8 h 13 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 8 h 13 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the man across the card table wants more than your money—he wants control of your mind?
In Norbert Jacques’s Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler, Germany after the First World War is gripped by inflation, fear and restless pleasure. Mabuse moves through this shaken world in disguise: a doctor, gambler and hypnotist with a hidden criminal network. At the card table, rich young Edgar Hull becomes one of his targets.
State prosecutor Wenk senses a single mind behind a string of strange crimes. He follows facts and patient detail; Mabuse relies on surprise and the power to bend other people’s wills. Their struggle drives a fast crime story through a city where trust wears thin, appearances deceive, and the hunger for thrills leaves people exposed.
What you’ll discover
- A criminal with many faces Meet a master of disguise whose shifting identities make him hard to pin down.
- Patience against surprise Follow Wenk as he brings careful attention to crimes shaped by a ruthless opponent.
- More than a card game Watch gambling become a test of power, with Edgar Hull among the easy marks.
- A city hungry for thrills Enter a world where fear and restless pleasure sit close together.
- Quick scenes, sharp turns Feel the pace of a thriller that gives uncertainty little time to settle.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy pursuit stories with disguises, secret hideouts and night drives will love this book, as will those drawn to Weimar Germany, early psychology and hypnosis.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Hull loses control of his will
- Wenk learns to hunt through disguises
- Every pursuit becomes another trap
- Mabuse wants a kingdom without limits
- Hull's murder makes fear a weapon
- Devotion exposes the countess to danger
- Gambling becomes the pulse of society
- Love unsettles the struggle for control
- Keeping your will becomes the question
Who’s who
- WenkA Munich state prosecutor who leaves a comfortable career to fight gambling fever and sets out to catch the man behind it.
- Dr. MabuseA psychiatrist who is also a master of disguise and hypnosis, and who runs a criminal empire to pay for a kingdom in Brazil.
- HullA wealthy, easygoing young man who loses a fortune at cards without knowing why and becomes the prosecutor's first witness.
- Countess Dusy ToldA bored aristocrat who seeks danger in gambling houses and offers herself as Wenk's helper, then falls under Mabuse's power.
- Count ToldThe countess's gentle husband, a collector of modern art who is ruined at a card table he never meant to cheat at.
- Cara CarozzaA dancer who leads victims to the gambling rooms and is bound to Mabuse by a love she cannot give up.
- SpoerriA Swiss smuggler who serves Mabuse with fear and loyalty and carries out his orders on the border.
- GeorgMabuse's chauffeur and inventor, who drives the doctor's cars and boats and goes by many names.
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Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler
by Norbert Jacques · 1921
Hull holds twenty-one yet throws away his cards, and a Munich prosecutor hunts the gaze behind it.
Medium level5–10 hours to readEnglish
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In short
What would you do if your own voice told a lie at the card table, and your hand obeyed it? That is what happens to a young man named Hull in Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler.
Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 15 min4 h 10 min fast, 6 h 15 min slow
- Length
- 75,200 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1921by Norbert Jacques
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A stranger takes Hull's will at cards
The book opens in a Munich gaming club. An elegant old gentleman with a white pearl stickpin sits down to play twenty-one. He gives his name as Balling. Young Hull, heir to an industrial fortune, has brought him along.
Balling takes the bank, and Hull begins to lose. In the last round Hull shouts va banque and sees twenty-one. Then something inside him flings the cards face down and cries that he has lost. Balling's gray eyes flare, and he says only that it is too late.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1921
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 5 h 20 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Jacques, Norbert. Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/dr-mabuse-the-gambler.
Jacques, N. (2026). Dr. Mabuse, the gambler. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/dr-mabuse-the-gambler (Original work published 1921)
Jacques, Norbert. Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/dr-mabuse-the-gambler.
@book{jacques2026dr,
author = {Jacques, Norbert},
title = {Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/dr-mabuse-the-gambler},
note = {First published 1921}
}
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What is Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler about?
It follows Wenk, a Munich state prosecutor, as he tracks a gambler who wins by controlling people's minds. The trail leads to Dr. Mabuse, a psychiatrist who runs a criminal network and dreams of founding his own kingdom.
Who is Dr. Mabuse in the novel?
Mabuse is a doctor of psychopathology with powerful hypnotic skills. He appears in many disguises, runs smuggling and gambling operations, and hides his real life behind a brass plate on a quiet Munich street.
What does Eitopomar mean in the book?
Eitopomar is the name Mabuse gives to the private kingdom he wants to found in the Brazilian forest. All the money he takes is meant to pay for it, and it shows his wish to rule without any state above him.
The author
Norbert Jacques
1880–1954 · Luxembourgish novelist and screenwriter
Norbert Jacques was a Luxembourgish novelist, journalist, and screenwriter who wrote in German. He was born in Eich, Luxembourg, in 1880 and later lived in Germany. His novel Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler was published in 1921. He died in Koblenz, Germany, in 1954.
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