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Best book I've read in a long time !! A dear friend gave me Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" for Christmas last year. He said it was such an interesting read, and was sure I would love it. I started reading the book Thursday morning on the train, got completely hooked after a few pages, and finished it in a few long sittings over the weekend. In short, the protagonist Robert Langdon, Harvard symbologist, is in Paris for work. Late one night at the hotel, he receives a phone call. It is the police, informing him that Monsieur Jacques Sauniere, the curator of the Louvre Museum have been murdered. Monsieur Sauniere was murdered inside the museum, and before he died, he left a bizarre, coded message. Robert Landon and a young female French cryptologist, Madame Sophie Neveu, have been called to the crime scene to assist the police.... of course, everyone involved have skeletons in the closet, nothing is as it seems to be, but I'll leave it there, so I don't spoil the fun for you. "The Da Vinci Code" is not great writing. No one will use the same superlatives for Brown's prose as they would use for Hemingway's. Further, Brown may have presented historical events in this book as facts when it is fiction, and some of the facts presented are just plain incorrect. Anyway, all this is really beside the point ! It doesn't matter.... The one thing you cannot challenge is that "The Da Vinci Code" is hugely entertaining ! This was a great, riveting story. I loved it ! I highly recommend it !! On a personal note, I have the stunning Collector's edition. It is a beautiful, beautiful book. It makes the reading much more interesting as you have great pictures of all the buildings, places, people, and the magnificent paintings mentioned in the book. If you can afford it, buy the illustrated version ! PS. My friend was recently in Paris. He told me that the Louvre Museum now offers "The Da Vinci Code" - tours ! ... so, that's what I'll be doing next time I'm in Paris !