This was fun and adventurous and fast-paced. I liked reading genre fiction that has been such a hugely popular novel for so long. 

I feel a little foolish when I read mysteries that I don’t see the plot twist coming. I feel like I’m a smart person, and I should expect it, but I fell for all the traps here, and I definitely expected that The Teacher was actually Detective Fache. 

I didn’t really think the prose was as terrible as the reviewers seemed to suggest. I didn’t get lost in the writing, but it also didn’t distract me from the story (other than some shifting of verb tense). 

My main problem with this book was that I didn’t know what was real and what was invented, which often tends to be a hesitation of mine with historical fiction and alternative histories. Nonetheless, this was fun and entertaining, and I don’t have too many complaints, though I don’t think I’ll read more of Dan Brown’s books. 

I also wish that the cryptologists and mysteries were a bit more developed. It’s so fun to solve puzzles, and I think that’s the best part of any mystery novel.