Just to be honest, I read Da Vinci Code just to see what the hype was all about.

And again, call me weird or what, but I wasn't privilege to understand what many people have been raving about. It was just a mystery novel to me. Ok, maybe the puzzles the main characters had to solve and explain, the anagrams, codes, symbolisms the author made use were notable but they weren't enough to make this book a must-read for me. As for the things he talked about like Mary Magdalene being the real Holy Grail and that she was really married to Christ and other insinuations, they may just be a way of Brown to make his book more interesting or to even cause a stir, but it came across as being blasphemous (to me pa rin).

If anyone wants a riveting or gripping novel, I'm not sure and correct me on this one if ever, but works coming from the likes of Tom Clancy et. al might just be better than this.

disclamer: this comment came from someone who may have been the only one who didn't like The Alchemist. go figure.