Rating: 
Summary: A fun quick read
Review: This isn't an especially well-written book but it's very interesting and very provocative. The idea that there are competing strains/versions of Christianity and that the official church (the Vatican) has acted to destroy or at least suppress the truth is an old one but Dan Brown uses this idea to great effect.
The characters are interesting and the plot moves very quickly---this is a real page-turner. Brown constantly leaves you guessing and you are never sure who is on the side of the hero and heroine and who is opposed to them. I loved the interaction between Langdon (the hero---a Harvard professor) and Sophie Neveu (the heroine---a Parisian cop and cryptologist). The action in the book occurs over abt a day or two and Sophie and Langdon's relationship is true to this. Many thrillers have the hero and heroine fall madly in love within a 24 hour period as they are being chased by bad guys---this is pretty unrealistic! Brown doesn't fall into this trap. His characters have only just met and they maintain a professional and very real relationship throughout the book (no sex on the run). My only complaint (and it's very minor) is that Brown doesn't include a "Historical Footnotes" page. I wanted to know what was true and what was not true in the book! Buy this---and reserve a day to read it. It goes very quickly and you won't regret it!
Rating:
Summary: A good work of fiction
Review: This isn't the best book I have ever read, but it did keep me on my toes and I like that. I was totally shocked at the twist near the end and really liked Brown's historical viewpoints. I know that it is probably tainted with his own biased ideas but he made some interesting judgements and I like hearing other peoples perceptions. But that isn't the point, sometimes you read a book just to read a book! I love to read, and I don't have to completely love everything I read, simply finding something that sparks my curiosity or gives me new ideas is great. The best part about fiction is that it doesn't have to be picked over with a fine comb, it can just be read with the hopes of finding something entertaining. I liked most of the characters and the basic plot. I have read my fair share of suspence and mystery novels and I think this books scores pretty high on my personal list of favorites. I hope you can read it and enjoy it as well.
Rating: 
Summary: Pap & Treacle
Review: This leviathan of inanity has generated such a tremendous amount of attention that I was suckered into reading it. After doing so, I honestly can't understand why it got any attention at all, let alone the busloads it did... it lacks both the emotional depth of even a mediocre novel and the energy of a Grade C bus-depot thriller. I honestly can't fathom why, after reading this terrible book, one would want to do anything other than try to eradicate any trace of it from one's brain. I could say that it's numbingly pedestrian, that it's deplorably ordinary, or that it's unsettlingly tiresome, but in the end what matters is that "The Da Vinci Code" is dull, dull, dull...
Rating:
Summary: Interesting possiblities.
Review: This lively mystery takes us all the way back to the time of Jesus and Mary Magdalene and to a centuries old search for the Holy Grail. Along the way we meet a fairly interesting cast of characters and events filled with the twists and turns that leave the reader speculating on who is friend and who is enemy, and whether or not the hero and heroine will fall in love. I was intrigued by the author's exploration of the relationship of Jesus and Mary Magdalene and of the way in which Christianity and Catholicism over the centuries has supposedly dealt with woman and their potential for power and influence. The story of the battles within the church and the endless intrigues that resulted were fascinating and, for the most part, credible. I found the end of the book just a bit flat and the tieing together of the various threads somewhat of a stretch of the imagination. Otherwise the book was an enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: You'll feel smarter having read it
Review: This may not be the best thriller ever written, but I felt smarter just having read it. There were enough interesting facts and thought-provoking ideas to cover up the predictibale story-line and the cartoonish characters.
Rating:
Summary: Breaking the code of good conduct
Review: This might be a book for buffs of pseudo-history, or just plain preposterous premises pretending to be facts of history. Fooling around with Christ is kind of like trying to kill a rattlesnake with your bare foot, if you know what I mean. But if Dan Brown wants to try it, fine. I find it kind of funny that everyone wants to read this book, which is supposed to be SERIOUSLY good, when it is rather silly, drawn-out and corny. I mean, how can someone making a pretentious dork of themselves be considered REAL literature? This is a book for your romance novel reading granny. I highly doubt, as someone who has her Ph.D in English, that this book will ever transcend time on its positive merits. ;) I certainly wouldn't waste your time on this garbage (I'm sorry I did;)) when there are so many good books out there. One being the Bible, which really makes Dan Brown look like a jerk.
Rating: 
Summary: A Thrill Ride!
Review: This murder mystery set against a religious conspiracy theory wastes no time is getting started. It's an incredible page-turner tapping into religious history, architecture and, of course, Leonardo Da Vinci's paintings. I terrific holiday gift for anyone who enjoys plot-driven suspense novels! Don't hesitate to put down your money on this one! Also recommended: Life of Pi by Martel, The Losers' Club by Richard Perez
Rating:
Summary: Dan Brown's 4th and best book
Review: This mystery thriller doesn't disappoint as it examines how history might have been rewritten if certain historical events had played out differently. Multi-layered, the book takes readers on a trip through a puzzle that requires a different set of operating instructions for each of the levels. And here's the fun part: when you've finished the book, you can go further in the quest via a website!
Superb.
Rating:
Summary: Dan Brown's 4th and best book
Review: This mystery thriller doesn?t disappoint as it examines how history might have been rewritten if certain historical events had played out differently. Multi-layered, the book takes readers on a trip through a puzzle that requires a different set of operating instructions for each of the levels. And here?s the fun part: when you?ve finished the book, you can go further in the quest via a website!
Superb.
Rating: 
Summary: Classical literature this is not...
Review: This novel has deals with a number of fascinating subjects: cryptography, art history, history of the Christian Church, among many others. However, Brown has packed WAY too much into this novel, including a stereotypical Hollywood-structured race-against-time, to treat any one of these subjects with any seriousness. The character development beyond the two protagonists is very shallow at best, and even they are not rendered fully except as superheros who don't tire, don't make mistakes, and even acheive superhuman leaps of logic at 3am. The believability of this work goes out the window after about 100 pages, but you're committed by then, so you might as well finish it, as long as you can hold your nose to the outrageous, flawed finale. Clearly, Brown writes in a formula for the masses, meaning he boils things down to a high-school level of education and trite plot tricks for this piece of "entertainment." For example, he "hides" the "answer" deduced by characters from the reader until later chapters, but two paragraphs earlier, we were inside the characters head! A cheap suspence mechanism. Brown could have done so much more and written with much more sophistication and realism. The mere fact that 99% of the book occurs within 24 hours (minus the thin, awkward "flashbacks") undermines the sense of reality Brown attempts to create. Clearly, this will become a film and will do as well as the John Grisham novels-turned-movies. Nothing spectacular, yet so many will continue to shell out cash to this author via Century theaters. Oh well.
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