Wow, that was a fun ride!
I can see why this book was so highly spoken of.
I very much enjoyed his style. He is a big tease for one thing. I don't think I have ever read a book that had so many, hold your breath, jump up and down, move over, let me see! . . . endings to chapters in my life! The murder mystery/treasure hunt/word play content had me wriggling with delight in my various and sundry reading places the whole day long. I was trying to outguess the puzzles that were presented, which was a lot of fun, and at one point he even guessed the leap I was going to make, and then dashed my hopes right away, so I wouldn't labor under my delusions too long. Bless his heart. And yes, I DID look up paintings on the internet to see for myself what he was talking about.
The story incorporated all the good stuff: Murder most foul. Characters that had much to gain, or lose. Egg head academics. Comic relief. Really scary twisted bad guy. Ancient mysteries. Heresy. Faith, and a quirky ending. Who could ask for more?
Well actually, I could. I mean I hate to be picky, but as a reader there came that mysterious moment in the book where it was time to wrap up the bodies and go home. But the convolutions continued. I guess movie makers are not the only ones who fall prey to this fatal flaw.
I can think of two distinct scenes that could have been left out without hurting the story a bit, and would have given my overtired eyes a break at the same time. If I was the editor, I would have fought like a tiger to have them cut from the manuscript.
Because for the first half of the book, I thought, "This guy is a genius storyteller!"
But somewhere at the 2/3 mark, he lost it. Thank goodness he redeemed himself with the ending, which to my mind was just perfect.
I think all of us who write are susceptible to this problem. And we ourselves cannot see it, only the reader can tell us when we have made them slog, or put unnecessary obstacles in their way.
After all we readers are eager to follow the bread crumb trial, and it's not nice to veer off the path into the wilderness unless there is something out there we REALLY need to find to make the story make sense. And there is no use putting in five turns, when two would do. And if I ever do that, I would appreciate it if you all would clue me in. 'kay?
But that said, I would still recommend this book with enthusiasm.
Now, without giving away anything, because I don't want to spoil a single moment of your pleasure, I just want to say one thing about the subject matter of this book,
which I could tell might make some people quite uncomfortable. . .
Remember. It's just a story!
(Anybody wanna bet they make a movie out of this book?)
Well, I guess I win the bet.
http://movies.go.com/movies/D/davincicode_2004/index.html
Check it out...