The Da Vinci code
The book, The Da Vinci Code, was written by Dan Brown. The book was published by Double Day, in 2003 and has a total of 449 pages. The genre of the book is a blend of Science-fiction and Mystery. The Da Vinci code starts out with a murder, which leads to a robbery which leads to secret that has been kept so long, that only four people in the world know it. I found the book very compelling and deep within the context of a good book.
A man named Jauques Sauniere, the care taker for the Louvre in France, has just started his night shift when he is confronted by a man with red eyes and pale white skin. Jauques then pulls a painting from the wall entrapping him in a room where the albino man can’t reach him. The albino man then shoots him. Sometime later, after he finished a class, a professor named Robert Langdon is brought to the museum by the police and is shown the dead caretaker. He then is thrusted into a quest with cryptology detective Sophie Nevu, who is the granddaughter of Jauque. The top chief of police named Bezu Fache, thinks Langdon did it because Jauque wrote “P.S Find Robert Langdon” in a black light water pen but Fache had erased it before he came. Sophie then helps Robert escape from the Louvre and then they follow the clues made by Sauniere to try and find the secret. While Robert and Sophie run, the albino named Silas, has been trying to find out the same secret for a new religion called ‘Opus Dei”. He then is fooled and follows Robert and Sophie. Robert then thinks that Sophie’s grandfather was a member of a secret organization called The Priory of Sion, which once was the Knights Templar, that has had members like Issac Newton and Leonardo Da Vinci who have guarded the same secret for over 2000 years. Robert thinks that the secret that the Priory of Sion are guarding is the Holy Grail, and that Sophie’s grandfather was the leader. After, Robert and Sophie find a mysterious box and find a device made by Da Vinci which holds a secret message. If someone tries to force the device open, the vile of vinegar will break burning the paper making it illegible.
The book was wonderfully written with suspense on every page that leaves you wanting to know what will happen next. A sample of writing that will make you want to read it all, is “Fache sprinted down the Grand Gallery as Collet’s radio blared over the distant sound of the alarm. “He jumped!” Collet was yelling. “I’m showing the signal out on Place du Carrousel! Outside the bathroom window! And it’s not moving at all! Jesus, I think Langdon has just committed suicide!” Fache heard the words, but they made no sense. He kept running. The hallway seemed never-ending. As he sprinted past Sauniere’s body, he set his sights on the partitions at the far end of the Denon Wing. The alarm was getting louder now. (Brown 84).”
If the author was trying to make a suspenseful drama, Dan Brown got there and exceeded by far. The writing was very gratifying as it moved throughout the book and moved the plot along. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a suspenseful mystery or conspiracy book. The movie is almost as good as the book. I also urge you to see the movie which was a wonderful adaption to the book. In the book Sauniere writes the message on the floor but in the movie they use blood.
My overall consensus is that the book is un-doubtingly a gripping and shake you around so much you want more, type of book. Also the book has some language but not enough to offend you. The book left me thinking, “What if there really are secret messages in the billboards or somewhere else?”