Review - Michelangelo's Notebook

Paul Christopher's book, Michelangelo's Notebook, written in 2005, is a purported thriller created in the Da Vinci Code style: a religious secret that some people will do anything to protect, a plucky couple thrown into the midst of something unimaginable, and a series of fast-paced, dangerous situations in colorful locales.

I was not a huge fan of the Da Vinci Code. The cardboard characters, the leaden writing, the incoherent plot, all added up to a story with no particular fascination. The one part that I found mildly interesting was the set of puzzles (I'm quite a fan of all kinds of puzzles), but even that was undercut by the relative simplicity of them. [I did see a review which opined that the puzzles were designed to be so simple that the average, non-puzzling reader could handle them, making the book that much more "likable."]

Now imagine, if you can, the Da Vinci Code without puzzles. What's left? Oh, right, Michelangelo's Notebook. The two central interconnected mysteries are painfully transparent right from the beginning, the plucky young grad student offers no surprises, and, of course, her mentor (and, predictably, lover) throughout the journey is found by dialing a secret phone number that her archaeologist mother gave her before she moved to the big bad city.

This was a first effort by Christopher; since I also took his next book out from the library, I'll give it a go.