Dan Brown is a HACK. His writing is beyond puerile, his plots are ridiculous, and his characters are parodies. Getting through The Da Vinci Code was one of the most painful literary experiences of my life (topped only by The Eye of Argon and not nearly as funny). The fact that I was listening to it as an audiobook during a particularly mind-numbing data entry assignment was the only reason I didn't throw it across the room. Believe me, had it been an actual book with pages, I wouldn't have lasted past page 10. I've read better writing out of tenth-grade creative writing classes. Just PAINFUL.

So the news that this new one sucks is not only NOT a surprise, it seems to me to be the only outcome possible. If you subjected yourself to this trash after having read any of his other stuff, then you deserve whatever pain you experience, aesthetic or otherwise.

No. What's surprising is someone named Serai performing data entry. No. Wait... that's not surprising at all!

Wait! Dan Brown completely skimmed the facts of a large bureacratic institution and then wrote (poorly) a story around it? Get outta here! Hmmm, what could his next project be? The Kabal? No, doesn't was to be the next Salman. I was stuck on a tarmac for four hours before I finally agreed that I COULD read the Da Vinci Code. To this day, I feel awful for the person sitting next to me. She didn't get a moment of peace until we landed and got off the plane. What crap.