The Da Vinci Code

(Warning: spoilers ahead)

I read it. The plot was excellently contrived. The way it mixes fact and fiction is great. But as a whodunit, it's a bit rubbish. Dan Brown is continually treating both his characters and readers as simpletons. Now I realise it's not an easy thing to invent clues and a treasure hunt, and these clues are pretty well done. But does he have to layer on the dramatic irony so thickly? “Here's a clue which is really really obvious to you, reader. Now look at the stupid characters – they can't figure it out. Here's some more really really obvious clues this time, in case you didn't get it, reader. Ha ha! Silly characters – they're so dumb. Let's have the bad guy make an entrance and force the issue.”

e.g.
– they steal an armoured car and don't realise it has a tracking device?
– they are really, really slow over the “knight a pope interred” clue. A Pope! Pope is even capitalised in the clue! OK so the American has an excuse, but surely Sophie does cryptic crosswords…
– Newton? Rosy flesh? Seeds? Suggests what?
– and surely any idiot would have scrambled the cryptex after re-closing it. But no, just go ahead and let the bad guy know you opened it…

It's a prime candidate for your typical Hollywood film.