I’ve just finished reading Douglas Adams’ final book The Salmon of Doubt.
It’s not really his last book. Or rather it’s not how his last book would have been if he had been around to finish it. It’s actually a dozen or so chapters from various drafts of the book that were found on his hard disk after his death. And this is the frustrating thing. You know you’ll never know exactly who has been sending Dirk Gently $5000 a week. Or why. Or what DaveLand has to with any of it[1]. I guess this is as close as I’m ever going to get to knowing how Dickens fans feel about not knowing the ending of The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
In order to pad the book out, the publishers have included lots of other articles and interviews that were found on the hard disks of various computers. Many of these are classic Adams. It’s a really enjoyable book. Or, at least, I found it so right up until the point where the sudden ending of The Salmon of Doubt reminded me why the book will never be finished.
[1] Personally, I really liked the idea of DaveLand.