The Da Vinci Code

If you're looking for densely plotted, fast-moving action set against colourfully drawn locales, then this thriller should definitely be on your shopping list. Robert Langdon is an academic on assignment in Paris when he hears of the death of one Jacques Sauniere, curator of the Louvre. The savage killing has several puzzling features. Most notably, alongside the body, which was found in the Louvre itself, are a series of mystifying codes. So Langdon joins forces with Sophie Neveu, a cryptologist who helps him crack these acrostics. To their astonishment, they learn that there are crucial clues in the life and works of a long-dead genius, Leonardo da Vinci. The duo soon find themselves up against a highly sinister organization, the Priory of Sion, a clandestine religious society, and discover that the curator's death is somehow tied in with the location of a crucial religious relic, which is also being sought by the equally secret and sinister Opus Dei. Violent death is in the offing for those who cross the path of these relentless theocrats. While the characterization here is nicely rounded, there is no denying that it is the plotting that keeps the reader glued to the page. Highly enjoyable. (Kirkus UK)