Positives first. The book is pacy from page 1 and keeps the momentum through. The story is plausible and decent. Overall, it is a good read.

Now comes the buts. First the technical part. This book is one reason why you shouldn't venture without sufficient research into a new domain. Dan Brown's venture into the world of cryptography will disappoint people who have even the slightest idea of it. Things that Brown seemed fascinated about like Caesar's cipher are child's play for cryptographers. The fact that the leading cryptographers cannot predict a simple Caesar cipher is quite simply poor writing. Even worse is the way they go about trying to find the pass key in the end. I had to skim a chunk of pages before they eventually found the answer.

Most people can swallow a poor logical/technical story. But Brown's novel is heavily Cliched. That starts right from the usual introductions, to the lead character getting lucky through out the book. Leaving too much to chance makes you wonder about the writer's imagination.