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I finally got around to reading the Da Vinci Code and I admit, I was pretty entertained. However, and I think this is true for a lot of people, if you strip away all of the little historical factoids he throws in, the book is extremely bland. The characters were shallow and the plot was just a methodical chug-along like any typical suspense book. By splicing in all the history and theology in a clever mix of fiction and nonfiction, he made it all worth turning the pages for. A lot of people said they didn't care what happened to the characters, they just wanted to read about the next slew of interesting trivia.
I haven't read any of Brown's other books, but from what I hear he uses a similar formula each time. So it's one of those "Wow that was pretty cool" things at first, but then each time you see it, it impresses you less and less until you're numb to it. Sort of like M Night Shamalan's movies... Ooooh didn't see the twist coming the first time! Cool. Then movie after movie you know the entire thing was written just for the turn-around ending and you get sick of it.
So you may call it mindless escapism... But at least it is a step above a lot of fiction in the same genre!
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