Dan Brown & Hollywood

Ever since I found a cheap copy of the Da Vinci Code at a bookshop on Oxford Street in London (I know - Oxford Street, cheap?), I decided to read the previous books Dan Brown wrote before he hit conspiracy theory heaven with the aforementioned novel. I know, there's not a lot - only four: Digital Fortress, Deception Point, Angel and Demons and The Da Vinci Code; but hey, on my schedule.. you get the drift. And besides, I've only read three out of the four. Oh, and for those who have read the Da Vinci Code but none of the others, only Angel and Demons features Robert Langdon.

One thing I've noticed in the way these novels have been written is that they unfold like a movie. Movies of the Air Force One type, typically where there is a hero/ine, a love interest, a shady good guy who is actually the bad guy, moments of intense life and death situations in which the two main characters bond, the near death scene which ends in a dramatic rescue.. all that is missing seems to be the line "If it wasn't for these darned kids.. "

I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. It makes the read much easier - you get nice mental images to accompany what you read; but after a while you know how predictable the story lines are; and somehow while you can tolerate that in a 2 hour movie, how high a level of tolerance would you have for a 500 page book? Granted, Brown's later works (Angels and Demons & Da Vinci Code), while still formulaic, have a different pull with the hidden codes / conspiracy theory storyline. The earlier books don't have this, and the Hollywood formula seems painfully obvious to me.