A few weeks ago I finished reading The Da Vinci Code. It was a good book. It wasn't as good as it's made out to be, but nothing that hyped ever is.

The first few pages of my edition of the book are filled with acclaim. 'Exceedingly clever,' says the Washington Post. 'An exhiliratingly brainy thriller,' says the New York Times. Amazon.com calls it 'an intelligent and lucid thriller.'

I take issue with this. It was a fun read, and the facts were all very interesting, but the author knowing a lot of facts doesn't make a story clever. Neither does, as is more the case in his other books, including lots of high-tech important-sounding gadgets and words.

So how exactly was this book intelligent? Was it the twists?

THE DA VINCI CODE SPOILERS.

If done right, yeah, twists can contribute a lot to making a plot intelligent, because it makes it more complex. I'm a fan of the TV series 24, which has endless twists and turns, and the endings of Scooby Doo episodes surprise me every time, but even if twists are a good thing to have, were the ones in The Da Vinci Code really any good? Take the biggest twist of them all: Teabing being The Teacher. Am I the only one who thought this was too much of a coincidence? That Langdon and Sophie ran to him for help, and his explanation at the end was something like, 'Oh, I knew you'd come, it was all part of my ingenious plan'?

Was it the hidden messages? A good portion of the mini-revelations that occurred throughout the story about Da Vinci's paintings etc all seem very clever, but surely that's Da Vinci being clever, and not the story?

(And anagrams... Anagrams, as far as plot is concerned, are dull. After JK Rowling's 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' to 'I am Lord Voldemort', the OH WOW! effect has kind of worn off. Anagrams should not be made major or even minor plot points! Stop it! Bad authors!)

///THE DA VINCI CODE SPOILERS.

What is it that makes any story intelligent or clever?

Is it the concepts (scientific or otherwise)? The Matrix, aside from its breakthroughs in special effects, was considered clever because of its concept of everyone living inside a computer and all the things relating to that, and even more clever by those who looked into all the implicit philosophical stuff. What is it we find intelligent about Pratchett's books? They have a fair bit of philosophy themselves. Pratchett's also very good at perceiving human nature, different personalities/character, and society. Does some sort of social or political commentary make it clever?

Taking all of these things into account, the three words 'get', 'out' and 'more' come to my mind. But I just thought I'd ask what other people think anyway.