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Description edit
"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.... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Characters/People edit
- Lucas Corso: Book hunter / dealer.
- Rochefort: Liana Taillefer's henchman.
- Varo Borja: Bookseller, owns a copy of "The Book of Nine Doors of the Kingdom of Shadows".
- Liana Taillefer: Widow Enrique Taillefer; played the part of Milady.
- Victor Fargas: One of the owners of the Nine Doors who has sold all of his possessions and some of his books to pay for the upkeep of the others.
- Flavio La Ponte: a friend of Lucas Corso ; bookseller.
- Makarova: A bartender at a bar that Corso frequents.
- Aristide Torchia: The original printer of The Nine Doors that left a guide to summoning the devil in his book.
- Cardinal Richelieu: The antagonist in the Three Musketeers.
- Enrique Taillefer: a dead book collector; owner of the manuscript of "Anjou Wine".
- Pablo: Add a description of this character.
- Irene Adler: a young woman in her twenties with striking green eyes, who was also at the café listening to Balkan's lecture.
- Maquet
- Gruber: The concierge at the hotel in Paris that helps Corso
- Taro Borja: The book collector that hires Corso to investigate the Nine Doors to determine if his copy is truly a forgery
- Ney
- Amilcar Pinto: Corso's friend who is a book dealer and who has recently acquired "The Anjou Wine" chapter by Dumas
- Zizi
- Athos: One of the musketeers from The Three Musketeers
- Sintra: A place
- Replinger
- La Presse
- Porthos: One of the musketeers from The Three Musketeers
- Virgil: an author
- Boris Balcan: editor / reviewer; narrator of the story.
Quotes edit
-
“I wouldn't recommend it. That's how it starts. Murder doesn't seem like a big deal, but then you end up lying, voting in elections, things like that.”
Lucas Corso -
“Commerce is a good thing. Goods moving, coming and going. It generates wealth, makes money for the middlemen...Products have to circulate. It's the law of the market, of life. Not selling should be banned: it's almost a crime.”
Almicar Pinto -
“I don't like presents...some guys once accepted a wooden horse. Handcrafted by the Achaeans, it said on the label. The fools.”
Lucas Corso -
“And I think that the best cut of all is the one you get here...In the femoral artery. While you're in somebody's arms.”
Lucas Corso -
“Yes, game. Suspense, incertainty, a high level of skill... The possibility of acting freely yet according to rules, as an end in itself. With a sense of tension and pleasure at the difference from ordinary life... Do you think that's an adequate definition? As the second book of Samuels says: 'Let the young men now arise, and play before us.' Children are the perfect players and readers: they do everything with the utmost seriousness. In essence, games are the only universally serious activity. They leave no room for skepticism, wouldn't you agree? However incredulous or doubting you might be, if you want to play, you have no choice but to follow the rules. Only the person who respects the rules, or at least knows and applies them, can win. Reading a book is the same: you have to accept the plot and the characters to enjoy the story.”
Boris Balkan
First Sentence edit
My name is Boris Balkan and I once translated The Charterhouse of Parma.
Table of Contents edit
I. The Anjou Wine
II. The Dead Man's Hand
III. Men of Words and Men of Action
IV. The Man with the Scar
V. Remember
VI. Of Apocrypha and Interpolations
VII. Book Number One and Book Number Two
VIII. Postuma necat
IX. The Bookseller in the Rue Bonaparte
X. Number Three
XI. The Banks of the Seine
XII. Buckingham and Milady
XIII. The Plot Thickens
XIV. The Cellars of Meung
XV. Corso and Richelieu
XVI. A Device Worthy of a Gothic Novel
Errata edit
On page 60 a word is left out of a sentence. The sentence reads, "Investigate 'The Nine Doors' as if were a crime." There should be an 'it' between 'as' and 'if'.
On page 109 the date THU/3/21 is displayed on a computer. In Europe dates are written day and then month. This may be due to the translation of the novel from its Spanish original.
On page 130 - "... with one bare foot she stroked the instep of the other. Corso pictured her toenails painted red under the black stockings." Bare is defined as without covering or naked, therefore, this is the incorrect usage of the word.
Series & Lists edit
This is book 94 of 99 in NPR's Top 100 Killer Thriller. (community list)
This is book 222 of 1286 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- Arturo Pérez-Reverte (Author)
Other Contributors:
- Sonia Soto (Translator)
- Peter Bush (Translator)
- Margaret Jull Costa (Translator)
First Edition edit
Original Language: Spanish
Publisher: Circulo de Lectores, S.A. Barcelona
Country: Spain
Publication Date: 1993
ISBN: 8422694891
Page Count: 408
Publisher: Circulo de Lectores, S.A. Barcelona
Country: Spain
Publication Date: 1993
ISBN: 8422694891
Page Count: 408
Awards edit
- Anthony Award (1998: Best Novel, nominee)
- Macivity Award (Finalist, 1998: Best Mystery Novel)
- World Fantasy Award (1998: Best Novel, nominee)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 868'.64
Subjects edit
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Movie Connections edit
- The Ninth Gate (1999) (IMDb): A rare book dealer, while seeking out the last two copies of a demon text, gets drawn into a conspiracy with supernatural overtones.
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