Review: Rule of Four - Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason

Title Rule of Four
Author Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason
Pages 527
Year 2004
Reading Time June 2004
Rating 7.5 / 10

As I needed some space I grab the old books that I have read and put them in boxes on my storehouse. This one grab my attention because it was one of the oldest books I have (in english). I remember reading it and I had a small review on a sheet of paper as I usually have as I read a book. Since I didn't had a blog at the time of the reading I never had the possibility to post it. So here it goes.

From time to time I like reading some thrillers or adventure novels. I never read the Da Vinci Code and if one day I read it will be because I read almost everything else. I had the book and gave it away.

What I remember this book is that it was a fast book and not that memorable. Usually this kind of fiction is quick and a page turner maybe that's why most of the books have one hundred or so chapters. Some work... some do not. I can't read James Patterson after reading and liking two books I try again and again and for me it does not work. This one was good but as I said It could be better.

This book was compared to Da Vinci but I think for what I know it has nothing to do with it...

Summary:

Almost all book is set in Princeton Campus during a weekend an involve four seniors and friends (Tom, Paul, Charlie and Gil). Now two of the student (Tom and Paul) are trying to solve the mystery in a beautifully decorated book called Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. This book was written in a bizarre italian (modified) and with material from other languages and made-up words. Tom (the narrator) is the son of a professor who dedicated his life to the novel. His roomate (Paul) is a brilliant scholar who is writing a thesis on that book.

~This book has a great characterization of the friendship of this four students. It's better than most books out there on this theme or simliar. Mainly the main character as he struggles between the doom book and his girlfriend katie (the book already had two victims.. his father and his mother)

Paul with the help of the diary of Tom's father starts solving the hidden messages (the title comes from way they were encrypted). As they discover the secrets more of the author history is revealed and the purpose of the book. Bill (Paul's friend) and Vincent (thesis advisor) were conspiring together to steal Paul's thesis and claim credit (and the treasure guarded within). Then they were murdered by Curry (a benefactor of Pal). But in the end in a final struggle between the roomates and the so called benefactor starts a fire and Curry dies. Charlie, Gil and Tom thinks that Paul has die as well but after some years Tom receives something that makes him think otherwise.

This is book was published in 2004 when Da Vinci Code was on everybody lips. Maybe that's why it was made famous. The story is midly interesting. By the way... What happenned to the authors? They didn't wrote anything else afterwards...