Rating: 
Summary: Acts of Gods, modern ennui and private hospitals, oh my!
Review: Douglas Adams is amazingly whimsical. If the Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy didn't convince you of that, the Dirk Gently novels will. Gently is a detective, but no Sherlock Holmes. No, rather than ruling out the impossible to leave only the improbable, Gently prefers to believe the impossible, because it makes so much more sense than the improbable. He solves his case through ingenuity, luck, and a belief in the interconnectedness of all things.A highlight for me is Dirk's method of finding directions. He just follows someone who looks like they know where they are going. This, he says, doesn't always get him to where he wanted to go, but almost always gets him to where he needs to be. If only we all had such faith! This book is the second of two about the private eye. I don't want to give away too much of the story, as it is definitely a mystery, but it covers some of the same ground as American Gods in a much less sinister manner. Everything has a reason and a rhyme in this book, even if at first encounter, an event makes no sense, neither to the characters nor the reader. While the ending is a bit abrupt for my taste, if you like whimsy, you'll get an ample helping with this book.
Rating: 
Summary: not his best
Review: I love Douglas Adams's books. I reread them regularly and I'm sorry he isn't around to write more of them. This isn't his best, the plot is aimless, as if he started with a good idea and then didn't know where to go. It ends suddenly, as if the author gave up or couldn't figure a way out. I still love all Douglas Adams's works, just don't read this one as often as the others.
Rating:
Summary: Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
Review: This book definitely proved not to be a disappointment as a sequel. This book maintained the same sarcastic humor and odd coincidences that seem to fit in an extremely insane way. It dealt a lot more with gods and science fiction type stuff, so if the first book proves too sci-fi for you, don't even bother with the second. This book has definitely convinced me to paruse for more books by Douglas Adams.
Rating: 
Summary: Way way out man ! ! !
Review: Of all the Adams books...and I have read the lot several times over, this one is THE BEST!!! I never get tired of re-reading this one. About the only thing I hate about Douglas Adams is that he had to go and die on us! 'So long Doug . . . rip mate and thanks!'
Rating:
Summary: Timeless!
Review: The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul is my favourite of Adams' Hitchhikers trilogy of four. I've had it put on and plucked off my shelf countless times and each read is as enjoyable as the first if not better. I found Adams' wit, insight and preceptions throughly entertaining, utterly hilarious, brilliantly creative and even thought provoking. This is a book to own and to be reread through your life.
Rating:
Summary: Gods walk among us
Review: This is the 2nd Dirk Gently novel and like the first it is good fun , with Adams trademark sense of humour. An explosion at Heathrow is called by the press an Act of God, and it turns out to be more than tabloid hyberbole, as Dirk Gently soon discovers.
The feel of the novel is reminiscient of Thorne Smith's 'The Night Life of the Gods'. But although Adam's style is always enjoyable, the novel seems a little thin; all wit and little substance. Given Adams notorious bouts with writer's block maybe his publishers were unwilling to wait for it to be properly polished.
Rating:
Summary: A second, and perhaps more funny, novel in the Dirk Gently's
Review: Summary:
Unlike Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, this book focuses much more on Dirk Gently and his 'detective' efforts. Dirk is hired by Geoff Anstey to do 'something' relating to Mr. Anstey's contract selling his soul to a demon from another dimension. When Dirk remembers that he is supposed to be helping Geoff Anstey and heads towards his home he ends up finding Mr. Anstey's head separated from his body. As are all things in Dirk Gently's world, this job is interconnected with the bolt of lightening that destroyed a service desk at Heathrow airport a few days before. As it turns out, a disgruntled potential passenger who turns out to be the Norse god Thor was so upset by the mistreatment he was receiving that he called a bolt of lightning from the sky to destroy the service desk (a very literal 'act of god'). Though Thor was frustrated by the airline employee, Kate Schechter, an American journalist, actually tried to help him out leading to him wanting her help later on. Well, Kate and Dirk are sucked into a an adventure revolving around the selling of the Norse gods power by their king, Odin, to an advertising executive and a lawyer that happen to live next door to Geoff Anstey. Everything is interconnected in Douglas Adams novels. My Comments:
The book is hilarious (though not quite as funny as the Hitchiker's Guide). I liked the fact that the focus was on Dirk Gently and we were even more exposed to his bizarre antics. Also, though it is never actually specified, it is hard to distinguish whether or not this book takes place before or after the first book in the series (I believe it takes place before). The only thing I felt was left unresolved, though Adams's resolutions are typically one to two pages and sometimes leaving you wanting, was what happened to Geoff Anstey's son who was spellbound and remarkably violent in his TV watching. Perhaps it was just meant to be funny, but it seemed like it should have more of a role in the book. Other than that small distraction, the book actually tends to stay mostly on track (other than Kate's trip to the mental hospital and the characters she meets there). As is the case with most of Adams's work, if you like it, you like it. And, I would submit, this could actually be a good introductory book for someone that would like to become familiar with Adams's work. Great book; lots of fun.
Rating:
Summary: Summary in 96 words, let the penguins sort this out...
Review: Dirk had.
Dirk knew Lupton Road. "Suicide?" said Dirk.
" thought Dirk. Dirk stared at him.
"Listen," insisted Dirk again.
"Dthraydge!" insisted Dirk.
"Yed," said Dirk. "Straighter," said Dirk. Mr Dirk Gently."
"No," said Dirk. Kate shrugged.
"Yes," said Dirk.
Dirk shrugged. "Chickens?" said Dirk. Dirk frowned.
"Really?" said Dirk. "What?" said Dirk.
Dirk felt very awkward. simmered Kate. Dirk shook his head. Dirk groaned.
"Thor! Thor! Dirk stood speechless. Odin, thought Dirk. Dirk asked him.
Dirk waited.
"Oh ah," said Dirk.
"Contract?" said Dirk. "What?" said Dirk. "Thor - " said Kate.
"Thor - " said Kate.
"Thor -"
Kate shrugged.
Rating:
Summary: Format issues outweighed by great reader and great story
Review: While I agree with the consensus that the story is, indeed, humorous, convoluted, completely interconnected, and ultimately a confusing but inspired delight, there are plenty of reviews to that effect, so I shall narrow my focus to the specific format in which I purchased it, which is the Abridged Audio CD edition, read by the author, on which there are many fewer comments. There are a few minor complaints about this edition. The six CDs packaged in a box of the size that, a decade ago, was used for double CDs, is novel, but the spindles hold the CDs to the tray so tightly that, removing them, one feels as if something's about to snap. The dynamic range is so great that, with any background noise at all (such as may be expected if listening in the car), the loud parts must be quite loud in order for the quiet parts to be heard. Though the cover boasts digital mastering, some high-end digital artifacts can be heard, the background squiggly sounds that one might hear in an audio stream at low dialup speeds. And, as in the case of the "Dirk Gently" audiobook, each disc contains only a single track of around 70 minutes. That last may pose a problem for listeners whose players return to the beginning of the track when stopped (luckily for me, my car player resumes where it left off); otherwise, these are, as I've said, minor issues. On the positive side, it is a great pleasure to hear Adams' voice reading his own work. He may have been a careful and crafty writer, but he also wrote in style often closer to speech than to literate prose. There are a few bits of wordplay that work better when seen on the page; but, on the other hand, his multiple-appositive sentences are much easier to sort out when one can actually hear where the emphasis was intended. I am not, generally, a fan of audiobooks -- not an opponent, either, but I do prefer the speed and lack of distraction of sitting down to read print. However, when there's time to listen, such as on the road trip for which I bought it, this particular book (and the book to which it is a sequel) is at least as enjoyable when read aloud by this particular reader as when I previously read the paperback. The sum of my experience -- which weighs the unimpressive format against the delight of Adams' performance, and, of course, of the story itself -- is well-represented by a solid four stars.
Rating:
Summary: Dirk II: The Stupefying Sequel
Review: Like it's predecessor, "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency", "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul" demands a second reading. It's complex, often confusing, but never less than amusing. Both books display Douglas Adams' verbal wit, which will remind most of his ever-popular "Hitchhiker" books, but are more concerned with their labyrinthine and well-structured plots. And both books offer an ending that may not make sense if the reader hasn't been paying close (and I mean CLOSE) attention. The main difference between the two is that while the ending of the former was obscure *and* painstakingly logical, the ending here feels contrived and illogical. Like a good mystery novel, the reader should have been able to see it coming given the clues presented. In "Dirk Gently" this was true; it necessitated some research to fathom, but with enough effort the reader could make sense of things. Here, not so much. That's not to say that "Tea-Time" is a pointless endeavor. It is, after all, a Douglas Adams novel. And now that the man is gone, we should cherish everything he's ever written. In their own ways they're all gems. This gem, however, has less of a sheen. Once again, Dirk Gently is asked to save the world. Or rather, he's asked to not screw it up so much. He's a detective who believes in the interconnectedness of everything. This point is only sporadically touched on here, but is relayed at great length in the previous book. Pity, because Adams has constructed a narrative whose tentacles dip into a myriad of different subjects and storylines, all for the most part unrelated. But he does draw them all together, seemingly against their will, in the end. The drawback, then, is that the book becomes less a cohesive novel than a collection of eclectic ideas. I'd have loved to see how Adams further involved the electric I Ching calculator (a favourite tool of the Electric Monk maybe?) in the story. But alas it comes and goes all too quickly. The same can be said for The Great Zaganza, a horoscope writer who puts private joke messages to Dirk directly in each day's newspaper. Or Elena, the wayward maid, who's locked in a battle of wills with Dirk to see who will open his refrigerator first (Why? I'll never tell). These are all wonderful ideas, pregnant enough for a whole chapter (or a whole book) in Adams' hands, but nearly wasted here. Thankfully, there are enough of them to make a mild mosaic of mystery on which the narrative balances. The book shares one of its main themes with Terry Pratchett's "Small Gods". This is not the first time I've favourably compared Adams to Pratchett, and vice versa. I suspect if you like the wicked wit and playful literary structures of one, than you'll adore the other just as much. Adams relies less on puns than Pratchett, and more on cultural mythology, but they were equally adept at deconstructing popular images to their own ends. Before treading here I recommend a bit of research first. Read the first "Dirk Gently" book. Since Adams doesn't repeat his introduction and explanation of the main character, those unfamiliar with him will find Dirk's methods baffling. They are explained fully, just not here. Also, it might be a good idea to brush up on your Norse mythology before entering. No need to go too deep, just a trip to Valhalla will do. And finally, remember this: pay attention to everything. Nothing is accidental here. Everything matters. Everything is connected. Enjoy!
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