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The elderly curator of the Louvre is murdered inside the museum, with a strange cipher found near the body. Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbologist on business in Paris is called in to help solve the mystery. Joining forces with a French cryptologist called Sophie Neveu, he finds a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonard Da Vinci, but is soon thrown into a race against time, as their lives are endangered. Firstly, it is hard to find new comments to make on 'The Da Vinci Code' as the book has already become one of the most discussed thrillers of 2003. There has been controversy over some of the ideas proposed by Brown in his novel, not to mention allegations of plagiarism, but the author has also been treated with contempt for some of the errors in the novel, which could have been fixed through simple research. His Parisian geography leaves a lot to be desired, as well as simple errors regarding Da Vinci's work and Catholic beliefs. One particularly glaring error occurs when he refers to the BBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation, as the 'British Broadcast Corporation'. In the scheme of things, this may not appear a grave fault, but it is something that is incredibly easy to verify. However, we should ask if these errors are actually important to the working of the novel. Brown has written a thriller that travels at a breakneck pace, racing across Paris and then into England for a showdown in London. The pace often slows briefly for a discussion of the Holy Grail legend, and information about the Knights Templar and cryptology, and indeed, the reader requires a certain amount of concentration to be able to absorb the wealth of detail provided. At points, Brown is capable of jarring the reader out of the narrative, by virtue of his characters. He introduces Sir Leigh Teabing, former British Royal Historian. The shock in Sophie Neveu at meeting someone who has been knighted is palpable, but the reader will be more shocked when the character starts to speak. It seems that Brown has made one of the most grotesque caricatures possible of a member of the British upper-class nobility. He becomes a completely unbelievable character, stereotypical to the last, down to his dislike of the French and cream in his tea. Any British readers will be suitably disappointed in this. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that Brown has written one of the fastest and perhaps most involving, thrillers on the market. It is also certain that he must have b'een able to smell the film rights, as the novel has ?Hollywood blockbuster' written all over it. Someone who is looking for a holiday thriller will devour this book, possibly even in a single sitting, as its very short chapters make it easy for the reader to become hooked. However, it will first be necessary to suspend disbelief over the various weak and poorly written sections.
Reviewed by Luke Croll, September 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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