Racy Rubbish. Review on The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

Dan Brown?s international bestseller is forceful yet has no literary quality whatsoever. It is unputdownable not because it has a great deal of secret knowledge to share with an unwitting world, or even because it is so mired in controversy. The element of suspense maintained throughout is what makes any racy thriller click, and as such ? The Da Vinci Code? is like any other racy thriller, and therefore does not merit the adulation it is receiving.

Firstly, Dan Brown?s fictionalized piece of work based on so-called exhaustive research, is never in a class of its own. It reads like your run-of-the-mill suspense thriller. The language is average. The characters never catch your eye. It?s rather the twist behind every turn in the story that holds your interest.

Brown has this irritating habit of giving you a short recap of every preceding chapter at the start of every new one. As if to say you weren?t paying attention in the first place. Let?s begin to agree that the author put in dollops of little-known trivia all over the place. Or the atheist (Sir Teabing) and the skeptic (Langdon) making observations that mirror their points of view or study. But more often than not, all this is thrust upon you as if you can never have enough of it. The climax is a drag, and a really sad one at that. By the 76th chapter I guessed correctly who the ?Teacher? was.

This book educates the average reader about interrogation techniques, secret societies, beliefs and counter-beliefs. What good the book does (revive interest in cryptology and mathematical trivia, puzzles and crosswords) is lost in its out-and-out Church-bashing spree.

This book is not one you?d like to see on your shelf for future generations to read. It is no reread value whatsoever. It is a badly edited book. Dan Brown?s Langdon sounds more like a tourist or a night-flyer than a serious expert on his topic of study. He is just a well-read person who wears a Disney watch.

It teaches you that publicity or curiosity will get you places, as it did J.K. Rowling. But it will never keep you there. These days anyone can write a bestselling novel. Just how many stand the test of time remains to be seen.