The Da Vinci Code

Rating:
Summary: Perfection!
Review: A mix of Indian Jones and James Bond! It was a pleasure Mr. Brown. Please write more soon!

Rating:
Summary: rated four stars because i like the genre
Review: a much better book though is eco's "foucalt's pendulum".

Rating:
Summary: Wow...History and Drama!
Review: A murder at Louvre museum with more deathly consequences than originally imagined, sets into motion plot upon plot with secrets that may or may not be best if revealed. Who do you trust? That's the question Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu must answer, and this is only the beginning. This book will lead you on a crusade that in the end makes you wonder how far are we willing to extend ourselves to hurt, help or protect another.

One thing I loved about this book is that it seemed real. So often books are written where you find yourself saying, "That wouldn't happen" or "Come on, give us (readers) some credit here." Not only was this book entertaining, but I learned things that made me in the end say, "Wow!"

It's difficult for me to find many books that cause me to stop and say to others, "You must read this book." One author who comes to mind was Og Mandino. Personally, I enjoyed The Da Vinci Code, and I take my hat off to Dan Brown for this obviously well researched piece of Da Vinci-like work!

Vanessa Davis Griggs
Author of: Promises Beyond Jordan

Rating:
Summary: Great Promise, Fizzled Story
Review: A murder victim's last desperate effort to pass along an ancient secret kicks off a real page-turner of a thriller. Dan Brown does a masterful job of weaving art history, symbology, and ancient Christian rumors and conspiracy theories into a compelling murder mystery. The rich detail built into each chapter has the reader all but booking travel to Paris and London to experience the settings and the history; the provocative thesis surrounding the Holy Grail will have the reader searching the web and amazon.com for additional information.

So why only 3 stars? Other critical reviewers have correctly blasted the way Brown hits the reader over the head Heinlein-style with his lectures and theories-as-fact. As the plot progresses talk supplants action (a huge no-no for murder mysteries); the story timeline is actually faster than the elapsed time required to read the book. Robert Langdon goes from professor to suspect-on-the-run back to professor, and the book grinds to a monotonous crawl as a result.

In addition Brown asks the reader to suspend belief too many times. In the opening scene a masterpiece is ripped from the wall of the Louvre, followed by approximately 15-20 minutes of (implied) dialog, a shooting, and some fancy multi-layered puzzle set-up. Reality would seem to dictate that half the Paris police would arrive within 90 seconds of the alarm going off. Later police let Langdon, now a suspected high-profile mass murderer, escape not once but twice, and still later police let a hulking albino shoot his way out of a trap and, while seriously wounded, carry an injured bystander into a hospital and then walk out. Yeah right. And don't even get me started about "The Teacher".

Perhaps the most serious fault, however, is the lack of character development. As implausible as it sounds, we learn more about the albino assassin than anyone else. In a normal murder mystery this wouldn't be an issue, but given the nature of Brown's central thesis character development is an absolute must. Without giving too much away, the ending only makes sense (and, in hindsight, the book is only satisfying) if we learn far more about the character with the famous lineage. Instead that character is vapid and one dimensional, a true throw-away caricature found in any Mickey Spillane whodunit or even, dare I say it, certain late-night Cinemax productions.

By all means, pick up a copy of The Da Vinci Code, spend several nights reading it, and then spend a few more nights researching the Holy Grail. It's a best seller, so you should be able to borrow a friend's copy. When you're done you'll probably return to bookmarked Holy Grail "Favorites" on your web browser rather than the book itself, so I don't recommend that you actually buy it.

Rating:
Summary: really bad cliche driven tripe
Review: A nice story idea, but so so badly executed. He tries to create a sense of high drama by resorting to hyperbole. His characters swing from sullen, to grinning, to suspicious to astounded over basically nothing, all within the same two sentences. Over and over again. This is a new low. The worst book I've ever read. He makes Anne Rice look talented.

Rating:
Summary: Great Novel, Factually Flawed
Review: A page truning novel which catches you from the first moment. A murder in the Louvre, a chase across Paris, a mystery which goes back centuries. It's all a great read for a cold winter's night. But part of the fun is the pretense that there is a fact based story inderlying the mystery. Jesus had a wife, Mary Magdelaine, who is the Holy Grail and secret societies, persecuted by the Church, have been protecting these truths through the many centuries, including Leonardo da Vinci in his time. Unfortunatley the underlying research is flawed in many respects. The 'facts' are largely based on "Holy Blood, Holy Grail", which is a collection of amusing speculation tieing disparate bits of story, information and coincidences together and, in some cases, ignoring established facts.

Enjoy it as a novel. Ignore it as history.

Rating:
Summary: Wow!!! Wow!!! Wow!!!
Review: A page turner that as soon as you are done, you will want to start all over. We bought this book only two weeks ago and already it has changed hands 4 times. Impossible to put down once you have started.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good
Review: A page-turner that invokes history, which I love, like Craig Furrnas' novel THE SHAPE, and such books, so if you're inclined toward thrillers with some "throw back" plotting, you'll love THE DA VINCI CODE.

Rating:
Summary: Oh YES!
Review: A perfect gem. The only people who will respond negatively to this book are narrow-minded religious types who are terrified to discover that everything they believe in is a hideous attempt to cover up truth and beauty and light. Dan Brown is a genius to take knowledge that has belonged to the inner circle of academics/art historians/religious scholars and brought it to the wider populace through a popular genre-- the mystery thriller. He deserves major kudos. Bring on the Age of Aquarius!! Age of Enlightenment!!

Rating:
Summary: Pleasure
Review: A pleasure to read. It's a fictional book meant to entertain, that's all. And that it does. Another book that gives me pleasure, that I also re-read this week is, The Little Guide To Happiness. Funny book.