It's a great book. Un-put-downable, and written with the big screen in mind, and that screen will be on your mind on every page. It is in effect, the book version of the movie-to-be.

Whether you are interested in theology or not, and regardless of your religious bent or lack thereof, you will enjoy the story, and if you do happen to be one of those benighted souls who knows who Mithra is, and for whom a wild par-tay is likely to involve a long-winded Rabbi, a couple of dueling Imams, and at least one drunken Jesuit and the obligatory smirking Zoroastrian, you will heartily enjoy this book, and find in it ample fuel for future nights of fine Burgundy and fragrant hookahs.

I have no intention of joining the chorus of those who claim to separate fact from fiction in this book. The separation is obvious to those familiar with the material, and a matter of faith for those who are not.

That said, it is reasonable to assume that the historical person of Jesus was not a bachelor, as to have been one within the historical and cultural context of the time and place in which he lived would have caused more of a stir than his preaching did.

It is also true that all sacred texts were written by human beings; whether as a result of divine inspiration is again, a matter of faith, but the Nicean council is neither fiction nor myth, nor are those texts which the Council chose not to include in the Bible.

The same can be said of the Koran. Some time after the Prophet's death, a group of human beings, relying on human memory, wrote down for the first time, the Koran.

In ancient times, as now, religion and politics were intertwined and interdependent, and then as now, were kept so for the equally intertwined and interdependent, though quite secular, causes of war and wealth.

And it is that cause and effect relationship between war and wealth, combined with the science of human biology, that has made oppression of women the most effective method of social control throughout history, surpassing even religion, though religion is a most honorable runner-up for the prize, and for that reason, has won the honor of being itself intertwined and interdependent with the oppression of women.

Within that context, the insistence on assigning a male gender to a non-human Supreme Being makes sense, and because when religion and culture collide, culture always wins, it also makes sense to leave a vent - Mary, mother of Jesus is venerated by at least some Christians, and is mentioned more in the Koran than in the Bible. For more back-story, those interested can google Asherah.

To return to the DaVinci code, I cannot present any credible evidence to dispute its basic premise. On the contrary, the Koran says that it is not at all certain that Jesus was crucified. Even if he was, he was 33 at the time and would in all probability have already reproduced several times and would have had at least one or two grandchildren. However, without taking away the remarkable politico-religious achievements of Constantine and his quintessential stage-mom, Helena and the rapidity with which Christianity and Europe overtook and devoured each other, I am more inclined to think that Jesus, and his children did not go to France, but stayed right where they were, and his contemporary descendants, if any, are at this very moment dodging missiles and suffering humiliation at checkpoints - in Palestine.