Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic read!
Review: I first picked up this book after seeing the movie The Ninth Gate, directed by Roman Polanski, and he was the one who reccomended reading the book. I was a bit dissapointed with the referrences to older books and the confusion around them, since I've never read them nor do I speak Latin, which is also included in the book in phrases. But those things are just perks to those who have experience with both. The detail in character descriptions is what pulled me into the book immedialtely. I found to be continuing character events in my head even after I finished the book. I was also inspired to check out some of the older titles mentioned. Definitley interesting and satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: Devilishly Good Read
Review: The Club Dumas isn't your typical mystery. Lucas Corso isn't your typical detective. So if you would enjoy something outside of the formulic mystery genre this novel will keep you reading late into the night. I couldn't put this book down. Like the main character Lucas Corso, I just kept getting more into the "game" as the story went on. Arturo Perez-Reverte has created an intriguing novel about about the world of antique booksellers and dealers. The reader is treated to details about the literary world and the quirky people who inhabit it. Lucas Corso describes himself as a literary mercenary who could possibly sell his soul to get the best aquisition. We follow him as he begins the story helping his only friend Flavio Lapont by authenticating a manuscript written by Dumas himself. Simultaneously, he is hired by a client to verify the fact that the book The Nine Doors of the Kingdom of Shadows is a forgery. Somehow these missions become intertwined as Corso's life becomes enmeshed in the mystery of the Dumas manuscript "The Three Musketeers" and the satanic significance of the Nine Doors novel. During his quest, Corso encounters a mysterious female and various characters that he names after characters from the "Three Musketeers." As the mysteries become more sinister and life threatening the pace picks up and the reader is swept into the bizarre world of the people who hold the other copies of the Nine Doors book and the simultaneously flowing plot about the Dumas manuscript. This isn't a light read but heavy on inferences with an ending that may leave some unsatisfied. I loved the detailed story with the references to historical facts interwoven with fantasy about the devil. An excellent novel.
Rating: 
Summary: The devil made me read it...
Review: 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 on the subject matter at hand?'I am a fairly well-read person (I am told I am too modest, and that I qualify as a very well read person, but I don't want to claim too much, lest some diabolic force leap forward to claim me back for my sin of pride, a particularly bad thing for those of holy orders, as every guide and advice to the priestly states since the days of Irenaeus). But I digress. But this is in keeping with the flavour of the novel. Unless you like digression, stay far away (run, don't walk!) from this novel. But, if you go in for the seemingly endless, barely understandable and eventually irrelevant, then by all means, this is the book for you. I would not have read this book but for the urgings of friends who were similarly reading this, and wanted to compare notes. Thanks, guys! Now, I must hasten to add at this point, I did find myself enjoying the book several times. I don't mind the digressions, but I found the attempts (subtle but there) to equate Corso with a Holmesian character unconvincing (and the attempts were subtle enough that Perez-Reverte could claim they aren't actually there). Apart from Holmes, he ignores most of English literature--when he talks of those who wrote in serial form, i.e, Stendahl et alia, he neglects those such as Dickens. I would love to have the card catalogue Perez-Reverte was sitting next to as he wrote this; perhaps he used Amazon.com and other internet searching to add that final irrelevant entry in each of the listings of books. I am a bibliophile. I sit in a room, such as Perez-Reverte describes in several places, where shelves sag on walls groaning from the strain of heavy books, heavy in content as well as mass weight. I have several such rooms in my home. But I couldn't quite find the same love of books in this book, where sometimes bibliophilia was a fetish, and other times a useless detail. Basic plot--is it a murder or is it a suicide? What does the manuscript have to do with it? Dumas (who wrote, among other things, the stories involving the Musketeers) is seemingly at the centre of things, along with a possibly-phoney book of occult forbidden knowledge, for which men will die (obviously) or kill. There is diabolic force at work, maybe. Corso is the rare-books expert called in to investigate the case, who doesn't always like the role of policeman. Perez-Reverte seems intent on impressing us with his erudition in the field of literature and continental travel. It would be impressive if it were consistent and organised along better lines, and woven into a story where such details made a contribution. This book, as a mystery, fails to deliver because it both gives more information than is necessary (which can be an effective device, forcing the reader to separate 'the wheat from the chaff', or figure out which strands to follow; sadly, that is not the case here) and insufficient information in the strands which count to allow the reader to 'figure it out' (another sin, often difficult to avoid when one is trying for a 'complex' novel; even Conan Doyle frequently failed on this point). In all, this is an inventive idea, with interesting character formation; for some reason, neither the story nor the characters get developed sufficiently (either in size or direction) to make this a first-class novel. The New York Daily News described this book as 'A cross between Umberto Eco and Anne Rice' (Eco is very prominent here, as Perez-Reverte is obviously trying to emulate and cash in on Eco's prominence in the richer-and-book-purchasing English-speaking world). The New Yorker gets even more, well, New-Yorker-ish: 'A noir metafiction [please someone, tell me just what that means, in English??] Even a reader armed with a Latin dictionary and a copy of The Three Musketeers cannot anticipate the thrilling twists of this stylish, Escher-like mystery.' Perhaps one of the reasons one cannot anticipate 'the thrilling twists' is the inconsistency in the novel? Just a thought. Escher-like...well, yes, you read one thing and it turns out to be another (for instance, I thought I was reading a great novel, and it turned out to be...) No, that is unfair. It is worth reading, but not devoting much time toward. Use as a diversion, not a devotional. I won't spoil the ending for you. I don't like it when others do that for me. You'll have to suffer as I and my fellow readers did to find out. You may love it! You may despise it! Yes, it is one of those books.
Rating:
Summary: A creepy detective story, not a horror novel.
Review: Unlike the film, "The Ninth Gate", this is a detective story, not a supernatural thriller. I suspect that Roman Polanski's horror movie may have turned away potential readers from this finely crafted book. As most reviewers have written, the character of Lucas Corso is well-developed. Unfortunately, that cannot be said of most of the other characters, who remain relatively flat to the end of the story. This is particularly disappointing in the case of Irene Adler. On the other hand, there is much revealed of the characters through dialog. One quickly appreicates the unscrupulousness of the book restorers visited by Corso as he discusses with them how a book might be 'perfected' during restoration. Although some reviewers are put off by the literary and historical references, without them this books would lack a basis for understanding the two literary mysteries Corso seeks to solve, and why he begins to think they are interrelated. Actually it is not necessary to follow all the literary illusions to understand the plot or the central mysteries. These references mainly just add to the mood that this is an intellectual puzzle as well as a whodunit. They are largely intellectual wallpaper. The few literary and technical facts that one really does require to understand this book are conveniently explained by the author, although that may occur several chapters down the line. Just be patient! Finally, despite the comparisons to the work of Umberto Eco, I wouldn't place Perez-Reverte's novels in the same league. Perez-Reverte's books are written to be accessible and entertaining, not deeply philosophical, and in this he succeeds.
Rating:
Summary: pulp Robbe-Grillet
Review: This is a trickster novel with literary pretensions...but the pretension is mostly about Dumas, basically a pulp novelist himself. So this is a pulp novel about an old pulp novel posing as some kind of high literature. Its quite entertaining for a while, but the plot gimmicks become somewhat tiresome and the end is entirely anti-climactic. The good bits are the details about the Three Musketeers, the parallel references and the mystery of the "Nine Doors" - which gets a frisson of excitement going because of the satanist aspects...this isn't fully exploited and you get the feeling that P-R is like Corso: the whole thing is a big tedious joke. In the end, it's like a nouveau roman for high school students - go back and try Robbe-Grillet's "Erasers" or "Maison de Rendez-Vous" if you want the real thing. David Warner does a pretty good job with the audio version, his voice for Corso being especially good, but even he can't inject sufficient tension into the plot to maintain interest.
Rating:
Summary: A dark, clever thriller
Review: This is a literature-loving whodunit. The main character, Lucas Corso, tries to unravel the mysteries of two texts, one a supposedly original chapter from The Three Musketeers and the other an ancient guide to contacting the devil. He is helped and hindered by a fascinating group of characters as he muddles his way to the end. I was engaged the entire way and gratified by the twist near the end. I enjoyed this book a great deal even though I haven't yet read Dumas; this book has inspired me to correct that omission.
Rating: 
Summary: Porthos Meets Poirot in this Ambitious Literary Mystery
Review: This outstanding novel is neither high literature, nor a cheap dime-store paperback. But there are times in consuming this book you would swear you were reading both. Far from the current climate of overdone and overly dramatic (read: depressing) "serious" novels of the day, this book is full of action, intrigue and mystery without ever sinking to the pedantic plot twists that let the reader know the author is hoping he (or she) is writing the next blockbuster movie script. It is a book for lovers of books and it is spectacular.
Lucas Corso is an odd and refreshing protagonist as he is something of a (literal) literary mercenary both as a dealer of rare books and an authenticator of manuscripts. Early in the novel he finds himself in the possession of an original chapter of Dumas' Three Musketeers at around the same time he is commissioned by a patron to verify the authenticity of one of only three copies of an occult tome entitled "The Book of the Nine Doors" which is purported to have the power to summon the Devil himself. Both pieces begin him on a quest for which he is not prepared (and which he often resents) full of mystery and murder and intrigue and things that go bump in the night. Corso scowls his way from clue to clue, trying desperately to finish his quest and return his life to its pragmatic norm all the while being sucked further and further into a dark and alarming world that spirals out of all control. It makes the very good point that the man (or woman) who quietly appreciates a novel like "The Three Musketeers" from the comfort of their living room may very well resent having to live that adventure out in everyday life.
Steeped in literary tradition and reference, this book is a treat not to be missed. Blending elements of Dumas, Doyle, Christie, Eco, Rice and a generous heaping of originality and wit, it is an "old school" book that makes you seriously miss the old school (and makes you wonder why you have wasted your time with the trite flavor of the month). It is smart, it is fun and just when you think things have wound down to a satisfying conclusion, it socks you with things you have forgotten and becomes grand. The last page had me howling out loud and putting this book on my "must re-read forever" list. It will certainly have you hunting up more books by Arturo Perez-Reverte.
As a quick aside (and since I mentioned movies in the opening paragraph), this book HAS been made into a movie by Roman Polanski entitled "The Ninth Gate" staring Johnny Depp (the books cover copy tells you so). Skip it. It is a disappointing travesty that little resembles its source material. I was offended by its banality and wished I could recover the two hours of my life I spent watching it.
But this is, as always, simply my opinion.
Rating:
Summary: better than average
Review: If I had to put it down to one sentence, it would have to be "this should have been Umberto Eco's second novel instead of Focault's Pendulum". Indeed, Eco is alluded to 3 times throughout this novel, twice indirectly ("the professor of semiotics from Bologne", "brother William Baskerville"), and certainly the Dumas Club has the sort of intrigue, mystery and occult conspiracy that we tend to enjoy in Eco's work.
The creation of the antiquarian bookdealing underworld is marvelous as is the book "The Nine Doors". For a while however, I was concerned that this book would have a nebulous type of ending that is more appealing to literature than genre. But in keeping with the spirit of the detection/adventure genre, the author delivers the goods.
Two things make this book interesting as a mystery novel. Firstly, two streams of plotline dovetail and momentarily seem to converge before splintering off again - unusual but fascinating. Secondly, there is more than one villain revealed (the first more fun and surprising than the second).
Yet the low rating I have given is because somehow upon reaching the end you are left rather undernourished, as most of the loose ends are tied-up. It seems that the book's individual parts are greater than it's sum, to reverse a popular saying. Still, it is a joy to make the journey for which alone I would give 5 stars. 3 stars for the resolutions.
By the way, I think the young mysterious and beautiful girl, understandably a literary device, smells too much of a midlife-crisis fantasy than anything else.
Rating: 
Summary: Sloppy and overrated.
Review: The Club Dumas is a mediocre detective story dressed up with literary references. The style is by turns overwrought and predictable. The characters, with one or two exceptions, lack any depth at all. And mistakes appear everywhere: the narrator slips and refers to himself in the third person, a one-armed woman tears a page out of a book and rips it into tiny pieces, "clausae patent" is translated as "they will open that which is closed," woodcuts are continually referred to as engravings, etc., etc. I cannot recommend this.
Rating:
Summary: Could We Organize the Literary References?
Review: Book detective Lucas Corso, stumbling over myriad erudite literary references as he goes along, learns the hard way that playing Three Musketeers can be a deadly game, but finds consolation in his discovery that the devil, impersonating a georgeous nineteen-year-old woman, can be man's best friend. The novel should really come with a bibliography of its literary references. I've posted my effort at doing this on the Web; write me if you want the link.
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