Robert Langdon, a highly thought of symbologist from Harvard, is currently in Paris, giving a lecture on his work. He has received an invitation from well-respected museum curator at the Louvre, Jacques Sauniere, to meet after his lecture, and as Sauniere is reputed to be something of an expert on female symbology, the topic of a manuscript that Langdon has recently been working on, he is keen to meet the curator. He is somewhat disappointed when Sauniere fails to show up for the meeting, and resigns himself to having to return to Harvard without having met him.

Events take a shocking turn, though, when Langdon receives a telephone call in the middle of the night. Sauniere has been murdered. It seems, however, that he had a message that he wanted to tell the world before his death, and he has attempted to pass this on through some shocking symbology and an intriguing message. Unfortunately for Langdon, he appears to have been implicated somehow in the death, and Bezu Fache, Capitane of the French Police, is keen to speak with him.

At the Louvre, Langdon meets Agent Sophie Neveu, a cryptologist with the French Police who has rushed to the scene of the murder to offer her assistance. They are unsure as to why they have been thrown together in this way, but it seems it was part of Sauniere’s dying plans. Between the two of them, they have to figure out the code left behind by Sauniere before it is too late. This takes them on an astonishing quest for a treasure more rare and unexpected than either of them could have dreamed, which if found could almost change the way that history is written.

But it seems that Langdon and Neveu are not the only ones searching for this treasure. It comes to light that Sauniere was highly influential in an ancient secret society, The Priory of Sion, as were three other men who were murdered on the same night. Past members of the Priory had included figures as prominent as Victor Hugo, Jean Cocteau and Leonardo da Vinci himself. The priory clearly had a secret to keep, and the shocking murders are a clear sign that someone else is after this secret. Everything points to Opus Dei, a prelature of the Catholic Church, with some fairly unusual beliefs…

I really wanted to give this book five stars, as I found it totally gripping and a fascinating read. The Priory of Sion and Opus Dei are both real groups, and we are given some factual background to these at the outset. I found it interesting to learn about these, and even more fascinating were the multitude of references to ancient symbology, alternative messages about the life of Jesus and the significance of Mary Magdalene, and the hidden messages within famous works of art by Da Vinci, so much so that I found myself rushing to the computer to find the images and see for myself. I would really like to discuss more about the historical and symbological references within the book, but I feel that it would spoil it for anyone who does intend to read it, as for me, one of the most enjoyable aspects of reading “The Da Vinci Code” is the way in which more and more information is revealed as the story goes along.

The book is one of the most difficult to put down that I have ever read, as each chapter is no more than a few pages long, making it tempting to read one more – and another, and another… The story is told in almost real time, with the majority of events taking place within a 24 hour period, although there are a few relevant flashbacks. The action never stops, and as a reader I found myself trying, along with Langdon and Neveu, to figure out the next clue in the puzzle. Indeed, if you are a fan of word games, riddles and cryptic puzzles, you will enjoy the book for this alone.

The story has a surprising ending, part of which I did manage to figure out, but I wouldn’t say that it was predictable, as the actual plot behind the quest was just one of a number of potential endings I considered in my mind, and at no point was I certain of the outcome. Once I found out the truth, I almost wanted to go back and read the book again straight away to make sense of events leading up to the revelation, in the light of what I now knew.

It’s an art history lesson, a lesson in symbology, an intelligent crime thriller, a chase novel and a puzzle all rolled into one. It seems the book has everything, and I certainly enjoyed reading it. But, for me, it has a few flaws, which have led me to deduct one star from my overall rating.

Firstly, I did find elements of the story predictable and unbelievable in places. Langdon and Neveu soon find themselves on the run, and the early part of the story contains an almost farcical series of last minute escapes, where you can almost imagine the chasing policeman throwing his hat down in frustration and exclaiming: “Shucks! Foiled again!”

Equally, once the truth was revealed, I found myself marvelling at how the intricate plot had actually worked out as well as it did, as it was highly dependent on individuals behaving in a certain way when faced with a certain set of circumstances – and as we all know, human beings are generally not this predictable!

I also found that the book was somewhat lacking in character development, although perhaps this is a function of the short time frame over which we get to know the main characters. However, I felt that we could have benefited from knowing a little more about Langdon and Neveu and what initially drove them to behave in what seems a fairly reckless way.

Finally, and only a minor point, part of the action takes place in the UK, and there are some errors in understanding of British Culture, ranging from the glaring - a reference to “The Millennium Eye” to the niggling - a cup of instant coffee being made in the microwave, and then offered with cream and sugar! This is a very small irritation, but in a book that was otherwise so well researched, I felt that these errors could have been avoided. As the rest of the action takes place in Paris, I can't help but think that there may well be further errors by this US author, this time relating to the French way of life.

This really is a great book, and I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys a thrilling read with an intelligent content. Ordinarily, I probably would have given it five stars, if the subject matter had been different. I just felt that, in this case, it is such an original and clever idea that it had the potential to be a real modern classic; potential which, sadly, is unfulfilled.

Nevertheless, it is highly recommended, and I shall be looking out for other books by Dan Brown in the future.