Everywhere I go these days I see people reading Dan Brown's two popular books: The
DaVinci Code and Angels & Demons (see my prior review). It's true, the books are
good--they're exciting, high-paced, chock full of little pieces of interesting historical
and relevant religious trivia. You'd never imagine that the knowledge base of one art
history instructor could rival my one-time TV hero MacGyver in any death-defying
situation.
Like its predecessor, The DaVinci Code is a detective's game, making sense of bizarre clues and solving mysteries one after another in the quest for answers and the righting of wrongs. Our protagonist Robert Langdon again proves his wile by outthinking any otherwise confounding situation. The tidbits of history continually divulged are enough to make you go "hmm", and if any of it were true (who knows) would certainly be enough to make one question some of the very foundations of modern Christianity.
The pace isn't quite as frantic as Angels & Demons, which I remember on several late nights fighting the irresistible urge to keep reading. And while I'd generally give A&D a better rating, DaVinci is another great read--for first time Brown readers or not.