Conspiracy Theory for the Religious: The DaVinci Code

By Jonathan Berohn

For too long, if you wanted a good conspiracy theory book, you’ve been trapped into the old standard military industrial complex/evil government paradigm. Then along comes a book like The Da Vinci Code to shatter that mold (Michael Creighton’s latest follows up on this development by suggesting a left wing conspiracy between the media, scientists, and environmentalists, but let’s not even go there…please).

The Writing

First, you have to come to terms with the fact that Dan Brown is no Faulkner, Joyce, or even Dickens. The Da Vinci Code, simply put, isn’t great literature.  On the other hand, it doesn’t pretend to be.  Brown tells his story in the tried and true method of the pop novelist.  In other words he spends a lot of time telling us what’s going on with description rather than trying to show us what’ going on through characters’ actions and behaviors.  He also likes to resort to the tried and true clichés of easy character building—Harvard professor, aggressive police captain, etc.

The Story

What Brown lacks as a novelist, however, he more than makes up for with his skills as a storyteller.  The Da Vinci code is certainly a thrilling story that will keep you compelled and reading all the way through its 454 pages.  Briefly, Brown’s main character, the aforementioned professor, is in a race against time and death to discover a religious secret passed down through the generations by famous men, including Leonardo Da Vinci.  In a clever twist, Brown includes a great deal of painstakingly factual research to lend his book an ear of authority most conspiracy theory books only dream of.  

Certainly, the plot is a bit hard to swallow in some places, but no more so than in other books of this genre, but the originality of the whole enterprise makes up for any flaws. The Da Vinci Code is certainly an interesting read, and it’s becoming such a current popular culture icon that it’s a worthwhile read, if only to know what everyone else is talking about.