2003 Year in Review

Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code is a riddle-filled, code-breaking, exhilarating brainy thriller by author Dan Brown. Within the opening pages, a curator of the Louvre in Paris fights to protect ancient secrets from the 1100's as he is threatened by an albino monk.

Desperately trying to buy himself some time, the curator seizes a painting by Caravaggio from the wall to activate the museum's alarm system. He uses these precious moments, which are his last, to take off his clothes, draw a circle and arrange himself like the figure in Leonardo Da Vinci's most famous drawing, "The Vitruvian Man."

Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor of art history and religious symbology, is summoned. Langdon is in Paris proposing some very unconventional intereptations of religious iconography. Also soon on the scene is Sophie Neveu, a noted cryptologist. Together with Leonardo Da Vinci whose life and works were filled with symbols and secrets, they are off to the races. Langdon and Neveu tap into a mountain of religious conspiracy theory. The Priory of Sion, the Knights Templar, Divine Proportion and the Holy Grail are all examined for clues and answers to riddles.

This author draws us to the place where evidence and religions faith collide; he creates a thrilling exploration of this collision as Langdon and Sophie follow clues planted by Da Vinci. They are sent on the run, both for the answers and their lives. The book moves at a very fast pace as each chapter ends with a cliffhanger, leaving the reader eager to read more.

I greatly enjoyed this book! It has been on the bestseller list for over six months and many weeks as #1. Dan Brown melds a thriller from the world of art, religion, philosophy, and history. A wonderful book for discussion!!

by Anne Frame, Guest Columnist
September 23, 2003