Synopses & Reviews
#1 International Bestseller
"A thriller of marvelous intricacy."The New York Times Book Review
Lucas Corso 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 original manuscript of Alexandre Dumas The Three Musketeers, Corso is brought in to authenticate the fragment. He is soon 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.
"Erudite, funny, loopy, brilliant . . . action-adventure spiced with dollops of idiosyncrasyand some very good talk."The Philadelphia Inquirer
"A noir metafiction . . . 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."The New Yorker
Arturo Perez-Reverte is the internationally best-selling author of CAPTAIN ALATRISTE. His books have been translated into twenty-nine languages in more than fifty countries and have sold millions of copies worldwide. He lives in Spain and was elected to the Spanish Royal Academy in 2003.
Review
"A cross between Umberto Eco and Anne Rice....Think of The Club Dumas as a beach book for intellectuals." New York Daily News
Review
"[F]reewheeling, ambitious....Suspense-filled and ingenious, Pérez-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
Review
"An intricate and very bookish mystery novel....Bibliophiles will love this witty and clever fabrication, though its very specialized content may place it just outside the range of the general reader." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"[A] novel that's witty, suspenseful, and intellectually provocative....[U]ltimately the real mystery of The Club Dumas lies not so much in the story itself as in what the reader has created from it." Brian Kenney, Booklist
Review
"Plenty of thrills...Pérez-Reverte pulls it all together with elegance." Chicago Tribune
Review
"A stunner...an eerie, erudite mystery." New York Newsday
Review
"This is the sort of story that either intrigues you, or leaves you cold. Consider me intrigued. I've read The Club Dumas twice but there are passages and chapters that I've reread many more times, mostly dialogue exchanges between Corso and another character, discussing arcane lore, legends, and the checkered histories of disreputable texts. For a certain type of reader, this book is irresistible." Chris Bolton, Powells.com (read the entire Powells.com review)
Synopsis
Lucas Corso is a bibliophilic mercenary in the middle to two searches. He needs to prove if a manuscript of The Three Musketeers is genuine. He must also find the solution to the enigma of a diabolic book, burned with the printer in 1667, and of which only two other copies are known. The mystery leads him from the Holy Office to books condemned by the Vatican; from dusty old bookstores to the most select libraries owned by important international collectors.
Synopsis
#1 International BestsellerA thriller of marvelous intricacy (The New York Times Book Review), The Club Dumas is a provocative literary thriller that playfully pays tribute to classic tales of mystery and adventure.Lucas Corso is a book detective, a middle-aged mercenary hired to hunt down rare editions for wealthy and unscrupulous clients. When a well-known bibliophile is found dead, leaving behind part of the original manuscript of Alexandre Dumas's The Three Musketeers, Corso is brought in to authenticate the fragment. He is soon 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's masterpiece. Aided by a mysterious beauty named for a Conan Doyle heroine, Corso travels from Madrid to Toledo to Paris on the killer's trail in this twisty intellectual romp through the book world.Erudite, funny, loopy, brilliant...action-adventure spied with dollops of idiosyncrasy -- and some very good talk. -- The Philadelphia Inquirer
Synopsis
#1 International Bestseller"A thriller of marvelous intricacy" (The New York Times Book Review), The Club Dumas is a provocative literary thriller that playfully pays tribute to classic tales of mystery and adventure.Lucas Corso is a book detective, a middle-aged mercenary hired to hunt down rare editions for wealthy and unscrupulous clients. When a well-known bibliophile is found dead, leaving behind part of the original manuscript of Alexandre Dumas's The Three Musketeers, Corso is brought in to authenticate the fragment. He is soon 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's masterpiece. Aided by a mysterious beauty named for a Conan Doyle heroine, Corso travels from Madrid to Toledo to Paris on the killer's trail in this twisty intellectual romp through the book world."Erudite, funny, loopy, brilliant...action-adventure spied with dollops of idiosyncrasy -- and some very good talk."--The Philadelphia Inquirer
Synopsis
Lucas Corso 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 original manuscript of Alexandre Dumas's
The Three Musketeers, Corso is brought in to authenticate the fragment. He is soon 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's masterpiece. Aided by a mysterious beauty named after a Conan Doyle heroine, Corso travels from Madrid to Toledo to Paris in pursuit of a sinister and seemingly omniscient killer.
Part mystery, part puzzle, part witty intertextual game, The Club Dumas is a wholly original intellectual thriller by the author of The Flanders Panel and The Seville Communion.
About the Author
Arturo Pérez-Reverte was born in 1951 in Cartagena. He is a television journalist who has reported on some of the world's most dangerous crises. He is the author of three other books: The Fencing Master, The Flanders Panel, and The Seville Communion.