As I've mentioned before, at one time I was doing movie reviews for Joe Bob Briggs' newsletter. I was recently over at Joe Bob's current website and noticed that he was looking for folks willing to do 'book reviews'. Hell, I'm a Librarian and certainly have free time on my hands, so what the heck.

Anyway, I haven't heard yet if I have a slot, but I wanted to post the review I submitted. To be honest I whipped it off in about 10-15 minutes, so don't expect much. Still I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will get me a gig with Joe Bob once again.

Here's hoping! :-)

The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte

Adapted into the film THE NINTH GATE by Roman Polanski (starring Johnny Depp) the book is set in contemporary Europe. The novel deals with the search for a 17th century book, whose publisher was burned alive by the Inquisition. With only three known copies surviving a mass book burning, the manuscript is sort after by various parties, all with their own agendas. Said to have been written and illustrated by Lucifer himself, the book is said to contain a hidden code that will allow a person to conjure the Devil.

The novel’s ‘hero’ Lucas Corso, who makes his living finding and selling old books & manuscripts, becomes involved in a scheme way beyond his abilities. Although not above using some underhanded methods of his own (including thievery and a corrupt policeman) to get his hands on items desired by his employers, and having loyalty only to himself, Lucas is ill-prepared to find himself dealing with murders, conniving widows and a beautiful young student, who is not what she seems at first.

Told by an acquaintance of Corso’s after the fact, and jumping back and forth over months and even centuries, Perez-Reverte has created much more than a simple mystery. In reading the book I was reminded of Umberto Eco’s NAME OF THE ROSE, since you’ll find a copy of a Latin-English dictionary pretty useful. It’s also helpful to have at least a passing knowledge of THE THREE MUSKATEERS and other works by Alexander Dumas to follow the plot, since Corso and others seem almost as interested in detailing the life and writing of that gentleman as they are in finding out whether or not they have a genuine copy of the book or a forgery.

By the halfway point in the novel, you’ll probably know more about not only Dumas, but also the history of bookbinding and Napoleon’s fate than you had ever thought possible. Oh, and did I mention that Corso and his pals like to toss around some Melville when things get boring?

What does the handwritten chapter for a draft of a Dumas book have to do with the suicide of its former owner? Why is his widow first willing to seduce Corso and next trying to kill him? Who is the mysterious stranger with a scar following Corso?

Convoluted and involved barely define the plot of this tale, but I couldn’t put it down. Not only did the story keep me riveted, but it actually inspired me to read up on Dumas to see if the ‘facts’ laid out in the novel were true or not.

Hey, who said that a good liberal education would go to waste?