Rating: 
Summary: "May we find what we are looking for..."
Review: Beautifully written, achingly felt, fiendishly plotted--to me The Rule of Four was an Ivy League education all of its own. I read it in one long sitting until five in the morning. By telling the tale of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphilii through the four winsome protagonists of the book, the authors go far beyond that line in the literary sand where thrillers usually stop, and paint a picture of human nature that rings true instead of hollow. Yet nothing is short-changed from the adventure the authors take us on through the Renaissance. The hairs on my neck were standing on end when the final connections were revealed. (And does anyone else think there are deeper clues to an extra unmentioned text, besides the Hypnerotomachia, secretly shaping the plot?)...In every chapter I found myself laughing out loud, frowning in perplexion, or setting the book down and staring off into space, awed by the beauty of the story. Thanks are in order for Messrs. Caldwell and Thomason: they've written a page-turner that not only solves historical riddles but also reminds us how, both in the idealistic college days and beyond, we hope to live: by doggedly pursuing the things we love doing, caring fiercely for the friends we have, and always keeping one eye on the horizon. I hope Time will not be dispersing these writing friends anytime soon.
Rating: 
Summary: Great expectations
Review: This book was not my cup of tea. The puzzle is a great mystery wrapped in a riddle hidden in time, and this part of the book did appeal to me, but I found the characters development weak and the writing a little too sparse for my taste. The book is being marketed as the next Da Vinci code But I don't think so. If you love a good puzzle then you might enjoy this book but don't expect a masterpeice. In fact the biggest problem this book might have is too high expectations, I know this probably colored my view of the book.
Rating: 
Summary: The Rule of Four
Review: A manuscript, embedded codes, the search for the answers and four roommates makes this a must read book. The excitement running throught the minds of the four in their search for the buried treasure. It's a search that takes them where some wouldn't want to go, if they put a value on their own life. After reading you may just find yourself becoming a code breaker and buying a shovel, digging your way to a treasure of your own. The Rule Of Four will have you looking at each word and thinking is this the embedded code word or not. It will make you think. Larry Hobson-Author- "The Day Of The Rose"
Rating:
Summary: A Very Good Read and a Very Good Book
Review: "The Rule of Four" grabs the reader in the first few pages. It's Good Friday, sometime in the 1990's, at Princeton University. All sorts of Princetonian traditions and rites--a nude runaround, the Ivy Ball, Easter services--are about to take place. In the midst of all this mayhem and partying, one student, Paul, with the help of his three roommates, is working on cracking the code to the Hypnerotomachia, a medieval text, for his thesis due the next day. And then someone involved in helping Paul turns up dead.
The narrator, Tom, is Paul's roommate and the one closest to him on this project. However Tom's father was a scholar also involved in the Hypnerotomachia and it ended up killing him. Tom is torn between giving into the obsession of the text or maintaining his relationship with his girlfriend Katie.
The book moves so fast in the first half that you're exhausted. One minute Tom is watching the sophomores run around naked; the next minute he is in the library helping Paul; then he is trying to reach his girlfriend;then someone shows up dead.
The second half moves slower and is not nearly as good. However, you're still hooked.
I would recommend this book not only to lovers of The Da Vinci Code (it's different but you've still got codes involved) and The Secrety History, but also to those interested in "coming of age" stories and F. Scott Fitzgerald's tales of Princeton. This book mixes several genres--thriller, mystery, coming of age, tales of excess--not always successfully. However, it is still vastly entertaining and a very good read.
Rating:
Summary: A very good, if too-quick, read
Review: Everybody wants to compare this book to "The Da Vinci Code," but they're in quite separate universes. Caldwell and Thomason are far subtler and far more talented than Brown. "Rule"'s authors tell their story with a deftness, sweetness, and humor that Brown's work utterly lacks. "Rule of Four" was only disappointing in that it was such a short read--at a slim 370 pages, it's a book that many readers will devour easily in one or two sittings. The book, despite its brevity, draws its characters finely and thrusts them into the midst of a compelling story involving hidden messages in a five-hundred-year-old text. Those with their hearts set on "Da Vinci II" will, no doubt, be disappointed; "Rule" doesn't offer cheesy backward-text puzzles for the reader to solve. Instead, the authors take pains to make sure that the readers *care* when the characters solve the puzzles of the Hypnerotomachia themselves.
Rating:
Summary: Not Da Vinci, but not bad
Review: The advance word on 'Rule of Four' was that it would be the next 'Da Vinci Code.' Comments like this always make me wary! It tells me that the main reason the book got published was because it is similar to a recent bestseller. Alas that seems to be the case here. While over all the book is entertaining it does have some flaws typical of an authors freshman effort. The main problem I had, was I'd have liked the characters to be more fleshed out. The book also has a bit of a snobby tone that I did not care for. On the good side, the author does develop a hell of a puzzle, and riddler solvers every where will have fun with it. The biggest problem this book will have is trying to live up to the Da Vinci code hype! I Also recommend: 'A TOURIST IN THE YUCATAN' A little thriller that has become an underground hit!
Rating:
Summary: overhyped
Review: My review would probably be more positive if it weren't for all the hype, which led me to expect something truly out of the ordinary (like "Cryptonomicon", maybe). This book isn't bad, but it's not exceptional either. Beyond that, the most useful thing I can say, probably, is that it is more of a "coming of age" story than a "treasure hunt" story. It reminds me more of "A Separate Piece" than "the Da Vinci Code." While there is a lot about the way the mystery book has affected the narrator, his father, his friends, etc. the actual "mystery" of the book itself is secondary to these relationships and characters. In fact, I could not make myself care about the mystery book. To put my views in context, I am not much of a "da Vinci Code" fan either -- I think it goes too far in the other direction with cardboard characters and awkward dialogue. If you like mysteries about art and art history, or codes, read the "jonathan and flavia" mysteries of Iain Pears or "Cryptonomicon" by Neal Stephenson.
Rating:
Summary: A novel, whatever it might be like, is always something new
Review: The comparisons made between "The Rule of Four" and various other works are not completely spurious, but they are somewhat beside the point (except for insofar as they alert potential readers to a book they'll likely enjoy). This is a fine novel, a real book far more than it is an exercise in any particular genre; I recommend it to all readers, including: those about to go to college; those attending it; those who have; those who have ever felt the power of love and trembled; those who know, as Borges has it, the "lazy pleasure in useless and out-of-the-way erudition"; those who like puzzles; those who have friends; those who have lost them; those who have adventures, and those who like to dream of them. I know I am pleased with a book when I miss my stop on the subway wrapped up in the pages. This happened yesterday, but I was only glad, as riding the train back in the opposite direction gave me more time to read. Readers of (to name a few other books) "The Club Dumas," "Three Musketeers," "The Name of the Rose," "Lords of Discipline," or "The Secret History," take note!
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.
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