Well, this book is better than The Rule of Four but not as good as The DaVinci Code. As others have noted, the ending could have been better: my main feeling was "I'm glad that's over." I found it very hard to really feel much for the main character. As a character, he lacked depth and his development in the book didn't add much. I did enjoy the subplot with the computer game MOMUS, but that was the best fleshed out part of the the novel, which says something right there. One final note, Old Forge is in the middle of the Adirondacks, not right on the Hudson River. There was no poetic license necessary here, only a map.