Tag: Dirk Gently

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency

by Douglas Adams (Heinemann, 1987)

Adams_Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Rushed ending aside, this is a consummate piece of genre creation. Adams crafts a supernatural SF detective story with gorgeous (often subtle) pieces of interconnectedness, Doctor Who rehash and zany bits of faux-throwaway, all brought together by the late-appearing protagonist. Improbably brilliant.

 

 

The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

by Douglas Adams (William Heinemann, 1988); audiobook read by Douglas Adams (Phoenix, 2015)

Adams_Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

The story, when looked back upon at book’s end, turns out to have been the flimsiest of nonsense. Dirk actually does very little. But this only serves to emphasise the deft, droll, audacious touch of Adams’ whimsy, and the lure of interconnectedness.

 

 

The Salmon of Doubt

The Salmon of Doubt

by Douglas Adams (William Heinemann, 2002); audiobook read by Simon Jones (Phoenix, 2005)

Adams_Salmon of Doubt

A patchy, posthumous collection of Adams writings (predominantly non-fiction) exemplifying his off-beat, self-indulgent style, his knack for pinning down human absurdities, and his incurable technophilia and recycling of ideas and anecdotes. Most tantalising for fans is the nascent unfinished Dirk Gently novel(la).

 

 

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

by Douglas Adams (Pan, 1984); audiobook read by Martin Freeman (Macmillan, 2012)

Adams_So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

The ideas, as ever, are ingenious, and Adams is at the top of his game in reuniting Arthur Dent with the erstwhile-destroyed Planet Earth. The story, however, such as it is, hitchhikes half-heartedly while secretly yearning to become a Dirk Gently novel.

 

 

Galahad at Blandings

Galahad at Blandings

by P. G. Wodehouse (Simon & Schuster, 1964); audiobook read by Jeremy Sinden (Chivers, 1993; 2011)

Wodehouse_Galahad at Blandings

In Galahad Threepwood surely we have the nascent (if more genteel) template for Dirk Gently, and in the comings and goings at Blandings Castle that of Douglas Adams’ much-vaunted fundamental interconnectedness of everything. This is Wodehouse at his fabulous, gab-gifted, exquisite best.

 

 

Derelict Space Sheep