Da Vinci Code Book Summary

"The Da Vinci Code" is a mystery novel by Dan Brown that was published in 2004. The book follows Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon and cryptographer Sophie Neveu as they attempt to solve a murder and unravel a conspiracy that involves the Catholic Church and a secret society known as the Priory of Sion.

The story begins with the murder of Jacques Saunière, the curator of the Louvre Museum in Paris. Langdon, who is in Paris to give a lecture, is called to the scene by the police to help decipher a cryptic message left by Saunière before he died. Sophie, who is Saunière's granddaughter and also a cryptographer, arrives at the scene and helps Langdon decipher the message, which leads them to a series of clues that eventually lead them to the Holy Grail.

As they follow the clues, they are pursued by a monk named Silas, who is a member of the secret society known as Opus Dei and has been hired to retrieve the Holy Grail. Langdon and Sophie must decipher the clues before Silas catches up to them and retrieves the Grail for his employers.

Throughout the course of the novel, Langdon and Sophie discover a number of historical secrets that challenge their understanding of Christianity and the Catholic Church. They learn that the Priory of Sion has been protecting a secret for centuries - that Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdalene and that they had a child together. The Holy Grail, in this context, is not the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper, but rather Mary Magdalene herself, and the secret that she carried - the bloodline of Christ.

The book was highly controversial upon its release, as it challenged many traditional Christian beliefs and sparked a great deal of debate about the role of religion in modern society. It became a bestseller and was later adapted into a movie starring Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon.