By Nic Lindh on Wednesday, 26 April 2006
Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code is of course a massive runaway bestseller and the basis for a soon-to-be-released Hollywood blockbuster.
Unfortunately it isn’t very good.
It would seem that the vast majority of the considerable interest the novel has gathered around the world has come from the subject matter: Juicy stuff about the systematic, ruthless distortion of the truth about Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene, and a surviving heir from their proposed marriage.
Brown delivers his historical references with verve, and puts in enough detail to make the backdrop of the novel seem at least plausible enough to deliver plenty of frissons for the reader as well as, one would assume, gastric reflux for Catholic clergy.
But that aside, The DaVinci Code is a paint-by-numbers thriller, rich in last-minute escapes but poor on drama and a beggar when it comes to character development.
It would be much more interesting to read the book Robert Langdon, the novel’s protagonist, has written inside the novel.
But the movie will probably be pretty good.
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