Problem With Dan Brown's Books Good, but repetitive

[zakaluka 0]

Dan Brown, the author of The Da Vinci Code, is very famous, with good reason, for writing an entertaining action / thriller. However, as I have read more of his work, I am disappointed to see that all his books follow the same common formula.Take a protagonist (a beautiful woman or a man who ends up working closely with one). Throw her into one insanely crazy situation after another. Make sure random people are trying to stop / kill her, for no apparent reason at all and outside of the notice of the rest of the world. Pull off a great show at the end, revealing the truth. And, the most important part, make sure there is an unbelievably crazy conspiracy underlining the whole thing. The first book of his that I read was The Da Vinci Code. Like many others, I enjoyed it quite a bit. The second book I read was Angels & Demons. This book followed the plot of the Da Vinci Code in style. However, since they both contain the same protagonist (Dr. Robert Langdon), I can't really blame him.However, then I read a third book - Deception Point. A book completely unrelated to symbols, the church and Robert Langdon. However, I was quick to experience a feeling of Deja Vu, as the protagonist (female, in this case) is shunted around by players in a national, if not global conspiracy, and she is the only one who is putting the pieces together. The situations that crop up in the book are absolutely insane and implausible in the extreme. Again, the themes are the same. Conspiracies within conspiracies, people seemingly pulling off the same stunts over and over. Maybe I should wait till Dan Brown's next book comes out before passing a verdict. However, so far, it has been downhill since the first taste.Regards,z.

[galexcd 0]

I know exactly what you are talking about. Dan Brown is one of my favorite authors, however, as I mentioned in this post of mine, I have read so many of his books that by the time I was reading Deception Point I was able to correctly predict what was going to happen. The antagonist is always the last character you expected. However, even with this "formula" he uses, I still enjoy his books a lot. And with the exception of Tolkien, his books are the only ones I have ever enjoyed.

Edited April 14, 2009 by galexcd (see edit history)