An American in Paris

When I read Philip Roth's The Human Stain I thought that no other book would keep me awake for three consecutive nights. It happened again when I picked up The Da Vinci Code. For quite some time I had been hearing and reading about Dan Brown's latest work and feared that, with all the hype, I would be let down by the book. This was not to be the case. The Da Vinci Code is one of the most compelling and well-researched thrillers I have ever read. It is one of those books which, after finishing it, one enjoys re-reading parts of it to relive the experience. In other words, it makes you crave for more. No wonder it spent more than 40 weeks at the top of the New York Times bestsellers list. Maltese readers seem to have the same tastes since Sapienza's tell me it is selling like hotcakes.

At face value, the book is about an American professor, Robert Langdon, a world leading expert in symbology, who becomes the prime suspect in the murder of the elderly and much-respected curator of the Louvre. He teams up with the charming Sophie Neveu, a cryptologist with the French police, to try to find the mind behind the murder. But that is maybe the smallest mystery in this book.

The real theme, which is extremely well researched, focuses on the fact that many times we believe something simply because we are taught to believe it as the "only" truth. Brown draws from historical facts to challenge the pre-concepts of modern day Christian beliefs. He does not do so from a "heretical" point of view. In fact, he said in an interview that he shares these Christian beliefs.

The story develops as a contemporary pursuit of the Holy Grail, which is not, as many imagine, a box containing the chalice which Christ used during the last supper. Historians argue that the Holy Grail is nothing but a vivid account of the life of Christ: An account which confirms that Jesus was the greatest leader that mankind ever had; an account that confirms many of the things we know about Him. It is an account that reveals other parts of His life that for some could be shocking but that, at the end of the day, does nothing but reinforce the image of a great man.

The book puts back into the mainstream the issue of the role of women in the Catholic Church. It makes the reader ask why women are not given the same possibilities as men within the Church when Christ Himself trusted and accepted them among his inner circle. There is no easy answer to such questions but Brown certainly sets the reader thinking.

From a historical perspective, the American author puts forward relatively unknown facts, such as that the Bible we use was collated at the time of Emperor Constantine, with the persons chosen for the job selecting only four out of some 90 gospels to give an account of Christ's life. Some of these gospels, which have been disowned by the Church, were found in the Middle East in the 1940s and 1950s.

Before writing his book, Brown spent one whole year researching the subject. He also carried out interviews with past and present members of Opus Dei, the controversial Catholic organisation which features extensively in The Da Vinci Code.

This is not a story about goodies and baddies. It has its hero and there is a villain but, reading it, one ends up understanding the points of view of both.

This story shows that, as in real life, there are many shades of grey and that everyone follows his or her quest because he or she is convinced of doing the right thing.

The deal to make The Da Vinci Code a movie has already been struck. The same team that gave us A Beautiful Mind will produce it. Russell Crowe will play its leading character Robert Langdon. Few doubt that it will not be a blockbuster when released in 2005.

In the meantime, I look forward to more sleepless nights when I get hold of Brown's other books.