This reads like a The Da Vinci Code rip-off, although I actually have to rate Berry's novel higher, because, unlike the case with Brown's book, the writing isn't eye-bleeding and the history isn't obviously sloppy in ways I can't miss. This seems well-researched and much better grounded in history than The Da Vinci Code. However, this is still far too close a clone. The three-word title. A man (former American "operative" Cotton Malone) and woman (the bland Stephanie Nelle) teaming up and fleeing through Europe on a "quest," pursued by a secret society of religious fanatics and dealing with a hidden truth that goes to the core of the Christian faith. They're accompanied by a wealthy man of physical limitations whose made a special study of the secrets they're seeking. The key to the treasure consists of solving puzzles, cyphers and secret codes. Sound familiar?
It's not that I'm offended by the iconoclastic conclusions about Christianity and secular worldview of the author--by and large I share them. But well, not only is it been there, done that with Dan Brown (and I thought that book stupid, but at least it wasn't a carbon copy--well, except of Holy Blood, Holy Grail...) but I think I'm also missing the conspiracy gene that allows people to lap up books like these. I rather go by that old purported saying of the mafia--three can keep a secret, if two are dead. I just don't in my heart believe that centuries old societies whether the Templars or the Masons keep secrets more sinister than a identifying handshake. And if they did, I don't think they'd have stayed secret for long if they acted the way they do in this book, like a luminous arrow saying "look here." And this particular book doesn't really give me a "value-added" such as elegant prose or well-rounded characters to love. This came across as a generic, formulaic, Da Vinci Code wannabe only for those who couldn't get enough of that book and having read everything of Dan Brown must have more.
