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Dan Brown..MASTER OF THE MYSTERY ART
Dan Brown is one author who has influenced me so much in recent times. I read his bestseller "Da Vinci Code" 4 months back. Iwas hooked immediately to the thrilling world of symbologist Robert Langdon. Dan Brown takes us on a roller coaster ride through the museums of Paris. So much of research has gone into the writing of this novel. It is evident from the depth of detail he has gone into describing each scene. Thanks to him, I know the exact location of Leonardo Da Vinci's original(or censored, according to Dan Brown) Monalisa inside the Louvre museum, Paris. The way in which he builds up the suspense is really brilliant.He successfully misleads us into thinking the wrong person as the culprit(that too, not a single time, on innumerable occasions). Just when that the suspense is almost over, he springs another one making us think in just the opposite direction. This element of surprise forbids us from putting this book down before finishing. Da Vinci Code will always remain my ultimate thriller. Then there are those famous anti-christ parts, in which he says that jesus fathered a child & the hidden meanings in "The last supper". Am still thinking if these are really true.

And now, after being baptised into Dan's thrilling world & having become his fan, I was on the lookout for the rest of his works. Atlast, one month back, I bought "Angels & Demons", a kind of prequel to "Da Vinci Code". Well, did u think that "Da Vinci Code" is antichrist? Then, this book has more of it. That is the impression we get when we read some of the chapters(concerning pope, conclave etc) which may raise a few catholic eyebrows. If "Da Vinci Code" gave me a crash course on the museums & artwork of Paris, "Angels & Demons" was like a virtual tour of Vatican. It gave me new knowledge of Christianity(Its another matter that, i have limited knowledge of religions, even my own Hinduism), the conclave, the carmelengo & above all the power of Pope. The secret brotherhood 'ILLUMINATI' & their unique brands(perfect ambigrams) really made me crazy. Am still trying to model my own name into a perfect ambigram.

A common feature of these novels is that we cudn't really know if a particular thing is real fact or is it author's imagination. The second feature is the level of detail. I think he may have recruited some research teams to study about Vatican & Paris. Otherwise, how coulda man describe such minute details of every single place. Also, he substantiates each claims, so all of it appears as a fact to us.(Though I believe, atleast half of what he wrote is fact)
Now am waiting to read his other two novels-" Digital Fortress" & "Deception Point". Hope those two will be more thrilling than this.
And atlast, a grand salute to the new "MASTER OF MYSTERY"....

PS:-is DAN BROWN the A.R.RAHMAN of thrillers?
Another important thing i noticed is that reading Dan Brown's novels is like listening to music maestro A.R.Rahman's music...U never know wats gonna happen next...A.R.Rahman's music is so unpredictable...a soothing opening...thumping interludes..building up to a crescendo in the climax....Thats exactly the way Dan Brown writes his novels. A.R.Rahman builds his music in layers...& the end result is so complex yet so simple...well u won't agree that dan brown is that simple..but i wud say that there is an underlying simplicty to his novels..just like ARR's music.

with love, your crusader Praveen