The novel opens with the prologue, which is set at the Louvre Museum in Paris at 10:46 p.m. We are introduced to Jacques Sauniere who is a curator, the manager of the museum. The prologue is set in Sauniere's veiw. He is a seventy-six-year-old man and is being attacked by an albino. He pulls off a painting from the wall which triggers an alarm that seals himself inside the gallary away from his attacker. The albino wants to know where "it" is, and points the gun at Sauniere's head. Sauniere tells the albino a lie that he apparently has rehearsed many times. The albino tells him that the "others" told him the same thing. He obviously killed the three "others" because he says "When you are gone, I will be the only one who knows the truth." The albino shoots Sauniere in the stomach and is about to shoot him in the head, but he is out of bullets so he leaves knowing that Sauniere's wound will kill him slowly and painfully. Sauniere realizes that he must pass on the secret that he has before he dies or the truth of the ancient secret he protected will be lost forever. He then begins some kind of task in the sealed gallery.
In chapter 1, Robert Langdon is awoken at 12:32 a.m. by the concierge who tells him he has an urgent visitor. Langdon is a professor of religious symbology at Harvard who gave a lecture earlier on that evening. The visitor is an agent with the French Judicial Police (Direction Centrale Police Judiciaire or DCPJ), which is similar to the U.S. FBI. The agent, Lieutenant Collet, askes Langdon about his previous plans to meet with Sauniere that evening and Langdon tells him that Sauniere did not show up. Collet tells Langdon about Sauniere's murder and shows him a picture of Sauniere's body, which Sauniere arranged himself in a certain way before he died.
In chapter 2, the albino named Silas calls the Teacher and tells him that all four men confirmed the existence of the legendary "keystone." The "keystone" is an engraved tablet that revealed the final resting place of the brotherhood's greatest secret. Each of his victims had told him that the keystone was located in one of Paris's churches, the Eglise de Saint-Sulpice. After Silas gets off the phone with the Teacher, he whips himself to "purge his soul of his sins."
In chapter 3, Langdon leaves the hotel with Collet and goes to the Louvre Museum. There, he meets Bezu Fache, the captain of the DCPJ.
In chapter 4, Fache leads Langdon through the museum to where Sauniere's body lies.
In chapter 5, Bishop Manuel Aringarosa, the president-general of Opus Dei, boards a plane to Rome. While in the air, he gets a call from someone who reports Silas's discovery. The Bishop agrees to pull some strings to get Silas access to the Church of Saint-Sulpice.
In chapter 6, Langdon tries to explain to Fache why Sauniere arranged his body the way he did. Sauniere is naked, laying flat on his back, with a pentacle drawn on his stomach with his own blood. The pentacle is a five-pointed star that symbolizes the pagan goddess Venus. Langdon explains that it has often been misinterpreted as a sign of devil worship. Fache shows Langdon that Sauniere is clutching a glow-in-the-dark marker that the museum staff uses to make maintenance notes on paintings. By using black light, a message is revealed next to Sauniere. Fache asks Langdon to help him understand the strange message. Meanwhile, Collet is taping this conversation from Sauniere’s former office.
I am really enjoying this book so far. The writing style is different than what I am used to reading, but its very interesting. There is so much going on in this book in so little time. The story progresses very quickly and there is missing information so the readers don't quite know what is going on some of the time, but the characters do. Also, it adds in the character's memories sometimes. For example, it shows Langdon recalling his lecture that he had just given. So although it is set in the present, it flashes back to the past often. I think the flashbacks will reveal some of the missing information for the readers. It feels almost as if I'm a detective and I'm trying to figure out what's going on by following the different characters because the chapters change perspectives often. I hate when I have to put it down because I want to know what happens next.
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