The Da Vinci Code: The Investigation

With rigor and precision, humor and pedagogy, Frédéric Lenoir and Marie-France Etchegoin conduct the "investigation within the investigation" eagerly awaited by the millions of readers of The Da Vinci Code. Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code is a worldwide bestseller. This success stems from the narrative qualities of this theological thriller, but above all from its extraordinary thesis: Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a child; the Catholic Church has supposedly been working for centuries to suppress this explosive truth about the origins of Christianity.
To support his claims, Dan Brown uses historical facts and numerous symbolic, religious, and artistic references, which he, in a way, "twists" to fit the narrative.
Did Leonardo da Vinci code his paintings to reveal this hidden truth to initiates? Does the Priory of Sion, the secret society to which he, along with Isaac Newton and Victor Hugo, supposedly belonged, truly exist? Did the apocryphal Gospels speak of the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene? Was it solely to conceal this union that Emperor Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea in 325? Did the Dead Sea Scrolls offer revelations about Jesus and the early Church?
The true answer to Dan Brown's questions can only be found through rigorous historical research combined with an investigation of the locations—almost all French—in which the novel is set. Thus, Marie-France Etchegoin and Frédéric Lenoir uncover the author's "errors" or inventions, as well as his true sources. By the end of their work, one must admit that reality often surpasses fiction… Marie-France Etchegoin: Marie-France Etchegoin is a senior reporter at Le Nouvel Observateur. Author of Eva ou la Justice est un roman (Robert Laffont), she is recognized for the quality of her investigations into criminal cases and significant social issues.