Rating: 
Summary: You too can write a Dan Brown novel.
Review: Ok- first off... I really did enjoy this book. However, now that I have read 3 of Brown's novels, I have noticed a certain formula that Dan Brown uses.1- Use the word "Indredulous" as often as possible.
2- The bad guy MUST be known by a term/phrase instead of a name.
3- The bad guy is double crossing the good guys... and you are NOT supposed to suspect this.
4- The novel must take place in the course of one day.
5- Your hero must wake-up and not have a clue that he will spend his entire day many miles away from home, while being chased by bad guys.
6- All good guys must be experts at something very arcane.
7- The ending must be weak. If you follow these steps you too can write a Dan Brown novel. ORRRR you can use this formula to figure out the book you are currently reading after about 100 pages. This is clearly a case of diminishing returns. One book is Awesome, two is fun, but by the third... you are ready to turn on the television. My suggestion- read the Da Vinci Code (However, remember it is still "fiction" and despite the authors claims- some of his facts are seriously flawed- for instance - "The Gosphel of Mary" is hardly widely accepted as legitimate). "The Da Vinci Code" is extremely face paced, and quite thought provoking. It challenged me to do a little research into the foundation of my beliefs (However, it did not change my beliefs... I found that my views on religon are on much sounder ground that the author's supposed "research"). Enjoy...
Rating: 
Summary: An amazing.... piece of tripe...
Review: OK. Lots of people have appropriately eviscerated portions of this book for being (often eggregriously) inaccurate. However, it's marked as fiction, and not non-fiction, so I don't see why that would prove surprising. At it's best, in terms of analogies, I would think this is fictionally equivalent to the movie "JFK". In other words, potentially intriguing, mostly enjoyable, but horrifically flawed in terms of the interconnection of key 'facts.' With that being said, the I actually found this book to be patently absurd for reasons specific to its fictional elements within the Thriller genre. Essentially, the *entire* book comes down to this sequence (in broad generalizations so as not to spoil it anymore than other reviews have): * <<initial setup>> * Arrive at Location
* Pontificate in a manner and breadth that no human ever would
* <<repeat steps 2-3 incessantly>> * <<conclusion>> Oh yes, and all of this is done in one day, with no appreciable, discernible, inferrential loss of stamina or lucidity among the primary protagonists. It's stultifyingly amazing! Perhaps instead of a 'thriller' for his next book, Dan Brown could write a fitness manual that prescribes the appropriate mix of exercise and gensing to achieve and maintain these levels. NOW that would be a book worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: okay read if you like revisionist history
Review: Okay writing, mediocre thriller. I'm not a Catholic, but I am a Christian and I find the vast majority of the conclusions Brown leaps to in this book laughable. Take the Last Supper analysis for instance. That is not Mary Magdalene seated next to Jesus. It is St. John painted in the same beardless effeminate manner that Da Vinci painted him in his St. John the Baptist portrait. The hand and knife belong to St. Peter who would later use a knife to cut off the guard's ear in the garden. Peter is leaning hard on his left elbow to speak to John thus projecting is left hand out. Brown might be right about one thing "Everybody loves a conspiracy theory." So if that is you, buy the book.
Rating:
Summary: Conned again!
Review: Okay, I admit I read it in one sitting but please be aware that this book is the literary equivalent of Lethal Weapon 4. Lots of mindless action, stilted dialogue, naive cultural viewpoints, and an ending that leaves you rather embarrassed that you read the book. And of course be sure to use Google to find the historical inaccuracies and author indulgences.
Rating:
Summary: A "plethora" of falsehoods!
Review: Okay, I admit it... I was hooked at first, but about halfway through, I got bored. This book was so predictable and I couldn't believe how many times the author used the word "plethora"! Remember, this book is FICTION. Its interesting to read, but don't spend money on it... Do what I did and borrow it from a friend.
Rating:
Summary: An Awesome Read
Review: Okay, I can understand now why the other reviewer said that the story had been told before. However, I have two things to say to him: First, you should have marked your review Spoiler. Second, just because a story has been told before doesn't mean that there isn't something to be gained in a retelling. For example, John Milton's Paradise Lost is a reinterpreted and retold Genesis. Romeo and Juliet has been retold so many times that it is ridiculous. And yet, both are worthwhile. It is only part the story that is important. The more important thing is how the story is told. Dan Brown tells a story that has been told before, yes. However, he tells it beautifully, and he is my favorite author. I have yet to read one of his books that disappointed me in the least. Each is Crichton-esque, but even more packed with research, care, and good story. I can't get enough of this guy's work. Read this book. You won't regret it.
Harkius
Rating:
Summary: prepare to suspend your disbelief
Review: Okay, I did keep going to the end of the book, propelled by some sort of of desire to see how the whole set of increasingly dubious events would work themselves out. But I found myself becoming more and more annoyed with the book, and annoyed with the author, who I think greatly disrespects his readers.
The so-called "puzzles" which seem to completely flummox the famous cryptographer are ludicrously simple. It's not much fun to read a "mystery' when the reader is always a few steps ahead of the bumbling protagonists.
There are errors throughout the book which make you wonder if there was an editor - on one page they're going to Lyons, on the next to Lille, isn't Sacre Coeur already north of the Seine? As another reviewer has pointed out anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of biblical Hebrew will feel that the author just randomly threw in linguistic references with no regard as to whether they were correct or not.
I suspect that one reason the book appeals is that it seems to be revealing a great deal of esoteric knowledge, but I felt that I couldn't depend on ANYTHING the author cared to throw into the book, since the things I did know a little about were generally just wrong.
A really satisfying plot might have caused me to overlook the errors, but the plot became increasing more fantasic and improbable as the book progressed. - all in all I was left with a feeling of disappointment and a feeling that I had been manipulated.
Rating:
Summary: you MUST simply read this book...
Review: Okay, Mr. Brown, keeps upping himself with each successive novel. This is a book not to be missed. I dare you to put this book down once you start reading. It starts with a gruesome death in the Louvre and continues with an unfolding mystery that spans continents, centuries, and will blow away your conceptions about the "accepted" histories of art and religion. This book deserves to be a major bestseller! (And don't forget to read all his other books, too!)--James Rollins
Rating:
Summary: A Modern Indiana Jones Story
Review: Okay, this book is definitely plot-driven, and there's not a lot of character development, but that's beside the point in a book like this. This book teems with secret societies, cryptography, exotic puzzles, and fascinating historical detail. If you liked the Indiana Jones movies, or if you have even a passing interest in the history of religion, the Holy Grail, the Knights Templar, and/or a great mystery that clips along from plot twist to plot twist, then this book will suck you in and not let you go.
Rating: 
Summary: A page turner, but not memorable...
Review: Okay, this is a decent, workmanlike novel. It's not overly sophisticated and is sort of like the Cliff's Notes version of Umberto Eco's _Foucault's Pendulum_. There are very modest amounts of real scholastic effort here, simply presented, about the Knights Templar and so on. The writing is remarkably flat in tone: reminiscent of, say, Adam Hall's Quiller novels. I can see how readers who come to this material fresh are fascinated, but having read the aforementioned Eco novel (and others with similar material), I found this effort pretty thin gruel in comparison. Despite the author's best efforts, this is a straightforward thriller (almost a procedural), with fairly flat characters. You won't care all that much about anyone here and you won't find the really deep mysterious material that others (especially Eco) explore elsewhere to better effect. I guess I enjoyed the book, but only as a temporary diversion. Wait for the paperback: you'll read this novel in a couple of sittings and, if you're like me, will want something with more substance. In particular, the Bad Guys and the New Age Goddess vs. the Pope stuff is so rote as to be a parody of itself. Look for this one at your local Cineplex Oderama soon.
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