Ugh. I kind of disgusted myself by reading this in two days. I put it down time and again, but then picked it up somewhat in desperation, not willing to stop altogether, and not willing to drag it out.
Here's how I think this book came to pass:
Dan Brown writes megagazillion best seller The DaVinci Code. Editor and Publisher start leaning on him to write another "Best Selling Book of ALL TIME".
Mr. Brown is stumped. Hmmm. What to do, what to do. On his next trip cross the Atlantic, the in-flight movie is "National Treasure". Brown thinks "Nic Cage is cool. I like D.C. I'm totally into symbols and hidden stuff. I'll write 'National Treasure' the book! "
So, he needs a bad guy, a bunch of symbols to chase around the capitol, and his old friend, Professor Langdon. Work in an attractive, smart woman character, and you have The DaVinci Code meets "National Treasure" and you make another gazillion dollars.
Only, this book is no DaVinci Code. This book is loosely written, not believable, too convenient and frankly disappointing. One thing after another rubbed against all logic and annoyed me considerably.
Example : Old guy gets his hand cut off by a lunatic, then waterboard tortured with some oxygenated gel stuff over and over, tells some secrets, then somehow gets shaved clean (somehow doing quite well, handless with no medical intervention) then, eventually gets rescued, and instead of shipping him off to the hospital to fix up the old stump, he wants to show his friend around a few special places in Washington. Sure, I've had my hand chopped off, tortured for a few days, watched some folks die, found out my son's a complete wackjob, now, he's dead too, but let's go see some cool symbols in the greater Washington area we missed cavorting through earlier in the book.
Like I said "Ugh."
No comments:
Post a Comment