Both books are thrillers dealing with spooky ancient conspiracies within the Roman Catholic Church–not exactly virgin territory (no pun intended). So it’s neither surprising nor suspicious that both might feature snoopy professors of religion and references to “a secret so powerful that, if revealed, it threatened to devastate the very foundation of Christianity” (“The Da Vinci Code”). A.k.a. “information” so devastating that “Christianity and all that it stands for would be called into question” (“Daughter of God”). Nor, given the church’s history with women, is it odd that two novelists should deal with the issue. It may not even be odd that each novel has a powerful woman named Sophia–the Greek word for wisdom. But it is odd that Brown has the gold key to a Swiss bank’s safe-deposit box hidden in a painting after Perdue did the same thing. And what about those opening scenes set among priceless collections of art? Those dead curators?
Brown would speak to NEWSWEEK only through his attorney, Michael Rudell. “This is a denial that is not in any way hedged,” Rudell says. “Dan Brown has never read or heard of this book.” A spokeswoman for Doubleday was equally emphatic: “Dan has never seen or read Mr. Perdue’s novel, and any attempts to draw inferences as to Mr. Brown’s potential access to Mr. Perdue’s work are without merit.” Perdue says he hasn’t decided yet whether he’s going to sue. Absent a smoking gun, like “Daughter of God” on Brown’s American Express statement, he might make out better simply writing another book. He could twit Brown by calling it, say, “The Da Vinci Legacy.” Except Perdue already used that title–in 1983.
