Five Alternatives to The Da Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol

Five Alternatives To The DaVinci Code or How To Pass The Time Until The Lost Symbol

Dan Brown and Random House announced the publication date of the long awaited new Dan Brown book called, The Lost Symbol. The release date will be 9/15/2009.

If you like Dan Brown or DaVinci Code style books and don’t want to wait until September, we’ve put together a list of alternative books that may be just what you’re looking for. By the way, Da Vinci was not the artist Leonardo’s last name; it simply meant he was Leonardo of Vinci. So the Dan Brown book is translated as Of Vinci Code or maybe The Code of Vinci. Of course we know what he meant.

Here’s the list:

• Umberto Eco – Foucault’s Pendulum, The Name of the Rose. There is a thinking man’s arcane thriller writer, and then there is Umberto Eco. Italy’s Eco is a savagely smart writer. Where other authors write mysteries and thrillers that use historical figures and arcane text as a plot device that may or may not pass inspection from experts of the field, Eco is a brilliant writer, philosopher, satirist, anthropologist and literary theorist who delves into historical events and arcane ritual with amazing accuracy and dense, but absorptive prose. His books are translated from Italian, but usually with help from the author so there is no loss of style. Eco is highly recommended especially for those that might like the ideas and concepts of a book like The DaVinci Code but would like a little more authentic meat on the conceptual bone.
• Raymond Khoury – The Last Templar. Khoury might be considered the most Dan Brown-like. Originally a screenwriter, Khoury writes in simple episodic chapters that speed the narrative forward. The writing is easy to fly through and the subject matter drives the plot from location to location with a spanning conspiracy that is easy to get involved in.
• Katherine Neville – The Eight. Neville is a dense and smart writer whose historical research and its implementation is impeccable. Her female protagonists are strong, canny, and determined with a hint of feminism. She draws from less explored subjects and historical figures like Charlemange and injects intrigue and complex esoteric mysteries that are a pleasure to read.
• Steve Berry – The Templar Legacy, etc. Steve Berry writes modern arcane thrillers mostly in a series of books featuring Cotton Malone. Malone is like a cross between tv’s 24 Jack Bauer and Dan Brown’s Langdon. The thriller/mysteries have political, religious, and conspiracy subtext sleuthed out by the most physical protagonist that will be mentioned in this post.
• Arturo Perez-Reverte – The Seville Communion. The story at first seems deceptively simple. A hacker breaks into the Vatican computer system and sends a personal message to the Pope regarding the fate of a local church in Seville, Spain. There are two deaths, both accidental. The e-mail letter, however, implies anonymously that the church building itself is responsible. Concerned mostly with the reality of the security breach and not the crack-pot message, the Vatican sends one of its best to investigate. In a textbook study of how things are not always as they appear, it is here that storyteller Perez-Reverte begins to tie the reader in knots in an intriguing and foreign location with old and new blending seamlessly together in a realistic story which is both rich in history and frighteningly contemporary at the same time. Romantics will fall in love with Seville and with the investigating priest from Rome who serves as the main character. What Richard Chamberlain was to The Thorn Birds, Father Quart is to Seville. He is attractive, disciplined, and tested. Unlike Chamberlain’s character, though, Quart’s discipline comes not from faith, but from pride. Characters begin to emerge and evolve quickly. All can betray and be betrayed. It becomes clear to the reader and to Quart that what is at stake is much more than electronic security or the survival of a particular parish. For what would it profit a person to gain any of these and lose his own soul in the process?–from bookpage.com*

(I’m currently reading The Flanders Panel by Perez-Reverte and it is also pretty good quality.  Nice characters, in depth historical artifact mystery, and a strong female lead.)

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