I have mixed feelings about Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code. I quite enjoyed reading the book. It's often described as a "page turner," and I think that's an apt description. However, I often also felt a deep frustration when I read the book. Why? Because much of the alleged "factual" material in the book was either false or very misleading. (Usually in historical fiction, one thinks that one is learning some history. Not so in Brown's book!) Moreover, I felt an even deeper frustration because I am sure that a huge number of Brown's 40-50 million readers will believe that the "history" lessons in the book are accurate. The fact of the matter is that The Da Vinci Code is a huge source of misinformation concerning art history, church history, theology, etc.
I therefore recommend the following books and DVD as aids to clarity and truth:
Books
Darrell L. Bock, Breaking the Da Vinci Code: Answers to the Questions Everyone's Asking (Nelson Books, 2004).
James L. Garlow, The Da Vinci CodeBreaker: An Easy-To-Use Fact Checker (Bethany House, 2006).
James L. Garlow & Peter Jones, Cracking Da Vinci's Code (Victor, 2004).
Josh McDowell, The Da Vinci Code: A Quest for Answers (Green Key Books, 2006).
Erwin W. Lutzer, The Da Vinci Deception (Tyndale House, 2004).
Lee Stroble & Garry Poole, Exploring the Da Vinci Code: Investigating the Issues Raised by the Book & Movie (Zondervan, 2006).
DVDs
W. Ward Gasque, The da Vinci Code: Fact or Fiction? (Veritas Forum, 2006). 1 hour, 37 minutes.