The Da Vinci Code. Boy, this is familiar. Spoilers.

Cafe Society
1

Warning: Unboxed spoilers ahead.

Setting aside all barriers to the suspension of disbelief, I indulged the other night in a nearly straight-through reading of The Da Vinci Code. Being a fan of puzzles and word games, I found it quite intriguing. I also found it very familiar. Consider the following synopsis.

A man with a peculiarly appropriate combination of knowledge and talents finds himself embroiled in a mystery that could shake the modern Church to its very foundations. A strange murder and whispers of danger launch an unadventurous scholar on a quest for an ancient artifact that has been carefully guarded for centuries by a secret society. Mindbending puzzles and heartstopping suspense ensue as the hero follows a baffling trail of clues, all the while attempting to elude not only the authorities (who believe him to be the murderer) but also the agents of a fanatical Church faction who want him silenced. The quest leads to extraordinary revelations into the life and nature of Jesus.

Most would recognize the book described above as The Da Vinci Code. Every word of the synopsis, however, also describes The Book of Q, by Jonathan Rabb, which was published two years prior to The Da Vinci Code.

Naturally there are plenty of differences. The protagonist in The Book of Q is a priest, rather than a Harvard professor. The brainy female assistant is a dumpy, fifty-something scholar instead of a hot, red-headed cryptologist. The ultrasecret society is a sect of Mannachees, not Masons or Opus Dei. The treasure sought is the long-lost Book of Q, an irrefutable version of the Jesus story that denies his divinity.

The similarities, though are awfully suspicious. Both include intrigue within the Church, a covert heretical society whose secrets are passed along through the ages, mysterious clues, frequent chase scenes, and the eventual revelation of the “true” nature of Jesus.

So…plagiarism, “inspiration”, or interesting coincidence? :dubious:

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I’ve read neither of the books you cite, but based on the synopsis, I was immediately reminded of Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum, except that his book appears to be much brainier and less action-oriented.

3

Haven’t read Rabb either, but I noted the resemblence to Foucault’s Pendulum reading the jacket cover. Actually reading the book I found it to be an amalgam of Tom Clancy/John Grisham/Michael Crichton with Eco’s subject matter and with none of his style. I just about puked when he compared his main character’s looks to Harrison Ford in the first ten pages.

4

Your synopsis reminded me of Indiana Jones more than anything. I haven’t read any of the books you mentioned (I’m not much of a book reader), but if they’re anything like the Indy movies, I’m much rather just sit back and watch the movie instead of reading about it. I hate reading books.

5

The Code is a fun ride, but, really, the Indy movies have a much deeper examination of the religious and philosophical questions they raise.

6

Heh. This weekend in one of the book review sections there was a blurb that described some book as “Fitzgerald [F. Scott, presumably] meets Uberto Eco meets Dan Brown.”

All I could think was, “What would those two need Dan Brown for? To get the coffee and sandwiches?”

7

It sounds like there are also some parallels to the movie Pi.