This second Dirk Gently book is a considerable disappointment after the first. There are a few quite good ideas in it, but they're used rather half-heartedly. Dirk Gently appears in the book but is almost irrelevant to the plot. Adams really didn't get it all together this time.
The background story is that the Norse gods are still alive (being immortal), but are rather neglected and at a loss for what to do in the modern world. They're also being exploited by a sharp lawyer.
The foreground story is quite slight and involves Dirk Gently, of course, plus a young American woman called Kate Schechter, and the late Geoffrey Anstrey, who failed to take a contract seriously enough.
You can read this book if you liked the first Dirk Gently book and you're desperate for more. It's not completely worthless. But don't expect too much.
Written in March 2007