by
Dan Brown05/08/2006
From Publishers Weekly
Brown's latest thriller (after Angels and
Demons)is an exhaustively researched
page-turner about secret religious
societies, ancient coverups and savage
vengeance. The action kicks off in
modern-day Paris with the murder of the
Louvre's chief curator, whose body is
found laid out in symbolic repose at the
foot of the Mona Lisa. Seizing control of
the case are Sophie Neveu, a lovely French
police cryptologist, and Harvard symbol
expert Robert Langdon, reprising his role
from Brown's last book. The two find
several puzzling codes at the murder
scene, all of which form a treasure map to
the fabled Holy Grail. As their search
moves from France to England, Neveu and
Langdon are confounded by two mysterious
groups-the legendary Priory of Sion, a
nearly 1,000-year-old secret society whose
members have included Botticelli and Isaac
Newton, and the conservative Catholic
organization Opus Dei. Both have their own
reasons for wanting to ensure that the
Grail isn't found. Brown sometimes ladles
out too much religious history at the
expense of pacing, and Langdon is a hero
in desperate need of more chutzpah. Still,
Brown has assembled a whopper of a plot
that will please both conspiracy buffs and
thriller addicts.
