Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

Don't buy it, don't read it

Customer Rating:

Having found this book abandoned in a hotel lobby, I thought it might be fast paced and interesting. Boy, was I wrong! This story wanderrs aimlessly without recognizable organization. My mistake was to read the first hundred pages hoping it would improve, as I was desperate for something to read - it didn't. Why it was published, I have no idea. After looking at the author's bios, I realized they were two kids fresh out of college with no life experiences. It shows. Don't buy this one!

Could not finish it, so poorly written	Customer Rating:
I had such high hopes, and it was painful to be so disappointed that I intentionally left it behind on a trip, because I did not want to carry the book home with me.

Exceptional	Customer Rating:
I think the hype of comparing this book to the DaVinci Code has done this book a great disservice. The Rule of Four is exceptional in its own right. It harbors all the classic elements of good intregue. This is a treasure hunt wound around circle of friendship, murder, mystery, romance, power and greed. Well done. I will be reading the next one for sure.

Have Patience

Customer Rating:

The Rule of Four I don't understand why so many readers were negative about the book. First of all I would never read trash like the DaVinci Code. Others have done much better (factually) than Dan Brown did (fictionally) on the subject. I didn't go to college and after reading The Rule of Four I wish I had. The four friends'(Tom, Gil, Charlie and Paul) relationships are the center of the novel. Period. The comparison to the DaVinci Code is in the marketing of the book. Forget that. Concentrate on the great writing, the development of the characters and the secret of that elusive book that plays second fiddle to the novel. It's the PEOPLE, dear readers, who make the difference in this book and the duo who wrote it did a bang up job as far as I am concerned.

Dull, Drab and Awful

Customer Rating:

This was a good idea for a book, but it was poorly written. The effect of this unfortunate combination is a boring book not worth the trouble of reading. I wish that I'd have stopped after 50 pages. There are insipid chase scenes devoid of suspense; feigned scholarly discussions that are lacking insight or purpose and a pointless central mystery plot with no hint of cleverness. The characters are shallow, dull, uninteresting, boring, lifeless and just plain drab and awful. While in some professions these attributes are an asset, in a modern mystery novel they are in fact a real detriment. None of the principals are at all interesting. The four main characters are not likeable and I couldn't sympathize with any of them on any level. Count yourself as lucky if you have none of these manikins for friends. The historic references to the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili" are the only bright spots in this pathetic waste of a book. The reader will have to force himself through a sluggish plot with boring characters and a slow pace to learn a little about this renaissance love story. There is a modern translation of the original book in question. I wish that I would have read the modern English translation of the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili" (see: Hypnerotomachia Poliphili: The Strife of Love in a Dream) and never heard of "The Rule of Four". I have the feeling that "The Rule of Four" is for an early adolescent audience while the serious books are left for the grown-ups.