A surprisingly familiar plot, with twists

So I’m reading this book, The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, that I picked up because it had some good reviews and I kind of liked other things I’ve read by the author. His books are a bit eccentric but intriguing enough to be interesting. This one isn’t my favorite of his that I’ve read, but it isn’t a bad book.

Part of the problem may be that, as I read, I realized that I knew some of the story because I had seen parts of a movie based on the book - ‘The Ninth Gate’ starring Johnny Depp (I looked it up). I haven’t seen the entire movie, and it only has part of the story – not unusual for a movie made from a book – so it is very different. I’m not sure it isn’t better for that, or could have been (again, haven’t seen the whole thing so I don’t know). To be fair the parts of the plot the movie used are much more complex and nuanced in the book. There’s also an entire plot the movie ignores.

Though the book has plot complications that are there for reasons I do not know and can’t get from the reading. Maybe I’m too dense, or maybe the plotting is too arbitrary and self-indulgent. I get the feeling that it’s the latter. Whatever.

This is the first non-swashbuckler I’ve read by Pérez-Reverte, and I’ll read others to see what they’re like. I’ve read mostly earlier work and I want to see how his books develop. I may have to try to find out more about how and why this one was written. It seems to explain a lot about his other books, though, as in revealing the books the author loves and his influences.

And it does fit the October theme.