This is by far Dan Brown’s best book. It is a stunning thriller, perfectly paced and ingeniously plotted. To think I almost didn’t read it. Long before anyone knew his name, I tried first his debut novel and then the follow up. In my opinion, they were just short of awful. The writing was amateurish, the characters were shallow and boring, and the plotting was so confusing I kept getting lost. I vowed at the time never to read another book by him, but now I’m glad I broke my promise.

If you take it for what it is, a work of fiction, this book really is fantastic. It is great fun. It’s loaded with interesting characters, and it jumps from one exotic location to the next at a breakneck pace. It is the kind of can’t be put down, page turner thriller that I wish that I wish we had more of on the bookshelves.

Dan Brown manages to blend fact with fiction so ingeniously well that at times it’s difficult to figure out where one ends and the other begins. It is the sort of thing that has gotten him in trouble in the past, with some fans and critics, who have taken his writing more seriously than they should have.

Although the Da Vinci code is more popular and better known, this, Dan Brown’s third novel, is in many ways a far superior read. If you haven’t yet read it, there’s no time like the present.