The Club Dumas

By: Arturo Pérez-Reverte

Narrated by: David Warner

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 of the original manuscript of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers, Corso is brought in to authenticate the fragment.

Soon the unsuspecting Corso is 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' masterpiece.

©2006 Arturo Perez-Reverte (P)2009 Phoenix

Critic reviews

"Suspense-filled and ingenious, Perez-Reverte's latest...is also something of a primer on the rare-book business and a witty meditation on the relationship between book lovers and the texts they adore. ( Publishers Weekly)
" The Club Dumas is a thinking person's thriller: in addition to a riveting plot, the book is full of intriguing details that range from the working habits of Alexandre Dumas to how one might go about forging a 17th-century text. Woven through these meditations is enough murder, sex, and the occult to keep both the hero, Lucas Corso, and the reader hopping." (Amazon.com review)

My Blasphemous Review

I say blasphemous because I'm about to utter words that will offend every self-respecting reader: The move was better. How many people do you think would have read "To Kill a Mockingbird" if not for the movie? The same here. I worked backward from the movie and Polanski did this book a favor by dropping most of it's rambling on the cutting room floor making it into a screenplay. He managed to extract just the key worthwhile elements and weave them into a concise story that is mesmerizing to the viewer. This book rambles as if the published said "here's the number of pages you need to fill regardless of whether there's enough story to cover them". Excellent narration--still 4 our of 5, but w/o the narrator a solid 3 for being the scrapbook source material of a good movie.

The Ninth Gate and then some...

Most readers of The Club Dumas are probably coming from the film The Ninth Gate. Where the film focuses narrowly on the story of The Nine Doors to the Kingdom of Shadows, the novel tells a much larger story involving a recently-discovered original fragment of The Three Musketeers, a manuscript whose pursuit is drenched in mystery, action and maybe even a little bloodshed. I highly recommend this one, and it's reader, veteran actor David Warner, gives a wonderful performance. You'll listen to this one again and again.

The Nine Gates

I loved the movie! I enjoyed the original telling of this story. If you love books and love a good story, this is for you ..IMO.

Interesting concept, starts strong but diminishes

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Not really. It draws you in quickly, but fades so much toward the end that it leaves you very dissatisfied.

Which character – as performed by David Warner – was your favorite?

The characters were all decent, but the story line was not.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

no.

Of course it's not the movie.

Would you listen to The Club Dumas again? Why?

A true delight. Abridged, but a lot of its beautiful prose remains. David Warner's performance is delightful, terrific. Yes, it's not the movie. It has an entire plot line missing from the movie which makes for a much richer and intellectual journey.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Club Dumas?

It's one memorable moment after another. Seriously. Beautiful prose, beautifully read.

Have you listened to any of David Warner’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

When the devil tires of us, what then?

My go-to book

Love the book, the abridged version here performed by the great David Warner is my go-to book when i cannot decide on something to read. There is one flaw in this recording that jumps several chapters to an exchange between the main character and his associates and then jumps back not sure why it seems so out of place and does not contribute to much more than leavening you scratching your head wondering what is happening? Otherwise I recommend it and I recommend buying the book and reading the full unabridged version.

Great horror novel

This was the book the ninth gate movie was based on. Much better than the movie.

David Warner is magnificent!

Although the story gets very convoluted and almost capricious at times, Warner’s performance and Perez-Reverte’s colorful writing is what sells this book for me.

Exciting and unpredictable plot.

I watched the movie The Nineth Gate before reading the book. I was pleasantly surprised that they were quit different and the plot of the book had many subtle twists and turns that the movie did not. it was wonderful to be in the mind of the main character rather than just watching it. This story inspires me to continue my voracious book collecting. You never know what you might find in an old book!

Not the Movie

What would have made The Club Dumas better?

This is rare, the book was not as good as the movie.

What was most disappointing about Arturo Perez-Reverte’s story?

The story's ending was disappointing

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

I like the idea of a book having a duel purpose. I found the premise of a club using such elaborate measure to select members a bit far fetched.