I've finally started reading that ever so controversial best-seller by Dan Brown. Actually, not reading it, listening to it while driving around Lansing, MI. This book seems to have changed the minds of many Catholics (my grandfather included) and Protestants alike. Granted, there have long been rumors of secret societies and organizations within the Roman Catholic Church, and historical cover-ups are rampant throughout civilization.

HOWEVER,

The book is crap. It's not at all well written. Brown seems to feel that in order to impress the mystery of the supposed Holy Grail conspiracy upon his readers, he must be repetitive and condescending. It almost seems that the whole purpose of the book is to tell the world how much Brown knows about obscure art history and symbology, and that he is willing to explain it to the teeming masses of uniformed Christendom. His constant use of cliff-hanger chapter endings (almost every chapter) makes the novel read like it was originally intended as a serial publication. Much of Brown's story hinges upon the loss of the Sacred Feminine, and yet his main female character (a cryptologist for the French police) is constantly having to be led clue by clue to obvious conclusions by her quicker, more worldly, male counterparts.

I might have put some stock into Brown's "history," he writes with conviction, if not much style. I may even have looked into some of his sources on my own. Today, though, Brown completely lost any stock I would have put into his actual knowledge. He referred, multiple times, to Jesus Christ as the Immaculate Conception. As every half-informed Catholic knows, Mary was the Immaculate Conception (conceived without sin), Jesus was the Miraculous Conception (conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit).

How this novel came to be as popular as it is, I can understand. Everyone today is dying to get to the big TRUTH, something which can never be done in religion. Faith is by definition something that is unsubstantiated, we must just believe. What I can't understand is how people can believe this absolute drivel.

L’UOMO DI VITRUVIO


Il film omonimo è diretto da Ron Howard. È stato un grande successo paragonabile a quello del libro, che ha venduto oltre 80 milioni di copie.

Parigi, il Louvre, un dipinto di Caravaggio, probabilmente La morte della Vergine, un vecchio ferito a morte, allarme che scatta, grate di ferro che scendono, l’assassino che rimane fuori e sembra non riuscire a completare l’opera, il vecchio si denuda e stende per terra per assumere la posizione del celebre Uomo vitruviano di Leonardo da Vinci, che tutti quelli che usano l’aeroporto di Fiumicino hanno imparato a riconoscere. Quando arrivano i soccorsi è troppo tardi, il vecchio è passato a peggiore vita. Ma ha lasciato un testamento prezioso scritto col sangue, alcuni numeri e il nome di Robert Langdon.
Un inizio al Fulmicotone.


Robert Langdon è Tom Hanks, la giovane alle sue spalle è Audrey Tautou.

I vangeli apocrifi, i rotoli del Mar Morto, Maria Maddalena incinta sotto la croce che sposò Gesù resuscitato, una setta con duemila anni alle spalle per custodire il mistero del Santo Graal, i Templari, l’Opus Dei, Merovingi, Priorato di Sion, codici vari, simbologia (il protagonista, Robert Langdon, è celebre proprio per la sua capacità di interpretare segni e simboli), e molto altro, con ritmo incalzante, mozzafiato, mescolato agitato e frullato.


Il film è uscito tre anni dopo il romanzo, nel 2006. Il Louvre, come nel libro, è un set importante.

Per quanto Dan Brown lo presenti come basato su fatti storici reali, documentati e comprovati, e per quanto si sia fatto a gara invece a demolirli e contraddirli, risultano coerenti e verosimili; per quanto io lo abbia a suo modo divorato steso in spiaggia ad evitare l’ombra; e per quanto sia rimasto affascinato per il tempo della lettura – e solo per quello, non un attimo dopo – dal ritmo, dal montaggio alternato, da descrizioni , snodi drammaturgici e colpi di scena, al momento di chiuderlo e metterlo via mi sono accorto che stavo sorridendo e non avevo creduto in nulla di quanto avevo letto.
Opera di pura immaginazione e fantasia.
Alla quale purtroppo manca anche un minimo pizzico di ironia, che avrebbe potuto renderla memorabile: al contrario, è romanzo che si prende dannatamente sul serio.


Il cattivone è un attore che mi piace molto, ma riesco a vedere troppo poco: Paul Bettany.

This is a pretty formulaic page turner, a fun quick read. Written at about the level of the average Nancy Drew mystery, it is best appreciated at that level. As far as the content, there are howlers on virtually every page (starting with the hero who looks like "Harrison Ford in Harris tweed" and is a "Professor of Religious Symbology at Harvard" -- good work if you can find it). You have to ignore very pulpy, cheesy writing to enjoy this romantic thriller.

Intended as a book that a dedicated reader could finish in a day, or something you take to the beach and casually finish in a weekend, The Da Vinci Code makes for a reasonable airline novel, so much so that it is often a bit clunky in its desire to ensure that no intellectual effort on the reader's part will be required. Here's a recurring example in this novel: a bit of unfamiliar terminology, say "crux gemmata" (jeweled cross) will will be explained on page N, then on page N+1, a character will finger his jeweled cross and explain, "Oh, yes -- this is a crux gemmata." I've read dinner menus that were more demanding on the reader. My wife and I both read about a third of it in a day, sharing the same copy, and that's a full work day plus taking care of kids, bedtime, etc. That's also a kind of virtue, I guess -- it's fast and peppy.

As far as history goes, Dan Brown apparently thinks that "most historians" give credence to the hoary forgeries and frauds promoted in sensationalist best-sellers like Holy Blood, Holy Grail. This author gets the best of both worlds: simultaneously claiming that "it's just fiction," while introducing the novel with claims that the historical record contained within is "fact." That claim is ridiculous. To pluck a random example, he spends some time talking about the Council of Nicaea, and incorrectly summarizes it as the origin of the doctrine of Christ's divinity by Constantine. He ignores the Arian controversy out of which it arose, which is like trying to explain the Treaty of Versailles without mentioning World War I. He ignores the documented fact, agreed upon even by the cheerleaders of the gnostics that he is sympathetic to, that the earliest gnostic doctrines held that Christ was *purely* God, and not really man -- the very reverse of the doctrine that serves as the linchpin of his novel's intellectual base (such as it is). This is a bad novel for weak or misinformed Christians, but anyone familiar with history should spot the train wreck of Brown's ideas a mile off.

Oh yes, and in Brown's world, Opus Dei has shadowy assassin "monks" (in real life, Opus Dei is not a monastic order -- there are no Opus Dei monks, let alone trained assassins), and the Catholic Church has been promulgating known lies as its central dogmas, promotes violence throughout the world, and has been retarding the progress of science and knowledge for 2 millennia. Brown leaves the reader with the impression that this, too, is a matter of settled historical record. Oh, but then again, it's just fiction. Except when it's not.

In general, if you're looking for a heady thriller wrapped around Christian arcana, I'd recommend Umberto Eco's excellent The Name of the Rose, not this dumbed down, by-the-numbers novel.

The literati: "The Da Vinci Code is simply a poorly written thriller with a controversial hypothesis about the life of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church."
Millions of readers: "I am obsessed with The Da Vinci Code".

Literati: "now go and get a very well written thriller with key themescentred around the human existence".
Millions of readers: "cheers, but no thanks...we've just ordered the first book in the Robert Langdon series".

For all those that lambast The Da Vinci Code's writing, grammar, depth etc. maybe they finally realised what many readers could have told them (if they'd ask), that maybe the key component of a story, is the story? And that's Dan Brown's winning play in this convoluted secret (faux) history uncovered adventure with over-the-top antagonists, he gives us a story that could touch all our lives, and to a degree that we care about. Hey, and it got millions of people interested in Fibonacci Numbers; and in reading in general :) On first reading it's pretty gripping but by my third (this) read the bending of so many facts and or inclusion of so many conspiracy theories takes the gleam of the story for me, to be honest, so a Two Star, 5 out of 12 from me.

2004 read; 2005 read; 2022 read

یچیزی که همیشه سوالم بوده اینه که چقدر احتمال داره چیزایی که ما به عنوان نماد مخفی توی نقاشی، شعر یا معماری پیدا میکنیم واقعا عمدی کار گذاشته شده باشه و اتفاقی نباشه؟ ما اینجا نشستیم و داریم میگیم اوه آره؛ این حتما یه نماد سرّیه که داوینچی با ظرافت تمام توی این تابلو پنهان کرده و داوینچی ازون دنیا انگشت به دهان مونده که اینا چی دارن میگن ؟!
----------

خوندن این کتاب برای من جالب بود، به عنوان کسی که کاملا بی‌طرفانه به تئوری های براون درباره مسیحیت و کلیسا گوش میدادم میتونم بگم که حرفهاش منطقی به نظر میومدن. دوست داشتم کتاب کوتاه تر بود و خیلی قسمتای "اضافی" کتاب که شامل تکرار یسری حرفا بودن حذف میشد. جام مقدس نمادی از مریم مجدلیه ست ، راستی یادم رفت بگم که جام مقدس درواقع نمادی از مریم مجدلیه ست، حالا که بحثش شد باید بگم جام مقدس نمادیه که برای مریم مجدلیه به کار میره. We get it sir, let go

داستان جذابی داشت و ترجمه واقعا عالی بود. دارم فکر میکنم اگر با یه ترجمه بد میخوندمش شاید اصلا به آخرش نمیرسیدم چون قرار نبود چیزی متوجه بشم. مترجم پاورقیهای زیادی داره و درباره اشخاص، اماکن و... توضیح داده که اتفاقا دونستنشون برام جالب بود.

داستان از این قراره: یه قتل توی موزه لوور اتفاق میفته. رئیس موزه کشته شده و پلیس میاد و صحنه جرم رو بررسی میکنه و یه اسم اونجاست؛ رابرت لنگدان، استاد نمادشناسی. وقتی رابرت میاد اونجا متوجه میشه که میخوان قتل رو بندازن گردنش چون پلیسا حدس زدن مقتول اسم قاتلش رو در لحظات آخر نوشته اما قضیه چیز دیگه‌ای هست. اینو سوفی نوو یکی از ماموران حاضر در موزه هم میدونه پس سعی میکنه رابرت لنگدان رو نجات بده تا راز قتل رئیس موزه لوور مشخص بشه.

کتاب پر از رمز و رمزنگاریه. همینطور نمادها و داستانهای جالبی از گذشته میگه که من نمیدونستم. یکم هم از آثار داوینچی یاد گرفتم. درکل شبیه به یه کلاس درس اما از نوع جذابش بود.
دو نکته منفی برای من وجود داشت. اول اینکه شخصیت پردازی ضعیف بود. ما چیز زیادی از افکار و زندگی شخصیت‌ها نمیخوندیم. من دوست دارم بیشتر شخصیت اصلی رو بشناسم تا درگیر رفتارها و انتخابهاش بشم.
دوم اینکه چیز زیادی برای حدس زدن وجود نداشت. خود نویسنده همه جوابهارو میداد چون معماها به رازهای تاریخی و نمادشناسی و رمزگشایی ربط داشتن که برای کسی که اطلاعاتی به این گستردگی نداره قابل حدس نبودن.
با این حال بنظرم کتاب خوبی بود و پیشنهادش میکنم.

Was that the book that made the Vatican tremble? This detective story builds like a TV movie where a handsome guy and a girl strive to solve a schoolboy's riddles to discover the scandalous secret that everyone already knows. The fact that Jesus was a man, that he fucked Mary Magdalene and impregnated her (why not?), and that he was not God's son. Dan Brown was ignoring, in a novel that uses and abuses the notion of mystery, the mystery of the identity of Christ, true God, and true man.
Let's move on. The Da Vinci Code is nothing more than a new version of Indiana Jones, in the American style, with the initial murder, the police error, the (so little) incredible escape of the heroes, the betrayal of the good guy becoming Machiavellian, the hidden microphones, two or three deaths lying around, the reunion of the lost grandmother and brother and the final kiss, prudish, without the slightest trace of eroticism. Yet, simultaneously, the whole book applies itself to magnify the Sacred Feminine.
How, then, to understand the dazzling success of this novel? Let's face it: I let myself take. This feeling of collaborating in the truth's discovery upsets the world's order by deciphering anagrams. This satisfaction of feeling oneself the discoverer as if the solution of a sodoku could collapse an entire civilization. At this little game, the end of the book can only disappoint. Nothing. This scum. Virgo worms. That's to designate only the cup, the chalice, and the Holy Grail. The real mystery is undoubtedly there: by what miracle can a little detective story of nothing become a world affair? Revealing this secret seems much more complicated than Dan Brown's treasure hunt.

الرواية هي ابرز واجمل ما قرات في حياتي مع تحفظي على الافكار التي يريد الكاتب بثها من خلال روايته ولكن الحقيقة ان هذا الرقم الخيالي من المبيعات للرواية يجعلني اقف له وقفة تبجيل واحترام .رواية مرتبة الاحداث ورائعة وانصح الجميع بقرآتها

n  **3.5 stars**

“History is always written by the winners. When two cultures clash, the loser is obliterated, and the winner writes the history books-books which glorify their own cause and disparage the conquered foe. As Napoleon once said, 'What is history, but a fable agreed upon?”n

Dan Brown has written quite a few books over the years, and I know the years are past when he was my favorite author (probably for being amongst the selected handful I had read)…but this one still has a place quite close to my heart. I can’t think of a more definitive reason, except that I had read it in one sitting

رواية مثيرة رائعة تشد اهتمامك حتى أخر سطر

أولا زي ماقلت في ريفيو ملائكة وشياطين
الرواية دي لو حابب تتمتع وانت بتقراها بجد ليها حل من الاتنين
1-Illustrated Edition تقرأ النسخة الإنجليزية المصورة
أو
2- وانت تقرأ نسختك تفتح جوجل صور وتبحث وتشوف صورة كل مكان يزوره روبرت لانجدون،كل قاعة باللوفر أو لوحة لدافنشي ومخطوطاته، والكنائس وشوارع باريس

أهم لوحات الرواية وسر حبكتها، شفرة دافنشي، العشاء الاخير

واﻷن اربط الحزام، الطائرة ستقلع بك إلي باريس لرحلة جديدة مع لانجدون لكشف أسرارها،خباياها وتاريخها


وشفرتها
شفرة دافنشي

مع فتاة تعشق لعبة "البحث عن الكنز" وضابط يبحث عن جريمة قتل وراهب يسعي للقتل من اجل اخفاء سر وجماعات سرية ودكتور يعرف اكثر مما ينبغي والأهم
روبرت لانجدون
***
تاني تجربة ليا في قراءة رواية مليانة تفاصيل ومعلومات حقيقية مع دان براون والشخصية الممتازة روبرت لانجدون
وكملائكه وشياطين المعلومات في اطار تشويقي فعلا يخليك مستني تعرف المعلومة اللي بعدها وتحاول تبحث عن حقيقتها او اصلها علي الانترنت خاصا انها المرة دي مثيره للجدل جدا
فكما قدم لنا بروايته الأولي صدام العلم مع الدين في القرن السابع عشر بالأخص مع نظريات جاليليو ..هنا يقدم لنا تاريخ اقدم , من دافنشي وعصر النهضة من القرن الرابع عشر مع نظريات مثيرة للجدل حول لوحته الأشهر "العشاء الأخير" وليزيد في معلومات مثيرة أكثر عن فرسان الهيكل والحملة الصليبية والتي تعود قبل عصر النهضة بثلاث قرون تقريبا
وكمان معلومات تانية عن التنويريين والماسون بتكمل الجزء السابق في رواية ملائكة وشياطين

افتكر ان من الأفضل انك تدخل بين صفحات الرواية أفضل لمعرفة تلك المعلومات والتاريخ والفن والعلم الغامض عند دافنشي وغيره من فناني عصره...اما عن رأيي بيها فشايف فعلا فيها بعض التكهنات أكيد وبعضها يصدم بالدين المسيحي مما اثار الجدل حول الرواية

لكن بعض الأخر منها يرمي بصيص من التنوير عن بعض الأحداث الغامضة عن تاريخ الأديان عاما -مثل حقيقة ظروف تعميد الامبراطور الروماني والاعتراف الروماني بالدين المسيحي وماحدث لفرسان الهيكل ومحاكماتهم المثيرة للجدل واسرار حرق الساحرات وغموض مصير مريم المجدلية وغيرها من بعض المواضيع الجدلية

-وكالكتاب السابق الذكر , بنجاح تلك الرواية أدي لمحاولات للعديد من الكتب تقليدها او الوصول لتلك المرحلة التاريخية
وابسط مثال لمستفيدي هذا النجاح روايات وان كان قدمها البعض بابتذال وتعدي علي الدين نفسه كـيوسف زيدان في ظل الأفعي وعزازيل

مع ان دان براون نفسه روايته قيل انها متشابهة في الموضوع الجدلي الكنسي كرواية امبرتو ايكو
The Name of the Rose 1980
وبرغم من انها من الثمانيات الا انها لم تلق نصيبها من الشهرة الواسعة الا عندما تم اطلاق عليها دعائيا "اصل رواية شفرة دافنشي لدان براون
وايضا استخدام عنصر لوحة العشاء الأخير وفرسان الهيكل التي أثارت جدلا من قبل خاصا بعد 1997 بصدور كتاب
n  n
لكن يظل دان براون هو الأشهر والأقوي بروايته المثيرة تلك
"وربما تنبأ دان براون بهذا الاعتلاء علي عرش اعلي مبيعات الكتب اثناء كتابته للرواية بذكره لكتابين من اعلي مبيعات الكتب في العالم من قبله في الحوار التالي:
الذي دار بين روبرت لانجدون الذي يريد نشر كتابه حول نظريته عن الكأس المقدسه وبين صديقه ناشر كتبه الذي يساله لماذا لم يحاول احد الكتاب من قبله نشر الحقائق التي كتبها لانجدون حول ذلك الموضوع

""These books can't possibly compete with centuries of established history, especially when that history is endorsed by the ultimate bestseller of all time."
Faukman's eyes went wide. "Don't tell me Harry Potter is actually about the Holy Grail."
"I was referring to the Bible."

يمكن المفاجأت الأقوي بالنسبة لي واللي اعجبني جدا جزء المعلومات عنها هي ليست المعلومات الدينية فحسب -لبعض التكهنات بها وليس الحقائق- , هي المعلومات الكونية الحقيقة "مثل حقائق الرقم المقدس فاي، اﻷديان عبر العصور , لفظة "أمين" التي نقولها في كل الأديان تقريبا وغيرها
و ايضا معلومات عن الأنثي المقدسة وتاريخ أضطهاد الأنثي علي مر العصور والأديان كان موفق فيه جدا ... مع بعض التلميحات لمعرفه دافنشي باسرار الانثي المقدسة هي سبب ميوله الانثوية , وان كانت قد تندرج تحت بند التكهنات


ولكن لندع الجدال الديني جانبا ... لا أنكر انني احترم من يدافع عن الدين , وتأتي النجمة الخامسة فقط لفقرة كاملة في الرواية أعجبتني جدا ... هي الجزء الذي يشرح فيه لانجدون اهمية الدين في حياة الانسان والذي قدمه بشكل محايد ومتميز بعكس ملحدي عصرنا ، فبالرغم من أن لانجدون نفسه غير مؤمن إلا أن كلامه عن الدين كان موفقا جدا ومحترما ويجعل من الرواية أثرا جيدا حتي أن اختلفت معه في بعض الأجزاء

~~~~~~
ونعود للرواية
بالنسبة للشخصيات
***********
مثل الرواية الاولي شخصية روبرت لانجدون لم تخرج عن اطارها..نفس الدقة في رسم الشخصية,قوه الملاحظة وتصرفه وقت المواقف المثيرة..شخصية الهادئ الوقور و 'كمبيوتر' رموز متنقل

صوفي وماضيها الذي يطاردها منذ ان شاهدت جثة جدها ، الفتاة الرقيقة القوية بنفس الوقت والتي تتورط في مطاردة لكشف أسرار جماعة غامضة كانت السبب في تفرقتها عن جدها
فكرة ماضيها والكشف عن الكنوز والكريبتيكس مع جدها كانت اكثر من ممتازة


لاحظ أنك تجد ان صوفي..جدها..الظابط..العالم..الكاهن..والمجرم التائب..دافنشي..وحتي مريم المجدلية
كلها شخصيات مهمة في الاحداث يتم فك شفرتهم جميعا فصل فصل
لكل شخصيه شفرة, شفرة قد تكون..ماضي..سر دفين..رغبه..علاقه..شفرة تنكشف لك
ولكن بتدريج محسوب ومتقن طوال اﻷحداث


و بالنسبة للاحداث
**********
الرواية متعددة وجهات النظر دائما تحتاج لبراعه في الكتابة...لم تنقص في هذه الرواية عن الرواية السابقة بل كانت مثيرة اكثر

والمرة دي كمان الرواية كلها في يوم واحد او يوم ونصف لكن المكان اتغير في تنقل مثير وسلس ولايقل سحر عن روما والفاتيكان..المرة دي بين باريس ليلا وانجلترا صباحا

الأحداث هنا ايضا متلاحقة في فترة زمنية تعتبر قصيرة بالنسبة لرواية ضخمة

ولكن الحبكة تختلف..فهذه المرة لانجدون هو المطارد من قبل الشرطة الفرنسية وليس مساعدا للشرطة كما كان في الفاتيكان

والمشكلة أنه ليس مطاردا من الشرطة فحسب....بل من منظمة دينية غامضة ستتعرف عليها خلال اﻷحداث في أسلوب سينمائي متلاحق
الوصف للاماكن واللوحات متقن و لايفوقه الا الصور الملونة في النسخة المصورة من الرواية
Illustrated Edition
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الهروب من المطاردات والاختفاء في اخر لحظة
Narrow Escapes
كان كثيرا جدا في الرواية "واللي كان يشفع للفيلم نجاحه الوحيد في أبرازها سينمائيا" الموضوع ده زاد الاثارة في الرواية دي عن سابقتها، لكنه كان احيانا زائد جدا في بعض الأحيان لدرجة ازعجتني في أحدهما

في النهاية انسوا الفيلم تماما وابدأوا بالرواية .. حتي لو كان توم هانكس مبدع ..المخرج رون هاورد عبقري..حيفضل دان براون افضل مؤلف ومخرج وممثل علي الورق

محمد العربي

الاسكندريه من 10 مارس 2013
الي 19 مارس 2013


The English Review

First of all I hate Action books, thriller and just action novels.
I hate book would got that much of Facts that can sometimes got the equal pages of the novels events itself..

I love fiction ,I adore fiction with a hint of fantasy ,that make me escapes of our realistic, raw, ugly most of times, unpleasant world to another different one ..I'm a big fan of Harry Potter -although J.K. Rowling successfully made me read her greedy, realistic, raw, ugly most of times, unpleasant world on The Casual Vacancyand even loving it -

So what kind of magic does Dan Brown got to make me fall in love with Robert Langdon's adventures?
*Is it his mixing and blending the real historical events with his non-stop thriller "fiction". I know some of the historical events he mention are true and some are not-or are they!? :)-?
*Is it the characters itself? The Mickey Mouse watch is amazing touch -as a Disney's big fan-
*Is it the talented story telling and the easy swift from a POV to another?
*or Is it the melting of the wall between the Hard and Row REAL Facts,Historical Events and Symbols meanings and Enjoying reading about it -WITHOUT being an expert or even interested to know about them from the start-

All of what I can say is that the search and hunt of that kind of a thriller novel,A SMART thriller is set for me by Dan Brown with these 2 novels "Angels and Demons" and the squeal "The Da Vinci Code"
March 2014

5 stars to Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. Most folks have seen the movie and probably not read the book. What a loss for them!

That said, I know a lot of people don't enjoy Brown's books, believing he is too commercialized and over-exaggerated in his style. While I can understand why someone may think that, I don't agree. I love the complexity of the story, the reality and the fiction, the test of character strength, the puzzles, the different view points. It completely absorbs me... so I fall into the category of those who love him and this style of writing, even if others think his writing isn't fantastic. Doesn't mean I don't love the more classic and richly written novels where it's the imagery and the words that win out, too.

I had never heard of Dan Brown in his early years. I heard about the movie being made of the book and how it was coming out relatively soon. I looked it up and saw it had the "treasure-hunter" thrill appeal and decided to read the book before the movie could come out and warp my interpretation. So glad I did!

It's addicting. Growing up Catholic, I knew most of the religious detail, but once it weaved it art, literature, history and philosophy, I was just enamored with the story. Could it really be true? Maybe I'm related to Adam and Eve too! Ok, let's not get too crazy...

Magnificent story-telling. Quick adventure. Beautiful scenes and images. Brown exhibit's intensely good control weaving back and forth between each of the plots, sub-plots and mini-plots. It's as realistic of a treasure hunt as one can get if you are not an adventurer, archaeologist or exhibition-junkie.

But what took it to the next level for me was the amount of detail included for every component. It's the intricate of the intricate, relying on pure puzzles to move the story forward. Each new puzzle creates its own spark of drama directing readers to challenge what they do and do not know about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, languages, culture, locations, etc.

It hits so many different waves of appeal that I felt it was at the top of its game. And it probably only edged out Angels & Demons because of how tight this story was. Definitely a must-read for the genre, for Brown and before watching the movie adaption.