to fall in love,but he does that kind of thing all the time. He's an expert in unrequited lustings.

Everything is boring at J.W.Wells and co but also a little strange. Why does the long stapler seem to disappear and reappear in a different place? Why does the photocopier break all the time and can only be fixed by one man who?d just whisper nicely to it and why do the doors get bolted shut at a quarter to six nightly and don't get re-opened again till 9am prompt in the morning?

All these tiny little weird things are easy to ignore at first, until a sword in a stone turns up at Paul?s and an identical one ends up at Sophie?s house too.

All this weirdness is cemented and confirmed the night they get locked in after hours and meet Mr Tanners (the boss) Mum. She is frightening, and not just in the usual "parents are oh so cringeworthy" way.

What is the weird secret at J.W.Wells and what is it they actually DO? Do Paul and Sophie ever get it on and why the hell is the book called ?The portable door?? These are all questions I can?t answer without spoiling the book for you but I can tell you it is worth reading to find the answers out.

I really think Tom Holt has grown up. His other writings are disjointed and seem to be thrown together in no real kind of order. ?The Portable Door.? However reads like a proper novel with a concrete beginning, middle and an e
nd. There are plenty of Holt?s witty one liners in here along with weird and wacky characters and situations to keep your Holt-aholics happy but (and this is the major plus point I think) this book will not give you a headache by making you think around corners and is actually a pleasant leisurely read for anyone.

If you?ve ever worked in an office, or had a first day at work or had a weird boss with even stranger employees you will find lots to empathise with here. The core of this book is very mundane and firmly planted in the real world; the odd jaunt into fantasy does not alter the real feeling of this tale and as long as you?re capable of believing, even just for the duration of your read, that such fantastical things could happen (And Tom Holt writes them so plainly you really do feel they could be true) then you?ll be as happy as a fantasy fiction reader at a fan-fic convention!

If you have Tom Holt issues you should see some form of therapist actually; after that however you must read a copy of the Portable door, even if you have to tape over his name on the front cover and pretend its NOT by Holt himself because you will miss one hell of a good read if you don?t.

It?s fast paced with gloriously believable characters the level of writing is fantastic, it?s a romance, an adventure, a fantasy, a thriller and a comedy all rolled into one.

My hubby paid £6.99 for this at WHsmith, it is also available to be bought on Amazon for £5.59 (remember to equate in postage and packaging costs here though) and I would imagine you can borrow a copy from your local library. If they don?t have it, request that they get it!

Its not often that I will say a book is worth the full cover price, I rarely pay that myself. However, a brand new hardback copy of ?In your dreams? the follow up to ?The portable Door.? Sits, right now, in the hands of my husband. We purchased it as soon as it was published for the full £12:99 asking price,
something we?ve never done for any other book.

Honest.

Well if you don?t believe me, read the book, eat a few chocolate covered dragon droppings and get back to me. We?ll soon get to the bottom of it. However if you have to come through a door propped open by a bag or a full can of pop, please don?t shut it behind you. Thank you very much!

(Yes I am completely barmy but that last paragraph will make sense when you read the book so?.READ IT! Please. Thanks ever so much!)

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