Annotation #2

Title: The DaVinci Code
Author: Dan Brown
Publisher: Doubleday, New York (January 1st, 2003)
Pages: 454
ISBN: 0385504209
Genre: Adventure/Thriller
Robert Langdon, a professor of symbology at Harvard University is awakened in the middle of the night in his Paris hotel room. Jacques Saunieve, curator of the Louvre has been murdered and police detective Jerome Collet wants Robert Langdon to interpret the scene but he is not told and is not yet aware he is a suspect in the murder. Langdon discovers Jacuques Saunieve’s body is surrounded by strange clues and meets Jacque’s granddaughter Sophie, a cryptologist with the French Judicial Police.

The murder scene sets off a chain of events that has Robert and Sophie follow the trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo DaVinci. They must solve a series of ciphers and riddles to find the secret location of the Holy Grail. This takes them on a grueling two day adventure through Paris and France and ultimately England. Not only do they have to solve ciphers and riddles but also stay ahead of the French police as well as the Priory of Sion, a one thousand year old secret society and a conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei. Both groups do not want the Grail found. The Priory of Sion will stop at no cost to ensure it isn’t found and Opus Dei may be close to destroying the Grail.

I had heard both good and bad things about the book. I thought the movie was just ok and I wanted to read the book. I thought the book was very good. It was fast paced and had many twists and turns. I wish I would have read the book before watching the movie! I really enjoyed the book and thought it was much better than the movie. I guess it would impossible to pack this book into a two and a half hour movie but I guess this isn’t supposed to be a comparison of the book and movie.

The mood was dark and menacing. The pace was very fast. The story took place over a period of a couple of days. There were many twists and turns and the story moved from Paris to London. Both are places I would love to visit which made the story a little more exciting. The plot is complicated and the author does a good job of providing background information. The trail of clues and puzzles to decipher with danger around every corner to uncover an ancient secret made for a very exciting story.

A lot of people told me they didn’t like this book and it was not well written but I really enjoyed it. Maybe in a few years after I have read more books I will look back and have a different opinion of the book and the writing. However, as of right now I consider this a good read. I would recommed this to anyone I thought there was no danger of starting a holy war with.