mystery

Once I began this extraordinary book, I could not put it down. "The Da Vinci Code" is so much more than a gripping suspense thriller. Dan Brown takes us beyond the main plot and leads us on a quest for the Holy Grail - a Grail totally unlike anything we have been taught to believe. With his impeccable research, Mr. Brown introduces us to aspects and interpretations of Western history and Christianity that I, for one, had never known existed...or even thought about. I found myself, unwillingly, leaving the novel, and time and time again, going online to research Brown's research - only to find a new world of historic possibilities opening up for me. And my quest for knowledge and the answers to questions that the book poses, paralleled, in a sense, the quest of the book's main characters. What a trip! What a read!

A violent murder is committed in the Louvre Museum. The museum's chief curator, who is also the head of a remarkable secret society that has existed since the death of Christ, is found dead and gruesomely positioned on the floor near The Mona Lisa. In the minutes before he died, this very complex man was able to leave clues for his daughter to follow. The daughter, a brilliant cryptographer, along with a famed US symbologist, follow her father's codes and leads, hoping that he will, through his death, finally tell her what he wanted to confide in her while he lived. The secret society included members such as: Leonardo Da Vinci, Boticelli, Gallileo, Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, Jean Cocteau, etc. These folks really Did belong to this society, which Really existed! This is when I first began my online search.

The mystery, or mysteries, take us through England, France and far back in time. We learn about the secret of the Knights Templar, and the symbolism in many of the world's most treasured paintings, as well as architectural symbolism in some of history's most sacred churches. Of course, we also learn who committed the murder and why - although this is almost secondary next to the real epic mystery the novel uncovers.

If there are flaws in the plot, I was too busy reading to discover any. That is probably the sign of a terrific book! The writing is excellent and the characters are a bit on the super-hero/heroine side, but who cares? Is what "The Da Vinci Code" proposes true? Well, the research is correct. The historical events and people explored in the book are real. But no one knows the Truth...nor will we ever, probably. I think that some things are meant to be a mystery. With all the world's diverse religions and each individual's belief in what is Divine - the Truth would have to destroy the beliefs, hopes and lives of many of the world's population. So, perhaps, in the divine scheme of things, there are many more Truths than one. Don't take the book too seriously. Just read it and enjoy!

This book is definitely absorbing. I read it in two days. Not only is it a quick read, but it peaked my interest in biblical history such that I've spent the days since finishing the book looking into various areas of history that Brown discusses. Although this is suffcient to earn five stars from me, it is hard to accept the more general claims that Brown makes in this book. He provides many interesting vignettes regarding how christianity absorbed various pagan symbols and rituals, but his over-arching claim that Christianity ushered in the modern era of misogyny is simply nonsense. Just a basic familiarity with Homer reveals that women were treated as chattel thousands of years before Christ or Nicea. Just about every major ancient ruler was male, and their myths invariably centered on males. While Christianity/Judaism may have been the first religion without an explicitly female goddess figure, that fact hardly distinguishes a misogynist world from a world of equality.

Anyone accepting Mr. Brown's thesis must explain why the modern concept of female equality arose solely in nations with christian histories. Non-christian cultures have a horrible record regarding their female citizens. That certain African cultures retain female goddess symbols must be small consolation to the actual flesh and blood women who live there as distinctly second-class citizens.

THE DA VINCI CODE has been #1 on the best seller and as I write this it has already been reviewed exactly one hundred times on Amazon. Thus, after summarizing the plot, I will attempt to make this review as helpful as possible by briefly discussing the author's four books, comparing the plots, and describing and analyzing his writing style in summary fashion.

Harvard professor and symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to the Louvre to help Captain Bezu Fache of the Paris Judicial Police unravel the clues surrounding the body of the murdered curator, Jacques Sauniere. Sophie Neveu, a police cryptologist soon arrives, and it almost immediately becomes clear that it will take their combined skill and knowledge to follow the trail laid out by Sauniere before his death. As they attempt to uncover the hidden secrets of The Priory of Sion (a real organization that is hundreds of years old and has included as members Issac Newton and Leonardo Da Vinci, both of whom figure in the story), their search leads them to several Paris locations and eventually to England. Of course, others are also on the trail, including Captain Fachu, a huge albino monk, and an unknown formidable opponent who appears to be the only person in possession of a complete overview of the puzzle which they are trying to solve. The story combines history, murder, intrigue, wordplay combined with cryptanalysis, romance, religion and art. These elements are combined in such an incredibly captivating way that the pace never slackens as you are constantly being bombarded with both new facts and puzzles to solve. (I only solved one of the puzzles before Langdon and Neveu, and it is the one on which the author gives the reader some help.) The pace is fast and the narrative has several threads which merge to provide a surprising and satisfactory conclusion.

This is Brown's second book involving Robert Langdon. My review of ANGELS AND DEMONS (Amazon 4/1/03) provides a detailed overview of that book. While this is not a sequel which requires that book to be read first, ANGELS has additional background regarding Langdon's character and academic specialty which made this book more enjoyable for me. Both involve religion, art and symbology, and both a have well researched and accurate historical basis. Thus they are superficially similar. However, ANGELS has three significant differences. First, it assumes further scientific advances and takes place in the future while DA VINCI takes place in the current day. Second, philosophical questions regarding the frequent conflicts between religion and science form the basis of the story and are the basis of some of the best passages in ANGELS. The philosohical implications of the mysteries involved in this story are just as complex but the discussion is much less profound. Third, in ANGELS the conflict among the various religious factions of the Catholic Church did not go the heart of the basis of Christian beliefs but rather to the existence and nature of God, the questions raised by this story are much more profound for Christianity. (This factor accounts for some of the critical reviews.)

A common element in all Dan Brown's books is the very compressed time frame in which the stories occur. The tension is heightened by a race against the clock as an integral element of the nature of the various adversaries; this technique helps to make the stories real "page turners". In DA VINCI, the complete story except for a short epilogue incredibly takes place within approximately twenty four hours, yet the pace seems true to the events. (In order to give you an idea of the compressed time frames Brown utilizes, this is roughly double the time frame of ANGELS.) Both DECEPTION POINT (his third novel) and DIGITAL FORTRESS (his first book) also utilize this technique.

All the author's books involve extensive knowledge about the subjects involved, which is always imparted in a manner that keeps the reader's interest. Thus, they are for the reader who wants not only fast paced action but intelligent and absorbing fiction, a very different genre than the also enjoyable best selling James Patterson (at least until THE JESTER, see review of 3/15/03). DECEPTION POINT involves computer hacking and introduces the theme ofcryptanalysis which is revisited in DA VINCI. DECEPTION POINT involves science, oceanography, NASA and politics, unfortunately it veers into implausibilty.

In summary, Dan Brown knows how to keep his readers' interest. While each of the four books can be read independently, I would recommend reading ANGELS (available in paperback) if you only have time to read one or before reading DA VINCI. DIGITAL FORTRESS is an excellent first novel although not as polished as the later works. The subject is more specialized and probably won't appeal to as wide a range of readers. DECEPTION POINT is well written but had the only conclusion that disappointed me thus is not as highly reccommended as the other three novels.