Product Description

Harry Enfield stars once again in a brand new full-cast dramatisation of Douglas Adams' second "Dirk Gently" novel, directed by the award-winning Dirk Maggs. Harry Enfield exuberantly returns as 'Dirk Gently', who, fallen on hard times and dressed as a gypsy woman, is using his irritatingly accurate clairvoyant powers to read palms. He is saved when a frantic client turns up with a ludicrous story about being stalked by a goblin waving a contract accompanied by a hairy, green-eyed, scythe-wielding monster. When Detective Superintendent Gilks decides a headless body found in a sealed room is the result of a particularly irritating suicide, Dirk is plunged into a mystery where the interconnectedness of all things is tested to the limit...This is the second of three series adapted from the "Dirk Gently" books, directed by Dirk Maggs (chosen by Douglas Adams to conclude the award-winning "Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy"). Guest stars include Peter Davison ("Doctor Who"), Jan Ravens ("Dead Ringers"), Philip Jackson ("Poirot"), John Fortune ("Bremner, Bird & Fortune"), Morwenna Banks ("Absolutely"), Stephen Moore ("The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy") and returning cast members Olivia Colman ("Peep Show"), Jim Carter ("The Golden Compass") and Billy Boyd ("The Lord Of The Rings"). This CD contains over thirty minutes of additional unbroadcast material.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21741 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-13
• Released on: 2008-11-13
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Binding: Audio CD

Customer Reviews

Gently does it
The second in Douglas Adams' brace of Dirk Gently novels is the better of the two books in my opinion and makes a great audio. Harry Enfield has settled into the role brilliantly, and his take on the eponymous `Holistic detective' is near perfect. Investigating `the inter-connectedness' of all things, Dirk encounters Norse gods Thor and Odin, on Earth and wreaking havoc. He also has to deal with a homicidal furry giant, a manipulative and lascivious goblin, a violently television obsessed child, and his old nemesis Inspector Gilks; the most sarcastic and cynical police detective ever to (dis)grace The Force.
This audio book is in its originally broadcast episodic format with some bonus material that didn't make the final transmission. The music and sound effects are top-notch, the casting inspired and the story pleasingly beefed up by contemporary additions that didn't exist when the book was written in the late 1980s. With its attractive cover artwork, this is a great package and would make a great gift for fans of black comedy, sci-fi and fantasy novels - or all three combined!

Maggs pulls it off again!
To complain that a book by Douglas Adams is based on a bizarre and esoteric premise is pointless (and to miss the point utterly - it's all about the journey...). So I won't. I would say, however, that this had always been my least favourite of his novels: only semi-brilliant :o)

So, the radio series? This is a wonderfully engaging and cleverly-paced adaptation that shows off the genius of the original magnificently. Better than the book, possibly? (hell, that'll get me some black marks!).

Despite my initial reservations about Harry Enfield, he's settled into the title role so consummately, I'd find it difficult to imagine anyone else supporting the hat now. The rest of the cast is smack on the mark too: talent of the highest order throughout. The references to Hitch Hiker are blatant, but wonderfully affectionate. The whole team clearly felt they had a duty to their source.

Delightful!

Not really Douglas Adams
I'm giving this two stars (instead of one) because the acting is top-notch.
The script, however, is a shame. I understand that in a radio dramatisation, you have to cut some parts and rework others. But what is the sense in adding unneeded characters, whole new parts and jokes which have got nothing to do with Douglas's humour?
Furthermore, what really works in the original books is that they are like puzzles: pieces are spread throughout the story, and in the end they all fit perfectly and you discover what all the strange things that apparently made no sense were about. *That* is the meaning of 'holistic'.
Instead, this script happily reveals all you're supposed to discover later right away. I realise the production could not find any other way, but that's just the result of a very bad job; it takes away the crucial point on which the books are based - and titled.
If you're a hard-core fan, you'll probably want to buy this anyway - but prepare to be disappointed. If you aren't, you'd be better off reading the original book.