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Title: The DaVinci Code
Author: Dan Brown
ISBN: 0-385-50420-9
Format: Hardcover 454 Pages
Overall Concept 8
Execution 7

CAVEAT: I hate to have to spell this out, but this is a work of fiction and as such all of the ‘history’ of this book should be taken with both a question as to its authenticity and with the understanding that it has most likely been altered to best suit the needs of the author and the story he wishes to tell, despite any claims he may make to the contrary.

This is the 2nd novel with our intrepid Harvard History Professor, Robert Langdon. In this tale of history (gone wrong) our protagonist is called to a murder scene by the French police while on lecture in the city of Paris. It seems that a man he was to have met with that evening has been murdered in the Louvre and has been positioned in a way similar to Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man. This incident quickly escalates to one where Robert is on the run from the French authorities and, with the aid of a French cryptographer, on the chase to find what the Holy Grail is and where precisely to find it.

Angels and Demons, Brown’s first novel with Robert Langdon, is not only a better read but a more plausible story. Also, it would seem that Mr. Brown is rather formulaic in his writing style and therefore The DaVinci Code seems stale, after having read Angels and Demons.

With regards to the heresy this book is presenting to the world, I will say two things. Firstly, see my CAVEAT above and secondly this is not the first time this idea has been brought forward and dismissed or forgotten. If anything I think Mr. Brown is a brilliant marketer as by making the Church take a stand against his novel he has received a significant amount of free press and that has generated a lot of sales. I also believe that the way Mr. Brown is presenting the information, from a Harvard professor and with a lecture type air to it, it is being leant a great deal of versimilitude. And this versimilitude is only aiding in people becoming blind to the fact that this is a work of fiction and should be treated as such.

As with Angels and Demons, I would heartily suggest this to any one who takes entertainment out of the concepts of a good mystery, conspiracies and/or anachronistic history lessons. But for any devout Catholics or Christians, the big historical reveal of this novel needs to be assumed to be quite fanciful.

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Title: Angels and Demons
Author: Dan Brown
ISBN: 0-7434-8622-6
Format: Hardcover 569 Pages
Overall Concept 9
Execution 8

This is the first novel staring the intrepid Harvard Professor Robert Langdon. In it, Robert, a historian with a specialty in Symbology and Religious Iconography, is approached by the head of CERN, the world's largest particle physics laboratory, to investigate the death of one of their head scientists who was killed in his locked apartment with a ambigram of the word Illuminati seared into his chest. Robert then spends the next 24 hours to keep ahead of the criminal, and his accomplices, who is planning to use some specific research of the initial victim to level the Vatican with an anti-matter bomb. All this is occurring during the time that the Catholic Church is electing a new pope.

I must admit that I was intrigued into reading this book because it is the first novel with the protagonist of the other bestseller by Brown, The Davinci Code, and that I tend to be a bit of a stickler when it comes to reading books in chronological order. But I was further intrigued by the fact that this was a modern murder mystery with its roots, and ultimately clues, in the details of common and not so common history.

First off, I hate to have to spell this out, but this is a work of fiction and as such all of the ‘history’ of this book should be taken with both a question as to its authenticity and with the understanding that it has most likely been altered to best suit the needs of the author and the story he wishes to tell.

If one can keep this above point in mind during the reading of this novel, it is a very entertaining and rewarding read, with many twists and turns that take you by surprise. It will be hard pressed for someone to ascertain the identity of the villain long before the final reveal.

My only other concern with this novel is the accelerated timeline and how much the protagonist is capable of accomplishing within a 24 hour timeframe. Fortunately, the entirety of the activity occurs within the city of Rome and the Vatican proper, so it doesn’t come off as completely impossible, just improbable.

I would heartily suggest this to any one who takes entertainment out of the concepts of a good mystery, conspiracies and/or anachronistic history lessons.