Reminiscent of the murder in the cathedral, the book begins within the impressive vaults of the Louvre in Paris. A well known art curator crafting out the finishing touches to his own death ? enough to set your heart pacing wild and waiting for the next piece of delectable tale.
But just as suddenly it goes all awry- a Professor of Symbology (Whatever that may mean!) is woken up in the middle of the night to be questioned for the curator?s murder. Then on, the tale takes you through predictable twists(?)
Brown keeps falling back on hacked unto death plots ? Guy meeting extra ordinary good looking well intentioned girl, escaping from the Toilet of the museum(yeah!!) thanks to ultra sensitive/dumb guards and archaic security arrangements (in the Louvre!) , fooling way into Swiss bank vaults, escaping in Cash cans...Guns too?the works!
The one thing which could have actually redeemed the glaringly teeny bopper plot could have been the riddles. Any murder mystery which makes the reader swivel in his chair with twisters of the mind makes for a good nerve racking read. Given the fact that the lead characters are supposedly a symbologist and a cryptographer, there was great room for well crafted mind benders.
Instead there are really juvenile clues (Mirror writing is better left to the Five Find outers, please!!!!) There is an almost desperate attempt throughout the book to build up the mystique with copious references to the Holy Grail ( King Arthur, remember?), the dead sea scrolls, Mona Lisa, Constantine and of course Leonardo Da Vinci! One is flabbergasted at the end of the book as to what the hoopla was all about.
But I did call it a masterpiece, did?nt I? It is. A marketing masterpiece. The author obviously is more intelligent than any of his lead characters. He could have easily figured out all the glaring need gaps in his script while doing the cut paste job.
The only remaining tool that he could have used to save his attempt was ?controversy?. Thus the attempt to willingly rub the ever so sensitive nerves of half of the living world ?Christians of all manners and the Catholics in particular. Even this is done shoddily.
The myth around which the story revolves is foisted upon the reader in a most abrupt manner and leaves one all confused about the supposed secret liaison between the Priory of Sion, The Roman Catholic Church and the in between mechanisms of Knight Templars etc. etc.
One really cannot figure out who the bad guy is!