Da Vinci Code

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The Da Vinci Code by thriller author Dan Brown is the most popular book to hit the world in years. Not since Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities has a single novel whipped readers into such a collective frenzy. The Da Vinci Code has been on the best seller list for over three years, and with a blockbuster-style film of the book due to be released soon, it should remain there for quite some time to come.

The book follows the journey of symbiologist Robert Langdon as he traces a mystery that starts with a murder at the Louvre all the way to what could be clues to the location of the Holy Grail. These clues are supposedly hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci. Along the way, Landgon, accompanied by French cryptologist Sophie Neveu, comes across vast conspiracies that only serve to deepen the plot, and imperil the two heroes. Dan Brown's research for the novel is exhaustive, and the theories he suggests have sparked enormous debate in both the religious and secular worlds.

The Da Vinci Code is written as a page-turning thriller with a very cinematic approach to storytelling. All of the action is artfully described, and the internal monologues that mar a lot of suspense fiction are kept to a minimum. Dialogue and description makes up the bulk of The Da Vinci Code, and it keeps the action moving at break-neck speed. Dan Brown masterfully teases the reader to keep reading subsequent chapters, and many who have picked up the book found that they were compelled to finish it as quickly as possible.

Where The Da Vinci Code will eventually be considered in the annals of literary history is open to debate. But there is no denying its power and its popularity. Several international groups have been formed to debate the claims of the book, which has helped immeasurably to spread the fame of the book.