The Thrill of Heresy (The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown)

Member Name: zebra

Product:	The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
Date:	05/03/04 (522 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gripping, intelligent and controversial

Disadvantages: May shoch some people

I bought the Da Vinci Code (£3.59 from Asda) a couple of days ago and
couldn't put it down until I had finished it. Dan Brown has created an
exciting and ingenious thriller based upon the plethora of conspiracy theory
books dealing with esoteric secret societies that have emerged in recent
years.

The hero of the story is Robert Langdon an acclaimed American religious
symbologist who has just completed what he knows will be a rather
controversial work on the symbols of the lost sacred feminine and who
becomes involved in the murder of Jacques Sauniere, the eminent curator
of the Louvre in Paris. Langdon was due to have a meeting with the curator
at the time he was being murdered in the Louvre. The police summon
Langdon to the scene of the crime to help with their enquiries and assist
with the cryptic message the dying curator has left.

The dying man left various clues about him, not least the very position he
placed himself in as he died. He had arranged his own body in the position
of Da Vinci's Vetruvian Man and drawn a pentacle on his body with his own
blood. Langdon recognises the symbols immediately but does not realise
that he is the chief suspect in this high profile murder.

The heroine of the story is Sophie Neveu she works for the police as a
cryptographer and has been involved with deciphering the strange written
message which Sauniere also left. However, she also happens to be the
estranged granddaughter of the murder victim who had recently tried to
contact her to warn her of the danger that she too was facing.

Readers who have never heard of the Templars, Holy Grail, the Priory of
Sion, the Merovingian dynasty or the Opus Dei may be shocked, perhaps
in a similar way that the heroine was shocked when ten years previously
she discovered her grandfather participating in an esoteric ritual which was
c

ause of the rift between them.

Sophie realises that the message was meant for her and the fact that
Robert Langdon is also mentioned brings her to the decision to help him
escape from the police and solve the mystery surrounding the death of her
grandfather. Although she has been educated by her grandfather and is a
highly intelligent cryptographer she, like the majority of readers, is unaware
of the secret teachings and Langdon becomes her teacher as together
they embark on a fast paced adventure that takes them from Paris to
London and Edinburgh, with many twists and turns and narrow escapes
from the various enemies they encounter in the all too short 592 pages.

For those who are not aware of the esoteric teachings and various
conspiracy theories this novel will serve a double whammy. Readers will be
amazed by symbolic heretical secrets contained in world famous
paintings, awed by the thought of illustrious personalities of history being
party to a powerful secret society holding secrets that the 'Church' do not
want divulged. Some might be disturbed by the heretical and pagan
symbols and secrets to be found in the most holy of places.

Those who have read the various conspiracy theory books such as the
Templar Revolution and various Books by Baigent and Leigh (most famous
of which is Holy Blood Holy Grail which is actually mentioned in the novel)
will not find anything new in this novel other than the story setting and even
that may seem a bit predictable if one is aware of the various theories
many of which seem more like fiction than fact in my mind. However this
does not detract from the story which as an adventure remains gripping
from start to finish. The disadvantage of having read the background books
is that the cryptology of the novel seems far too simple to be worthy of
such an erudite and important ch
ief o
f a secret society. However, it may
have been part of the author's intention to give such readers a smug sense
of being in the loop and although the clues are quite easily solved this
doesn't detract from the drama of the story.

It would be easy to be over critical of this book and complain that there are
stupid errors and crass caricatures of some of the characters. But overall I
found this novel to be totally absorbing and exciting and one of the most
unputdownable mass market books I have read in quite a long time. I
would thoroughly recommend it.

Summary: