The Club Dumas

The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte

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I came to this book after watching the Roman Polanski/Johnny Depp movie “The Ninth Gate.” In the movie, Johnny Depp is a book buyer named Corso. He is hired by Balkan (Frank Langella) to compare Balkan's copy of a demonic book said to have been written by Satan with two other known copies. Balkan is a Satanist who wants the book because of its reputation of being a book by which Satan can be summoned. On his trip, Corso is attacked by other people who are after the book. Murders occur and the other copies mysteriously disappear or are destroyed. Along the way, Corso is befriended by a mysterious, beautiful young woman, who at random times floats down stairs in “watch or you'll miss it” scenes that are never mentioned or explained.

After reading the book by Arturo Peretz-Reverte, I have a much better idea of how the pieces fit together. In the Reverte novel, the Satanist is not Balkan, at all, but someone else. Balkan is the narrator of the story, at least in the parts that are first person. Reverte's novel stitches together two unrelated mysteries: one being the pursuit of the Ninth Gate book mystery, the other being a folio of handwritten notes concerning a chapter of the Three Musketeers by Dumas. The novel was revised to eliminate the latter plot and move characters around to serve the former. That's why Balkan becomes the Satanist in the movie. Likewise, “the girl” remains mysterious, but we get a better understanding of what her mysterious mission is.

I enjoyed the book far more than the movie. The book did provide two mysteries, one involving the satanic book, the other involving the Dumas manuscript. We are led down the primrose path by one of the mysteries. The Corso character was engaging. The “girl” was mysterious and probably a fallen angel. The story moved along at a nice clip.