Crack "The Da Vinci Code"

by Kyla Cathey

Overnight, Brown professor Robert Langdon is called to investigate the violent murder of the Louvre's curator, finds himself accused of the same murder, and on the run in the middle of Paris with Sophie Neveu, a well-known cryptologist who happens to be the curator's granddaughter. Over the next few days they find that the murder is not just a bloody and random crime, but is also tied to an ancient conspiracy surrounding the location of the Holy Grail and the history of the Catholic Church.

If Dan Brown's plot sounds a little far-fetched, that's because it is - yet it is still a completely believable thriller. His novel is exhaustively researched, but still manages to be an intense page-turner. Brown's characters are all archetypes - the ambitious policeman, the absent-minded professor, the smart, bold love interest - but he gives them all twists that make them seem fresh and original.

Brown's work has a few weaknesses. The pace of the novel is sometimes weighed down by clunky descriptions and expository flashbacks. Plot devices, such as leaving the reader with a puzzle and no answer at the end of a scene to create tension, are often over-used. However, these weaknesses ultimately show Brown's strengths as a writer. His descriptions and flashbacks provide a history for the characters and a weight to the novel that otherwise may have been lacking, and his puzzles are great teasers to challenge a reader's intellect.

It takes a lot in my mind for a book to stand out as outstanding, yet The Da Vinci Code did so with ease. Dan Brown's novel is a fascinating and fun read. It would be a shame for anyone to miss it.