The knockoff phenomena has happened before, Callahan said. “He (Brown) was very happy to talk about his next project and I think a lot of other authors were ready to latch onto that stagecoach.” “We had no idea it would be such a big deal,” said Didriksen, who explained publishers typically wine and dine independent bookstore owners to create buzz.
Didriksen and Badogan really liked the novel, but never thought it would cause such a stir and that Tom Hanks would star in a movie version.
It’s also rumored that most of the novel will be set in Washington, D.C.īrown, who lives in New Hampshire and is a former high-school English teacher, has also published Deception Point (2001), Digital Fortress (1998) and 187 Men to Avoid: A Guide for the Romantically Frustrated Woman, which was co-written by his wife, Blythe.īefore his face was splashed on magazines and he whipped up a religious firestorm, Brown was just another anonymous author hawking his novel to independent bookstores like Acton’s Willow Books & Cafe.ĭavid Didriksen, owner of Willow Books, and Jill Badogan, the store’s book buyer, dined with Brown three years ago when The Da Vinci Code was set to hit store shelves. He said Robert Langdon, the Harvard professor and protagonist in Code and Brown’s Angels and Demons, will return in the new book. Many hadn’t read it.īrown’s next untitled novel, rumored to be released sometime in 2007, is described by Perreault as “sort of” a sequel to Code. The Sun contacted about 15 local priests concerning the book, but no one felt like talking about it. It’s just a real page-turner with some art and history in the background. “This is fiction - I keep repeating, ‘It’s fiction,’ ” said Callahan, a Catholic. Manya Callahan, manager of Barnes & Noble in downtown Lowell, agreed.
“If you look at it as a piece of fiction you’re not offended by it.” “I found that it is a piece of fiction - a good detective story,” said Irish. Rita’s Church in Lowell, is a Da Vinci Code fan. Gail Irish, the director of religious education at St. But judging by sales (the four Code-appeal books mentioned above are best-sellers), protests from Christians are not doing much damage.īut not all Catholics are bent on burying Brown’s book. No one can be sure how the religious hoopla surrounding Code personally affects Brown, who is quiet and does not grant many interviews. Brown’s negative portrayal of the Catholic organization Opus Dei as a cult prompted the organization to post a defensive essay on its Web site.Ī Pennsylvania Christian group has collected more than 60,000 signatures protesting the Ron Howard flick, but the controversy will likely only stoke ticket sales. Further infuriating some is the book’s assertion that the Roman Catholic Church conspired to cover up the pregnancy. Still, some people are frustrated with Brown’s central claim: That Jesus had a child with Mary Magdalene and the real Holy Grail is Jesus’ bloodline. “I think people are always interested in art and religion and have always been fascinated with the past - Mary Magdalene and the Holy Grail.” “Anything that works, you’ll see a million little books like it,” said Russell Perreault of Anchor, publisher of The Da Vinci Code. The Big Four: Matilde Asensi’s The Last Cato Raymond Khoury’s The Last Templar Kate Mosse’s Labyrinth and Steve Berry’s The Templar Legacy. Talk of Brown’s next novel, which is said to involve Masons and the Templar knights, enticed authors to beat him to the punch and release books with similar themes. In fact, The Da Vinci Code has spawned a whole genre of best-selling thriller novels based on religion, art and history, earning a whole lot of cash for other authors. The heavily anticipated movie of Brown’s blockbuster hits theaters May 19, and the deafening buzz at box offices would even make Brokeback Mountain cowboys jealous.īook sales, which topped 50 million worldwide, indicate the movie will do quite well. Get ready to add movie-makers to the long list of people who can thank the high heavens for Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code.