Clash of Symbols: The DaVinci Code
By Bruce Collier August 28, 2003 Issue

A curator of the Louvre is shot dead, his body found in an unusual position on the museum floor. Ritual murder? No. Just the first of many symbolic clues that power The DaVinci Code, Dan Brown’s bestselling cerebral thriller of art, religious symbolism, and secret societies. Observing the old fashioned classical unities, the mystery proceeds almost in real elapsed time, aided by flashbacks and simultaneous occurrences. The plot flip-flops like a landed grouper, with “who do you trust?” always the question uppermost.

I’ll try not to give away anything, but let this be a warning. First of all, the identity of the murderer is never in doubt. FYI, it’s an albino monk. But as is frequently the case in thrillers, the lone murderer is seldom truly alone, and thereby hangs the tale. The DaVinci Code boasts two heroes for the price of one in the persons of American Robert Langdon, Harvard professor of symbology, and French Sophie Neveu, police cryptologist. Respectively hunk and hunkette, each has an appealing touch of the bookish nerd and an academic disdain for violence. Sophie does resort to appropriate force, though, in a good cause.

The two meet at the crime scene, the murder somewhat complicated by Sophie’s relation to the victim, her estranged grandfather. The position of the body, as well as certain symbolic and tangible objects found in two DaVinci paintings conveniently displayed nearby, leads them on a fast-paced pursuit. This pursuit is itself further complicated by the fact that the homicide investigator, Captain Bezu “the Bull” Fache (a part with Jean Reno written all over it) suspects Robert of the murder. What starts as an intellectual post mortem a la Indiana Jones swiftly morphs into Escape From the Really Huge French Art Museum. There’s enough medium tech surveillance gadgetry to give the story a video game feel, but the real fun of the book comes from the clues left by the dead curator. The pattern is quickly established: clue is found, identified as symbol, explained, and then followed until the next appears. Imagine a scavenger hunt engineered by Michael Crichton and Sega, with a touch of violence, and you get the idea.

Robert and Sophie do manage to escape the Louvre, but they are far from being out of la soupe. They head to the magnificent Chateau Villette, home of Robert’s eccentric British colleague Sir Leigh Teabing (John Rhys-Davies, phone your agent). Why? Because they have reason to believe the high jinks has something to do with the legend of the Holy Grail. (Please flush Monty Python and Indiana Jones out of your system before proceeding). Sir Leigh is the world’s leading expert on Grail lore, and supplies the third brain in this multinational quest.

While all this is happening—and it is happening fast—the French police are closing in, as are the parties responsible for the murder. Everybody has a stake in this, the stakes running from the obvious (solving the crime) to the deep and mysterious (why kill a museum curator, even a French one?). Naming the major players at this point still gives little if anything away: they include the Roman Catholic Church, Opus Dei and the Priory of Sion (the latter bona fide secret societies, the author assures us). These three entities now lock horns in earnest. The “true” characters of Christ, Mary Magdalene, Saint Peter, a bunch of popes, and the role of the female in Christianity are historically and spiritually up for grabs.

Confusing? Not really. Author Brown keeps the balls in the air, deftly feeding information on an as-needed basis, and in some cases providing clues that seemed a lot more obvious to me than they did to the characters. One glaring example came about 50 pages from the end. All parties concerned are running around trying to discern a secret password that was screaming itself out to me. I’m not trying to be a wise guy, but see what you think.

Of course, Brown may have just been making us wait, like any good storyteller. The DaVinci Code is a good story, though I expect a few feathers will be ruffled. Two thousand years of received Christian thought and imagery are reshuffled like a pack of cards and dealt every which way. Paganism, Egyptian cosmology, Freemasonry, and Goddess theory all come into play. I would like to have heard Brown out a little more thoroughly on a few assertions, such as his flat statement that Leonardo DaVinci was “a flamboyant homosexual.” How does one know with absolute certainty such a thing? This is a small point, but Brown evidently felt it worth making for the sake of his story, and it made me curious.

In any event, none of the above got in the way of my enjoyment of the story. If you like history, love puzzles, relish new and challenging theories, or just want to know the floor plan of the Louvre, get a copy of The DaVinci Code, or get your name on the list at your library. You may have a long wait there. (Top)

The DaVinci Code, Doubleday. 454 pp., available at book retailers, or library reserved lists.

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