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The Dumas Club [Paperback]

Arturo Perez-Reverte (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Publication Date: 1 Feb 2000
"A cross between Umberto Eco and Anne Rice. . . .Think of The Club Dumas as a beach book for intellectuals." --New York Daily News

Lucas Corso, middle-aged, tired, and cynical, is a book detective, a mercenary hired to hunt down rare editions for wealthy and unscrupulous clients. When a well-known bibliophile is found hanged, leaving behind part of the original manuscript of Alexandre Dumas's The Three Musketeers, Corso is brought in to authenticate the fragment.

The task seems straightforward, but the unsuspecting Corso is soon drawn into a swirling plot involving devil worship, occult practices, and swashbuckling derring-do among a cast of characters bearing a suspicious resemblance to those of Dumas's masterpiece. Aided by a mysterious beauty named for a Conan Doyle heroine, Corso travels from Madrid to Toledo to Paris in pursuit of a sinister and seemingly omniscient killer. Part mystery, part puzzle, part witty intertextual game, The Club Dumas is a wholly original intellectual thriller by the internationally bestselling author of The Flanders Panel and The Seville Communion.

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Product details

  • Paperback: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Random House USA Inc; 1st Vintage International Ed edition (1 Feb 2000)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0679777547
  • ISBN-13: 978-0679777540
  • Product Dimensions: 20.4 x 13.2 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 219,295 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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  • See Complete Table of Contents

More About the Authors

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Sonia Soto
Arturo Pérez-Reverte

Product Description

Review

PRAISE FOR THE CLUB DUMAS
"An intelligent and delightful novel." -THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
"A cross between Umberto Eco and Anne Rice . . . Think of The Club Dumas as a beach read for intellectuals."-THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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First Sentence
My name is Boris Balkan and I once translated The Charterhouse of Parma. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Devil in the details 4 Aug 2006
By Mr. JC Mitchell
Format:Paperback
I'm writing this review in response to the one above it, although erudite it might put some people off that would take great pleasure from this novel.

I must confess that I only looked into reading this after seeing the film that's based on it, The Ninth Gate, which captures the atmosphere created in the novel brilliantly, that of a fevered, devoted set of uber-collectors of demonic texts - and the lengths that they will go to obtain others.

In my opinion if you are a lover of books, have a smattering of knowledge of the occult and can suspend your disbelief for a couple of hours then this is one of the most rewarding literary experiences that I've had recently. Like the reviewer sharing the page with me, I too am a bibliophile.

For best results, I recommend reading this whilst listening to the film soundtrack by the immensely talented Wojciech Kilar, or indeed anything by him.

My only complaint is that there is a dearth of similar material of sufficient quality to go on to once you have finished.....
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Esoteric thriller 3 Sep 2011
By Bob
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought `The Club Dumas' because it was the source for `The Ninth Gate'(1999) which I'd enjoyed.

The book's prologue mirrors that of the film but the book's first sentence ("My Name is Boris Balkan and I once translated `The Charterhouse of Parma'") signals the great divide from Polanski's effort. Those familiar with the film will immediately sense something's awry. In contrast the film's opening lines: ( `An impressive collection. You have some very rare editions here. Sure you want to sell them all?') points the audience in a very different direction. In fact, Polanski et alia ignore THE Red Herring of the novel and develop a far simpler product.

The reader who wants a snappy thriller may be disappointed because the book offers something more. It really settles down into three distinct esoteric areas and the reader's attention may become stretched by any or all of them. The first is the analysis and collection of rare books, the second is the work of Alexander Dumas and the third covers books dealing with the occult. I found the first two fascinating but the last caused me to skim through eight pages when Pérez-Reverte slips into `Dan Brown mode' and reproduces gibberish bordering on the insane. It has been described as `a beach book for intellectuals' but I wouldn't quite agree. The intellectual would be seeking collaboration for some of the books and ideas cited and, even with surfing the Internet, they aren't easy to track down. The author has weaved FACT very successfully into FICTION - and note which forms the basis. I found I'd learned a lot through this book - about rare books NOT how to summon up Satan! - but the ending bemused me. It's far cleverer and more intricate than the film, but should that be true of a thriller?

Overall, it's a good, stimulating read but one which will bring most rewards from study outside its covers.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A thinking man's mystery noir combined with Sherlockian elan 31 Oct 1997
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
This book is a true book lover's treat. An intelligent mystery noir set in both the drawing rooms of rich Spanish book collectors, and in their back alleys where some deals need to be consummated. Enter Corso, a reluctant Indiana Jones of the literary set, and erudite mercenary of the written word.

Corso is hired to verify the bona fides of a text attributed to Dumas, and becomes involved with the search for a Satanic manuscript. The manuscripts themselves are mysteries, as is the beautiful young girl who acts as his guardian (angel?)... well, at any rate, guardian. Then there's the buxom blonde and the dark stranger with the dueling scar, and the three musketeers, the friend who may or may not betray him, and all the dead book collectors, and; anyway, you get the picture.

As I said, this is an intelligently written book and is not written for mystery fans per se; it was written to raise the genre to the level of literature, and here it succeeds on many levels. One of my favorite parts is a rewrite of Moby Dick that begins "Call me Queequeeg" and refutes Ishmael's flowery view of whaling. This is a great book, but one I could only recommend to those with a love of literature as well as mystery.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars Except that Alexandre is in a much better club than this
The reviewed is 1996 Harcourt Brace & Co, hardcover edition.

Nominated (by the publisher) for a few genre awards which it failed to win. Read more
Published on 13 Sep 2010 by launcelot
5.0 out of 5 stars much better than the film
I read this book years ago (thanks Amazon) imagine my joy when I heard that it had been made into a film, imagine my disappointment when I watched the film and saw the travesty... Read more
Published on 8 Jan 2010 by Tallulah
5.0 out of 5 stars The Club Dumas
I bought this because I loved the film The Ninth Gate. The book is even better ! An occult thriller that you wont be able to put down.
Published on 5 Feb 2009 by S. Mcknight
3.0 out of 5 stars interesting plot - boring result
I recently found myself picking this novel, following the advice of a friend of mine.

I saw the movie first and the more I've read the book, the more it became apparent... Read more
Published on 3 Jan 2009 by D. Q. RAMOS
3.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as I had hoped.
I purchased this book after having seen it compared with The Name of the Rose - a novel I had thoroughly enjoyed.

It is set in the world of book collecting and dealing. Read more
Published on 23 July 2007 by Mr. D. J. Walsh
3.0 out of 5 stars The devil made me read it...
My first thought when setting out to write this review was, 'Hmmm, I wonder how many irrelevant and obscure titles I can work into the review, that may or may not shed some light... Read more
Published on 26 April 2006 by Kurt Messick
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