The Da Vinci Code By Dan Brown Random House

Reading Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" is often reminiscent of watching an Indiana Jones movie - complete with handsome professor cast as protagonist, a quest for a holy relic, cheeky one-liners, an exotic foreign locale, and a little bit of PG-rated sexual tension thrown around for good measure.

Those elements alone would be enough to make an enjoyably breezy mystery novel. Brown has taken "The Da Vinci Code" to another level by literally "riddling" the book with anagrams, word codes and (you guessed it) riddles. "The Da Vinci Code" is also based on what must have been hundreds of hours of research into the history of the Catholic Church, secret societies, Leonardo Da Vinci's work, and the myths that surround the origins of the modern Christian bible.

So many mysteries are weaved in and out of the story simultaneously in "The Da Vinci Code" that the book is literally a page-turner from the first page. I'll testify that I started the 454-page novel on Monday evening and finished it around midnight Tuesday. By the second half of the book, my brain was going a little crazy- trying to turn every word and phrase I saw into an anagram: counting letters, decrypting secret messages, all to little avail.

Maybe I'm just not smart enough to have figured out "The Da Vinci Code" on my own. But that's OK. Because although the book is endlessly complicated with historical facts, mysterious codes and a fairly convoluted plot, it is still laid out simply enough for pretty much any reader to become involved in the story.

Clues to the mystery are given stingily, yet continually, throughout the book. And in a refreshingly classic twist, the mystery is actually solved. No annoying, vague, confusing twist-endings here.

This review may sound a little too encouraging, but hold on. "The Da Vinci Code" does have some off-putting characteristics.

You may be tempted to put the book down immediately in chapter one when you realize the crazed villain is an albino. I too am tired of albino villains, but hang in there. Albino villains are people too, and so I encourage you to always give people a chance. Also, the addition of several other possible villains serves to dilute the apprehension you may feel in taking an albino villain seriously.

The prose is also more loaded with interesting details than it is with compositional style. Brown isn't a poet, but he does write a great mystery. Other stylistic annoyances include characters' inner thoughts expressed through occasional italics. Shit! - happened more than once. Also, the word "ironic" is used incorrectly at least twice - I think Alanis' mistakes should've taught the world by now. But once you get used to Brown's style, you'll get over your mild irritation quickly enough.

Reading "The Da Vinci Code" may feel like a guilty pleasure, but I say indulge. Then go and research the facts behind the book for yourself.