This is my second read through of the Da Vinci Code, I first read it before the film, and then watched the film, which was of course a huge disappointment as most film adaptations are. So I thought I'd give it another read.
Synopsis
The book follows Robert Langdon who is an expert on icons and all things symbolic. He's guest lecturing in Paris, when he gets woken in the middle of the night by the police requesting his presence at the Louvre. One of the people he was due to meet on his circuit was the Louvre's curator (Jacques Saunire), who unfortunately has been killed, and has left some cryptic clues behind.
The curator's grand-daughter (Sophie Neveu) and cryptologist arrives at the Louvre and quickly warns Robert he's actually a suspect in the murder. Neveu helps Langdon escape, and they set off to find the secrets which died with Saunire.
My Thoughts
The book is reasonably well written, it flows together and there are no particularly dull sections. I find it a little over detailed though, Brown seems to feel the need to describe ever single scene in great detail, leaving very little to the reader's imagination. I think that's why it was made into a film, because there's very little left to interpretation, so the film makers won't have had to rely on the script writers to fill in the blanks.
It was only during the second read that I realised how bored I was of quests to find the Holy Grail. I know it's supposed to be an important item from the church's history, but everyone and their dog has tried to find the grail, and has had run ins with decedents from the Knights Templar, Lara Croft has been there, George Stobbart and Nico Collard where nearly minced by the Knights, Monty Python have been there, yet we all know that it fell into a crevice after Indiana Jones saved his dad!
I would have loved the book to have run along the same lines, but for Brown to have used a bit of imagination and sent the heroes off on a search for something of equal importance, or even something from another religion, although the chances of being able to insult other religions in the same way as the Catholics are insulted is probably very limited.
All in all though, the book is decent enough, it's never going to be a classic but it's nice easy reading and passes a few hours and it did make me want to look up the paintings mentioned to examine them further. I don't think it's worthy of all the acclaim it received though.