Pagetitle: Jason Cain

Review

Rating: 8

I was starting to feel like the only person left who hadn’t read The Da Vinci Code (over 60 million copies sold in 44 languages at present!), and with the movie coming out I figured I’d better read it if I wanted to have any chance of keeping the ending a surprise. I’d say it was about what I expected. Without giving too much away, the plot centers around a secret from Christian history and the battle between those who want to reveal that secret and those who want to keep it hidden. Dan Brown does a good job of building tension throughout, and there are a number of plot twists (some predictable, others less so). The puzzles were interesting, although the speed with which they were created and solved strained credulity at times. Some of the dialogue is a little silly, but on the whole I found it to be a very entertaining read.

The Da Vinci Code has generated a lot of controversy and even outrage among some people, particularly Catholics as the Catholic church is at the center of the story. This is understandable if the book is taken seriously. However, I think it’s important to remember that it’s a work of fiction, and therefore not all (or even most) of what you read is true. Brown mixes in enough facts about art and architecture that it makes him seem authoritative and some readers may be taken in when he describes fictitious events from the time of Christ. Some of what he describes is demonstrably false (as a little Googling will reveal), and some of it is pure speculation with absolutely no way to prove or disprove it. This would be terrible for a non-fiction book, but for a novel it’s perfectly fine. Just keep it in mind while you’re reading it.