The long dark tea-time of the soul

by Douglas Adams

No cover — Douglas Adams: The long dark tea-time of the soul (1988, Heinemann)

246 pages

English language

Published Aug. 13, 1988 by Heinemann.

ISBN:: 978-0-434-00921-3

(135 reviews)

The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul is a 1988 humorous fantasy detective novel by Douglas Adams. It is the second book by Adams featuring private detective Dirk Gently, the first being Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. It was followed by the Salmon of Doubt, an incomplete Dirk Gently novel included in a posthumous collection of the same name. The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul has been adapted for radio, and several plot lines appear in the 2010 BBC TV series.

24 editions

jonn reviewed The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams (Dirk Gently, #2)

Great for Adams's fans, a bit stretched for the normal people.

4 stars

Surreal, but a bit jumbled. I liked it, but could have been a short story.

The topic discussed the most was the topic of cheating the systems' constraints and the backlash of consequences.

It's somewhere between 3¹/₂ and 4, but I'm giving it 4 because it is seriously underrated. Of course, it's less of a banger compared to the first book, but there's no need to go Gentle Giant fan on it.

Gentle Giant was a British progressive rock band that released a number of albums so novel and captivating, almost nobody have understood them. But those who did, at least to a degree, got very upset when they have started making music that was just good, if not a little poppy. It led to the bands eventual demise.

Granted, Douglas Adams neither cares, nor cared for the people calling his works "rambling" or his thinking too shallow (or indeed …

Surreal, but a bit jumbled. I liked it, but could have been a short story.

The topic discussed the most was the topic of cheating the systems' constraints and the backlash of consequences.

Granted, Douglas Adams neither cares, nor cared for the people calling his works "rambling" or his thinking too shallow (or indeed too deep, by those boasting about their ignorance), I still feel it would be a bit unfair to reduce the overall rating of the book by rating it as 3.5.

Paul Oldham reviewed The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams

Rambling, and disappointing

2 stars

I bought this book for a second time (it turned out, although I still can't find my original copy but it is allegedly lurking somewhere in the house) and read it after a recommendation from someone on Mastodon but as I read it I remembered how disappointed I'd been the first time.

Fundamentally I think there's an interesting plot idea here but Adams' unravelling of it is confusing and assumes the reader knows as much as he does about Norse mythology and hence he can't be arsed to explain.

lijadora reviewed Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams (Dirk Gently, #2)

Review of 'Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

A good pass time, funny & witty.

reverse reviewed Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams (Dirk Gently, #2)

Review of 'Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Good, but not feeling as naturally well paced as the first book.

matt reviewed Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams (Dirk Gently, #2)

Review of 'Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Not as funny as the previous book. As with the late Adams in the Hitchhiker's series, he goes completely off the rails in the final act and leaves a rather unsatisfying ending.