Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

(Dirk Gently, #1)

by

Mass Market Paperback, 306 pages

English language

Published Aug. 7, 2002 by Pocket Books.

ISBN:
9780671746728
OCLC Number:
806295684

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5 stars (1 review)

There is a long tradition of Great Detectives and Dirk Gently does not belong to it. But his search for a missing cat uncovers a ghost, a time-traveller, AND the devastating secret of humankind! (back cover)

25 editions

reviewed Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams

I understand why people rate it with 3 stars

5 stars

Let me get it straight: the ending is very Adamsian. I have an unsubstantiated feeling (one could say "a belief") that Douglas Adams never cared much about the endings.

The reason I'm giving it my favorite 4.5 is the pure joy of Adams capturing so many concepts from what is by now computer science folklore, but at the time of writing the book was on the forefront of software engineering. The book is written in 1987, mind you.

And perhaps that's another reason many gave it three stars. Adams, not unlike his character, really liked to talk about computers in detail.

Subjects

  • Science Fiction - General
  • Fiction / Science Fiction / General
  • Fiction - General