Rating: 
Summary: Magnificent thriller.
Review: 105 chapters, 104 cliffhangers that defy you to put down Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code."This book easily lives up to its hype and New York Times debut at #1. "The Da Vinci Code" is a thinking man's thriller...a knowledgeable suspense novel. Harvard symbolist Robert Langdon and French cryptologist Sophie Neveu team up when Sophie's grandfather (curator of the Louvre), is murdered. A breathless chase at a breakneck pace deciphering a combination of coded clues, hidden treasure, fascinating historical figures with a secret society link push the plot with a relentless beat-the-clock pressure. Empirical evidence and religious faith conflict leading you to jaw dropping conjectures. You will challenge all you discovered in school. Conspiracy theory buffs will love this book. Just when you think you know who are Langdon and Neveu's allies and enemies, you doubt your logic, change your mind and still remain unsure. Making "The Da Vinci Code" all the more enthralling is the knowledge that Priory of Sion and Opus Dei are real organizations. Attempt the "challenge" at ... You need not be a Mensa Society member to solve it, but it would speed the process.
Rating:
Summary: A must-read for all those Holy Blood, Holy Grail aficionados
Review: This book was fun to read. Even though people who read the kind of books mentioned by the characters in this novel already know all this stuff, it was great to see it used in a novel.
Rating:
Summary: This was a *great* book!
Review: For anyone who has that secret fascination (and who doesn't) with the Illuminati, Templars, Masons, et al this book is a must. It will cater to your secret passion in a buffet format and keep you wanting more. I must also say that I loved the character of Sophie Neveau. It is so hard to find a well-written feminist character. The traditional view is that they are always second fiddle to the square-jawed male. Not here! Sophie is intelligent, sexy, strong and brave -- even in parts where our male here is nervous, stymied, embattled. It's wonderful that in a book that focuses on the sacred feminine their relationship reall shows a (every?) man's battle with femininity and the strange instinct to love/hate, fear/need, virgin/whore it. And all that without being preachy - hey our guy can't drive an standard, but she can, and he willingly lets her! It's the way most writers misportray any minority - they have to make a big deal about it. Brown makes Sophie a HUGE deal by not making a deal about it! After I wrote that I had to up it from 4 stars to 5, it takes some craft to pull off the above. The other great thing was the RESEARCH. Brown put a lot of work into this and it shows. For anyone who writes and speaks with hidden meaning (or veiled allusion to the genetic roots of words) and amuses themselves (and occasionally others) to death with their parenthetical semieosis-laden way of thinking, this book is an absolute joy. These people, of which i consider myself one, will love Brown's 3rd person omniscient university professor interlocutor style. The plot seems fairly linear, like a 'follow this string to the goal at the end' chase through a big house, you always know that you're working to find the next scavenger hunt clue. I found this to be (sorry) a bit monotonous of a trick. Although 3/4ths through the book brown played an absolute coup d'eteat -- as i thought I'd solved one riddle just a few paragraps later he said 'No that's not it.' I had to laugh out loud that he had played me for a dupe! I loved it, I knew he knew how he was pulling us along. This book was a quick read, but not fluffy. i enjoyed it very much and am going to read some of his other works. Keep up the work Mr. Brown! Us stacks-rats love seeing our kind light up the mental silver screen.
Rating: 
Summary: Good read but what a load
Review: This is a good mystery with puzzles to solve, historical sights, interesting happenings and escapes, but flimsy in its basis. Enjoyed it but couldn't take it seriously at all, almost laughable. But you might like it.
Rating: 
Summary: Fact or fiction?
Review: This is a very interesting book, but dangerous for people who are not very well read in real history. I would advise people who read this book to remember this is fiction and purely fiction. I have read some reviewers who talk of the contents of this book as "fact". It is purely the imagination of Dan Brown. As interesting as and clever as the book is , the premise behind the whole thing ( which i won't give away) ruined the experience for me. I am glad I read the book so I know what it really is about and where the author wants me to go. I just feel sorry that so many people think it is so great and are so quick to accept the version of history proposed by the book. I can only recommend this book for people who are well learned in history and who take the book for what it is, a suspenseful and clever piece of fiction, and not a true history . When reading this book the reader would be well advised to know the difference between fact and fiction. One final bone to pick with the author: Why pick Opus Dei? I mean, why pick on them?
Rating:
Summary: Could Not Put It Down.... six ( 6 ) stars, if available!
Review: This is the best intellectual thriller in a long time. This book has it all....murder, mystery, religion, art history, and puzzle solving. I immediately went to danbrown.com to check out the actual photos of the places and paintings he discusses in his novel. I've recommended this one to all my friends. Don't wait for the paperback! For a terrific murder mystery in paper-back, read Freeman's MURDER IN KEY WEST... it's got it all, as well.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a good book.
Review: This book set my teeth on edge. The anti-Christian types will love it.
Rating:
Summary: Clutch-and-stagger corn
Review: Rave reviews from Publishers Weekly and BookSense 76 lead me to believe that "The Da Vinci Code" was just the thing for fans of intelligent thrillers by Arturo Perez-Reverte or Wilton Barnhardt's "Gospel." It is just the opposite. Those are the sort of readers who will be bored stiff by this novel's cardboard characters, cornball plot, and melodramatic writing. "The Da Vinci Code" is rife with factoids about Church history, the symbolism of the pentacle, Opus Dei, and Fibonnaci numbers which are pretty interesting and propel the plot for awhile, but showing off tidbits of knowledge is no substitute for actually creating believeable fiction. This book will work better as a movie (its obviously intended purpose) when actors can flesh out the characters, a director can create some atmosphere, and the factoids may sound profound and less like a lecture. More intelligent, more fun, and more exciting time can be spent rereading "Gospel," or discovering that big juicy book for the first time.
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Summary: Dan Brown is brillant
Review: My first experience with Dan Brown was with Angels and Demons (another brillant novel). The Da Vinci Code is superb. Dan Brown has a consistent ability to integrate factual information in a fictious plot...something that I have never seen in an author. I find myself talking using the facts in his books as conversational pieces. I am and always will be a Dan Brown fan. Go and read this book!
Rating:
Summary: Truly Masterful, and INCREDIBLY Addicting!
Review: It has been quite some time since I cracked open a novel that was as compelling as 'The Da Vinci Code'. This is my first novel by Dan Brown, but I assure you it will not be my last. This story headlines one incredible world-class 'What If' scenario: What if Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and produced children? What if there were a secret society charged with not only keeping this as quiet as possible, but also to protect that seed at all costs? What if the clues to the very existence of the mythical Holy Grail were contained within some of the most famous art work of Leonardo Da Vinci? What if all this WASN'T just the fertile imagination of Dan Brown, but rather a factual group of stories tied together with a fictional premise? Get ready for the ride of your life as 'The Da Vinci Code' opens up the world of Cryptology and Symbology in easily one of THE MOST overall entertaining novels I have read in several years. What is so truly amazing about this tale is the depth of research that Dan Brown so obviously put into all of this Grail Lore and how he convincingly ties it all together. I sat with my mouth open on many occasions as I pondered his phenomenal imagination and how he managed to put it all in one book -- and making it so compelling that you keep promising yourself that you'll stop reading...AFTER the next chapter. One of the curators of the famous Louvre Museum in Paris is suddenly targeted for elimination by shadow forces that aren't what they seem to be as the story unfolds. He is shot and left for dead, but before his life ends, he quickly leaves several clues for Sophie Neveu (his granddaughter) and Symbologist, Robert Langdon to discover. Before he realizes what has happened, Robert finds himself the chief target for this murder and Sophie mysteriously helps him to escape, hoping to fully decipher the riddles left behind by her Grandfather. Maybe I'm just horrible at figuring out these clues, but to my feeble mind they all seemed stunningly clever how they played out and how it led them on an adventure only to discover that the original puzzles left behind were only the beginning of a much larger list of historical clues, all of them REAL clues that have been documented over the centuries, all which lead them on a quest that just might find them discovering the legendary Holy Grail -- but it turns out NOT to be what you might think, in fact it came as a total and amazing surprise to me. Again, what found me so impressed with this story was how all of these seemingly unconnected clues are all REAL and verifiable, and Dan Brown has managed a way to include them seamlessly in his novel. From Paris to the outskirts of London, this well-told tale moves along at a frenetic pace in what I would describe as one of the best stories I have ever found. Dan Brown should be congratulated on piecing together such a highly complicated story, all while making it completely understandable and thoroughly entertaining at the same time. I will be recommending 'The Da Vinci Code' for a very long time to come and anxiously look forward to discovering a few of Mr. Brown's previous novels...in short, BUY THIS BOOK. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
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