sandra, the book critic: review of the DaVinci Code

everyone and their mother told me how great the da vinci code was. amazing read. pure genius. dan brown is a master.

yeah, right.

this book, although riddled with interesting facts and theories, was, for me, lame at best. this was my second dan brown novel, and having read angels and demons, i believe mr. brown is stuck on one single plot and merely chooses to change the name of the people involved (except for langdon, i guess). the similarities are as follows:

1. you know from the beginning the main character will accomplish both goals: a) find out where the ultimate "thing"/"person" he is looking for is and b) bag the girl
2. a secret society of some sort
   
3. a hot woman looking to find out why her father/grandfather is dead.
4. a confused police officer of high rank undecided whether langdon is good or bad
5. a criminal mastermind that has orchestrated this whole thing
6. a brute to carry out the crap work
7. secrets/codes/rituals that are a result of some well-known historical figure

there are many more minor points that are the same, too, yet too numerous to list.

i just couldn't get into it. i had to force myself to get to 3/4 of the book and then, in a last attempt to finish the fricking thing, i got the audiobook to listen to while i knit (so i feel like i'm getting something out of it). i won't spoil it here but that end was so lame and OBVIOUS. sigh. i want to write to dan brown and ask for my brain cells back.

there is a boredom-buster on the davinci code site, though, just if you have nothing to do. randomhouse presents: the davinci code code