Book: The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown

Some may not like what I have to say about what they feel is The Best Thing, Ever, so if you have trouble accepting other people's opinions then do me a favour and stop reading now...

Anyway, yes, I jumped on this bandwagon slightly late - I'll be the first to admit that a) I don't keep up with what the current bestseller is and b) I don't give a poop if I'm not the first to read a book (Although I did feet a bit dirty reading a book which half The Tube had already).

I guess the main problem I had with The Da Vinci Code was the style in which it was written. Really, it's of a standard I expect of an (admittedly good) A-level student, with Brown using cheap tricks ("Suddenly the door opened... And what Billy found behind it would change his life FOREVER.") and even trashier dialogue to force the reader to carry on reading. I felt like I was being held to ransom at certain points or running on the same wild goose chase that those in the book were. Perhaps it was deliberately dumbed down to be more accessible (and the numbers reading certainly attest to that), but I for one expect to be treated with a bit more respect.

How this got past the editors in its current form I don't know. Well actually, yes I do - the book generally rides on its quite detailed research and factual accuracy, and there is no doubt that The Da Vinci Code proposes a fascinating and wonderful theory (I'll try not to elaborate for those who don't want to know). And please, don't get me wrong; I didn't totally dislike this book, but as a novel it was disappointing. If I wanted to read non-fiction (and sometimes I do) I would have.

If you want a well written and thought out mystery, then read Harry Potter. If you want real and believable characters then read Perdido. And if you want to be cheaply manipulated and fooled into thinking you're reading mature fiction, read The Da Vinci Code.