Unveiling the Cryptic Codes
Reviewed by Kevin Yen
January 11, 2008
Mystery, suspense, and actions are the key elements that make this book such a pulse-quickening adventure. This New York Times bestseller will blow your minds away with its twisted puzzles and brain-teasing mysteries. As you dig deeper into the book, you will gain insight as to how the protagonist, Robert Langdon skillfully decipher the ancient mysteries behind famous works such as the Da Vinci Code, Mona Lisa, the Vitruvian Man, the Holy Grail, the Last Supper, and the Last Templar.
Despite your reactions toward the result of this book, this book really will challenge the minds of your imagination by making you ponder, “Do these secrets actually exist?” At the same time, this book brings about some controversial Christian issues that may provoke some people, such as the error within the Last Supper picture. The figure at the right hand of Jesus is supposedly not the apostle John, but Mary Magdalene. According to the book Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus that was in fact pregnant with his child when Jesus was crucified. The absence of the chalice within the painting supposedly shows that Mary Magdalene was actually the Holy Grail (the bearer of Jesus’s blood). The apparent absence of the Apostle John, under this interpretation, is explained by identifying John as “the Disciple Jesus loved,” allegedly code for Mary Magdalene (see also Second Apocalypse of James). The book also notes that the color scheme of their garments are inverted: Jesus wears a red blouse with royal blue cape; John or Mary wears a royal blue blouse with red cape, perhaps symbolizing two bonded halves of marriage. Also, if you move John or Mary to right of Jesus, you will see his/her head fits perfectly onto Jesus’ shoulder, as if to affectionately lay that head on his shoulder. This controversial issue was actually one secret that inspire many people to read this book.
The plot of the book actuallty began with Professor Langdon trying to solve the murder of Jacques Saunière a renowned curator of the Louvre Muesuem of Paris. The Louvre Mueseum of Paris is actually the biggest museum in the world with three extremely valuable works: Mona Lisa, the Wing Victory of Samothrace, and the Venus de Milo. The title of the novel refers, among other things, to the fact that Saunière’s body is found in the Denon Wing of the Louvre naked and posed like Leonardo da Vinci’s famous drawing, the Vitruvian Man, with a cryptic message written beside his body and a Pentacle drawn on his stomach in his own blood. The interpretation of the hidden messages within the murder is directly related in Leonardo’s famous works, which prominently include the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper before the solution to the mystery was solved.
Overall, this book was an excellent source of adventure if you are a reader that seeks brain-teasing twists and actions within a book. I would only rate this book a four though, since I personally don’t agree with the controversial topics this book has brought up. I really enjoyed reading this book that really kept its readers in the dark until the very end.
