Robert Langdon, a famous Harvard Symbologist, is woken by the police late one night while in Paris to give a lecture. He finds that the elderly curator of Louvre has been murdered, his body stripped naked, laid spread eagle, with a pentacle carved into his body and a coded message written beside him. Robert also finds that he is the primary suspect for the murder, and that the French police chief, Fache, may need to convict Langdon to save his own job.

Helped by police code-breaker, and the granddaughter of the Louvre curator, Sophie Neveu, Langdon flees the crime scene in hope of either making it to the US embassy to avoid being convicted of a murder he didn't commit, or solve the strange code left by the body in hopes of proving his innocence.

At the risk of spoiling anything (though if you've read any of the controversy around this book this part is probably already spoiled) Langdon finds that in order to prove his innocence he must find The Holy Grail which is protected by a secrete society called The Priory of Sion. The ‘Holy Grail' isn't actually a cup that held Christ's blood, it is actually the bones of Mary Magdalene, the woman who Jesus is supposed to have married, and documents that show Jesus and Mary had children and that Jesus was not divine, simply a great prophet.

As you can probably tell from the last paragraph, this book has ruffled the feathers of many Christians out there, particularly Catholics. Langdon puts forth an alternative version of history that is well researched and will probably seem more appealing to those who are not upset by the idea of Jesus having a wife, or that Jesus is not necessarily divine. I believe that Brown puts forth a convincing argument that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were probably married, and that the early church participated in a smear campaign to discredit Mary (who supposedly was the one Jesus chose to run his church after he died rather than Peter) and resulted in an unbalanced, male dominated culture that we have today.

However, this is not to say that all of the claims that Brown makes, or seems to support in this book, are on steady ground. Much of this book is built around proving that Da Vinci believed this version of history by examining his artwork. Some of these ‘symbologist' proofs are very interesting, and others are stretching it. For example, I looked up some of Da Vinci's paintings in an art book while Brown was describing the ‘shocking poses' and hidden meanings in them, and I just plain didn't see what he was so excited about. In Madonna on the Rocks, the virgin Mary and an angle are, according to Brown, making some threatening gesture as if they are cutting off some invisible person's head, but when I look at the painting I think that analysis is reading way too much into the poses. There is also the looming, annoying flaw in his logic that just because Da Vinci believed a certain version of history, does not make that version of history correct, regardless of wether or not he was the head of the Priory of Sion. There is also the constant reference to Goddess worship, and that the Priory of Sion, and other secret groups, somehow worship Mary Magdalene as a goddess. I find it somewhat paradoxical that though Christ is supposed to be just a man, and not divine in these secrete documents, that these groups have taking to worshiping Mary Magdalene because she carried Jesus's holy or royal bloodline. If Jesus isn't divine, then why should anyone believe that the woman who bore his children is divine? I'm not necessarily trying to put forth a pro-Christian argument, I'm simply saying that it seems silly to worship as a Goddess the woman who carried the bloodline of a non-divine prophet.

All of the controversy aside, this is an enjoyable read, though I don't think that, as a novel, it deserves all of the attention that it's getting. Brown is a very skilled writer as far as crafting his sentences and paragraphs, but the plot is a bit formulaic and even verges on unintentional silliness. The ultra short chapters, the constant running and narrow escapes, and how the main characters literally take turns solving the little puzzles makes things a bit tiresome. The plot structure reminded me of the Doctor Who episodes I used to watch as a kid, only instead of time lords, Cyber men and Darleks, you have art symbologists, Opus Dei, and the Priory of Sion.

The book is best read just one short chapter a day (some chapters are short enough to be put on a daily calendar) and if you try to read much more than that the repetitive plot structure might start to get on your nerves. There were points in the story where, if I read too much of it at once, I'd say to myself, "For non-divine Christ sakes, not another puzzle. Just find the blasted thing!"

People who thoroughly enjoy riddles, cross word puzzles, and constant narrow escapes will probably give this book 4 or 5 out of five stars. If you don't fall into that category then this is a solid 3 stars. Also people who don't read very often, or who prefer short, sweet chapters will probably find this book a safe bet. It's a good book, but it just doesn't live up to all of the hype. If the alternative version of history is what draws you to it, then you might be better served by picking up a copy of "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" which seems to be one of Brown's predominant historical sources.