THE DA VINCI CODE by Dan Brown
Dan Brown's new novel THE DA VINCI CODE is a book to appreciate rather than to enjoy. Sound confusing? Well let me explain. This book contains so much intriguing information you will feel as if your brain is on overload. There is an endless supply of data about a conspiracy by the Catholic Church to hide the true nature of the divinity of Christ. There, that should get your interest.
Author Dan Brown indicates that much of what he has placed in the book as far as information is concerned, is true. Whether or not you believe that is up to you. To make the information absorbable he creates a fictional story about a renowned scholar, Robert Langdon. He is in Paris on business and is summoned out of a good night's sleep by a French Police Officer, Bezu Fache.
He meets with Fache at the Louvre where he is told Jacques Sauniere, a curator of art at the Louvre, has been killed. Later a noted cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, arrives on the scene and convinces Langdon he is in danger. They flee the Louvre and embark on a dark and dangerous journey to uncover a plot by "someone" who is willing to kill for the information they unknowingly have.
The plot is a little ridiculous at times but it does keep the reader interested while he/she is gaining all sorts of information about clues hidden in paintings, riddles that lead to "the Holy Grail," and meanings that appear one way but are meant another. If you are a puzzle fanatic you will be overjoyed with the clues on top of clues portion of the story.
In the end the story just runs dry. Some revelations have been made but they are either earth shattering or non-believable, depending on your vantage point. It is the same kind of claims about conspiracies that the Kennedy Assassination Conspiracy advocates have been pushing for years now.
If you are reading this just as a thriller, you will probably be disappointed. If, however, you are reading it to gain some information about a possible Church cover-up of Christ's human-ness, then you will have a great time.
THE DA VINCI CODE is published by Doubleday. It contains 454 pages and sells for $24.95.