Rating: 
Summary: More like "Raiders" than "Da Vinci"
Review: I can see where some would compare this to "The Da Vinci Code," but for me it was more like "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Actually it was a combination of those two with some Umberto Eco thrown in for good measure. It's basically the story of four Princeton guys, and the narrator is the son of a scholar who has made it his life's work to study the book they're all trying to decipher (don't ask me to spell it here). There's a little of everything in this Caldwell/Thomason collaboration (as there is in the book they're studying) and you won't be wanting for something to keep the pages turning, but "Da Vinci Code" it isn't. Seemingly well written with some good twists and turns, I'd recommend it, along with two other books: "Birth of Venus" and "Bark of the Dogwood," both of which are excellent and on the same level as this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't believe the Hype!
Review: All the advance word was that this book would be the next "Da Vinci Code," even better. Well, don't believe the hype. This is a first novel and it shows. This is a freshmen effort with all the weaknesses one expects from new authors. There is nothing special about this book. "The Da Vinci Code" has been a bestseller for over a year now, "The Rule of Four," once word gets out will be lucky to last a month! I was very disapointed by this book.
Rating: 
Summary: The next big thing...
Review: The only thing negative anyone will have to say about this book is that it is "a lot like the Da Vinci Code." I think such a statement does this book a disservice.In fact, it is much BETTER than the Da Vinci Code. Yes it is as engaging as Dan Brown's work, but it happens to be much better written, at times even lyrical. It is also more than just a suspense story. The Rule of Four is a story about friendship and growing up, about making choices, and about history. The historical knowledge Caldwell and Thomason possess is truly impressive, and they do a wonderful job of leaving the reader feeling enlightened and entertained. A first rate novel that you too will want to recommend to your friends.
Rating:
Summary: Nearly Neal
Review: When I said years ago that it would take at least TWO writers to write as good a book as Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, I didn't realize anyone had taken me seriously! Enter The Rule of Four. Is it just as good? No. But it's the most fun I've seen with codes in a while, and it beats the h-e-double-hockey-sticks out of anything by Dan Brown. Polyalphabetic cryptography? Check! Steganography? Check! Fans of David Kahn rejoice! These guys did their homework! I get the feeling some of the heavier duty stuff in The Rule of Four was trimmed down for a more mass audience, which is why it falls shy of a Stephensonian accomplishment, but considering the heavy word play in this book (puns and etymology) and the narrative hall of mirrors between the main story at Princeton and the Renaissance book, I think there might be something more here, something written between the lines. He**a good, y'all.
Rating:
Summary: One To Be Savored
Review: I fell in love with this book almost from the first chapter, when the main character, Tom, describes the aftermath of a terrible accident that kills his father. The verbage is so rich, yet so personal, and at the same time so alive with semi-comic possibility. The cast of older characters (the main characters are college seniors, but a small bevy of older gentlemen help and hinder them at turns) have a rich, almost mythological quality to them, and the oldest character of all, Francesco Colonna, is a true gem. The story of what becomes of Colonna in late 15th century Italy is for the ages. One of the writers' tricks is their prose, each sentence of which seems to distill about a paragraph's worth of information from a lesser book. There are individual sentences here that deserve second and third readings, not because they are difficult, but because they are savory.
Rating:
Summary: Almost too smart for me...:)
Review: I just finished my ssecond year of college and heard about this book so I bought it and dang, talk about wishing I had done more of my home work! Some one should write a break the rule of four book about this one! It is not soooo hard, I mean I understood pretty much all of it, but don't try reading this one and driving at the same time... the people who wrote about this book are obviously college educated like the authors and maybe they thought this was an easy read. I found it at times challenging, but still enjoyable. The writing is not always easy to read. But one of my favorite books is the Davinci Code, which was not easy either and I would compare these two. This one is a little slower, but still good. Better than James Patterson. His books have not been very good lately, so its good to see other books being published to take his place!!!
Rating:
Summary: Very unusual
Review: I was misled by the reviews -- but I'm not complaining! I picked up this book in the airport, of all places, because a friend had shown me a review in Esquire or People (magazines I don't usually read). I was expecting a lame-duck thriller, something that would barely hold me over between the in-flight movie and the airplane shopping catalog. Boy was I wrong! The Rule of Four breaks the mold. How such an intricate, beautiful novel became a bestseller is beyond me! This is really a coming-of-age story, using an ancient book as a broad metaphor to contain the violence, passion, and uncertainty of being at a particular stage in life. A couple of the characters did strike me as having a whiff of cliche to them, but I can't think of a "college novel" that doesn't roll out a few old chestnuts to please the reader's expectations - the rich kid, the genius, and so on. The pleasure here is that the writers weren't satisfied to let the characters stand as cliches. Each character is transformed by the end of the novel - even the ones who are only peripherally touched by the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (the Renaissance book at the center of it all). I admit that I couldn't follow all the riddles and codes in here, and it only contributes to my impression of the novel that even without appreciating those things, I was still bowled over by what I found. Some of the middle-age literary writers I've come across could take a lesson from these young authors. If this books sells anything like the number of copies sold of The Da Vinci Code, maybe there is justice in the universe after all!
Rating:
Summary: Stunning
Review: There have been so many great reviews for this novel that I rushed out and bought it and read it in a single night. And it stood up to the hype. Many people have said this already, but this is NOT the Da Vinci Code. It is a slightly slower, definitely more thoughtful, and WAY better written tale of four friends at Princeton who's adventures take them under the influence of a 500 year old book with many unsolved mysteries. One of the things I didn't like about the Da Vinci Code was that people were constantly dying in silly ways, commiting suicide in the museum in a symbolic way, or beating themselves to death. After a while, you started to feel like Dan Brown spent every chapter trying to think of a new way for somebody to die, just to keep the action going. In The Rule of Four, the authors do a much better job of making the action flow naturally from the plot. It is also impossible to explain how much better the writing is here. Some parts aren't easy reads, but neither were parts of The Name of the Rose. The rewards in The Rule of Four are similar. In fact, I liked the characters here even more than in Name of the Rose, so the ending was especially good. Take this one to the beach for sure!
Rating: 
Summary: Very questionable choices on authors' part
Review: One of the biggest obstacles to my enjoying the novel, in retrospect, is the cognitive dissonance created by setting up a mystery of such scope in the mundane settings of an Ivy league campus in late 20th century. Not that it's so intrinsically implausible that our four frat-boy type protagonists on their way to Manhattan investment banking and dot-com jobs would be involved in something like the events of the novel, but descriptions of paintball wars in the steam tunnels and the nude Olympics detract from the atmosphere that could be created to serve the mystery better. I can't help thinking that the overall esthetics of the novel would improve, the effect less jarring, if the authors had created a totally fictional setting, or set it in an earlier time (so that we are at least spared the reminder that all the events happen while the last episode of Seinfeld was on). Using the "senior thesis deadline" context to introduce some element of urgency also seems misguided, given the progress that Paul had made by the time the events in the novel begin. Furthermore, the riddles and the solutions do not seem that well designed, lacking the elegance to have the mind-blowing effect they ought to have. We were never even told why the solution to the "harmony" riddle was what it was, and we were never told exactly how the cipher obtained by solving a subsequent riddle was used. It seems as if the authors, after having come up with one example of the ciphering approach (a laboriously clumsy example at that) just couldn't be bothered to come up with any more. The good-guy-bad-guy detective story part of the plot is weak and is very hastily resolved. Very disappointing.
Rating: 
Summary: More sentimental than thrilling
Review: Erroneously described as this year's Da Vinci Code, The Rule of Four is an intropestive look at four classmates at Princeton, rather than an historical thriller. Caldwell and Thomason only use codes and ancient texts to tie the main characters together. The mystery regarding the codes is actually left unsolved and even ignored in the last chapters of the book.
More appropriately, The Rule of Four actually resembles The Class by Erich Segal. The Ivy League characters are based on common stereotypes (those invented by Segal), while the descriptions of Princeton are self-indulgent and add little to the plot. Princeton is made out to be the universal and greatest center of knowledge.
Also, the timeline of the story is unbelievable. The characters attend a formal ball, a lecture, meetings, and even encounter murders in less than two days. Thus, most of the plot is recounted via flashbacks.
It is not a coincidence that this book that took 6 years to write (as stated on the jacket and deemed the next Da Vinci Code has come out while people are still talking about Dan Brown's novel. However, it is definitely not so. The Rule of Four will appeal to many readers, but not to those to whom the descriptions suggest. For those looking for a page-turning, easy-read thriller, this is not the book. But for others who want a tale about relationships, the love of knowledge, with some action on the side, than The Rule of Four is the right read.
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