Deadly Triangle

by Lewis Perdue

Pemalsuan dokumen-dokumen Leonardo Da Vinci terungkap. Satu demi satu pakar Da Vinci ditemukan tewas. Pembunuhan terhadap Sri Paus coba dilakukan. Dokumen-dokumen asli Da Vinci diperkirakan memuat rahasia penemuan besar yang bisa mengubah dunia untuk selamanya. Bersama dengan The Elect Brothers—kelompok biarawan keturunan St. Peter—Rusia, Nazi, dan Vatikan terlibat dalam perseteruan memperebutkannya...

***

Vance Erikson, salah seorang pakar Da Vinci terkemuka, mendeteksi bahwa beberapa halaman dokumen Da Vinci telah dipalsukan. Pertanyaannya: Apa yang terdapat pada dokumen aslinya? Setelah mengungkap pemalsuan ini, hidup Vance langsung berubah drastis. Ia menjadi target pembunuhan!

Pencarian Vance akan dokumen-dokumen asli Da Vinci membawanya sampai ke Italia, di mana ia mencium keberadaan skandal konspirasi besar: Perebutan status Gereja Sejati dan penggulingan kedudukan Sri Paus serta struktur Vatikan yang ada sekarang.

Di Italia Vance menemukan keterkaitan antara The Elect Brothers, Rusia, Nazi, dan Vatikan dalam perseteruan memperebutkan rahasia Da Vinci. Nasib dan masa depan dunia tergantung pada pihak mana yang berhasil menguasainya!

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Adventure, Historical Fiction, Science Fiction, Mystery Thriller

512 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Lewis Perdue is the author of 20 published books: 13 thrillers (some bestselling, including 3 co-authored with Lee Goldberg). Lew has also written seven non-fiction works ranging from wine to technology.

He is currently a biomedical researcher affiliated with the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, publishes Wine Industry Insight (for the trade), is an algorithm inventor at Revolution Algorithms, and consults with early stage technology companies. He lives near Sonoma, California.

Lew is an honors graduate of Cornell University where he studied organic chemistry, biology and communications. Financially self-supporting at age 18, Perdue financed his education by working full time at two Gannett daily newspapers.

He has worked as an investigative journalist in Washington DC for Jack Anderson, and has written for The Washington Post, Washington Monthly, The Nation and other publications.

He's served as a columnist for The Wall Street Journal Online, CBS Marketwatch, and TheStreet.Com.

In addition to journalism, Lew has been Chief Marketing Officer for a technology company (Transpositional Modulation Technologies), served as a top staff member for U.S. Senator Thad Cochran, and Mississippi Governor Bill Waller. He's also been a Managing Director for MSLGroup of Publicis Worldwide.

Lew is a native of the Mississippi Delta, and -- like the hero of his thrillers, Perfect Killer & Hellhound -- is the disinherited scion of a politically powerful, Faulknerian heritage.

Reviews

[David Chess · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would be an obvious ripoff of The Da Vinci Code, except that it was written first. The reader may draw their own conclusion, or for extra fun read the various websites and postings and comment threads and lawsuits real and threatened on the subject, as found in your favorite search engine. Doing that might in fact be more entertaining than either of the books! :)

This is an average airplane-reading potboiler about evil orders of Catholic (or faux Catholic) priests bent on world domination, lost secrets of Leonardo, car chases, assassinations, a plucky tough guy who overcomes all odds to save the world and get the girl, impossible escapes, implausibly flammable buildings, and so forth. The writing isn't unbearably bad, and the pacing is fine. Also lots of cool Italian placenames and stuff.

[Lewis Perdue]

Not the best of my books. Originally written in 1983 when I was still seeking a style. The current (2003) edition suffers from a badly botched update filled with anachronisms and inconsistencies. It was sloppily edited and hurried by the publisher to take advantage of the Da Vinci Code phenomenon. And while DVC did lift some of my work from this book, it took most heavily from Daughter of God.
Better to read the 1983 edition.

[Kathy Sheridan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't bother

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Shawnté Salabert]

Ridiculous vacation book #2 😐😐

[Lola · Rating 3 out of 5]

not so bad

[Vettius29 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good book. Many ideas from Perdue's book later show up in Dan Brown's DaVinci Code. While the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail claim he took ideas from their book, I think Perdue had a better case.
Favorite Lewis Perdue book is "Daughter of God", one of the few fictional books that I have read twice.

[livia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rep: there is none ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
TW: shootings, murder, kidnapping,

---
My Rating: 2.5 stars; DNF @ 49%

"Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.

Don't be fooled: this quote is from ma man Da Vinci himself (Da Vinky???), and I personally think that my teachers should read it and study it as they have me read and study useless shit all day long.

Anyways, I thought this book was gonna be like a cool version of The Da Vinci Code, and I was delighted to find out that it was published 20 years earlier. The blurb on the back made me think that Dan Brown plagiarized this book, at least a little bit, but I thought that since I enjoyed The Da Vinci Code, then I would have enjoyed this. I was incorrect.

I was being a little melodramatic there; I actually enjoyed the exposition because it was interesting and it left me wanting to know more. However, as the book progressed, the only thing that happened was that Vance (the MC) got shot at and he shot at others and then he had a mini-crisis in between because "oh, god, I'm next!". Yeah, really. On every page, there was an action scene and not enough intellectual gathering of clues or a cool wild goose chase like from what I remember of TDVC.

Vance was also your typical, cliche, male protagonist: nothing bad really happens to him, knows how to use a gun, always gets his way in the end, is rugged and handsome, arrogant, smart, and always gets the girl in the end. He was getting annoying, and I couldn't really stand him where I left off (but tbf, he didn't have much of a personality to begin with. It was just him talking about typical cliche guy stuff or whatever). What really made me laugh is that all of a sudden, after years of hating one another, Vance and Suzanne confess their love and then fuck. It makes no sense... And then they talk about love/hate at first sight? Get this bullshit out of my face. It was also obvious that the only female character in the book was written by one of those men as well. Do I even have to elaborate on that?

One other thing that really bothered me is that the author would always refer to bullets as "slugs." At first, I thought it was fun because I never really heard about bullets being referred to in that way, but then the author would only use that word. I kept thinking in my head, "dude, vary your diction!" It was an English teacher moment for me.

I was hoping that this book would get better over time, but unfortunately, it didn't. I really wanted to finish it, especially considering this was one of my aunt's books from when she was younger, but I just couldn't drag myself through it. There are only so many action scenes with guns one can get through before they lose their mind! The author even said that this isn't one of his best books, so nobody can even come for me on this! Next time I'll just read Dan Brown's version.

[Alexa Wang · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a good book, & didn't even enjoy reading it. I only got a good grasp of what was even going on about 50% of the way through the book & even then I wasn't sure what was happening. My best attempt at summarizing this plot would be this: Rich corporation buys old DaVinci tome because (???), young male heartthrob & coincidentally amateur DaVinci scholar realizes two pages in the journal are forgeries & then goes on to look for answers, the answers keep dying & disappearing, heartthrob says "I love you" to the first woman he spends more than 24 hours with (she also loves him back, no worries), & through a series of convoluted "monks with guns" scenes the pages are recovered all so that the original rich corporation can use a lightning weapon. Obviously, this book was written in a different time when opinions of government & corporations were much less dicey, but this book took no perspective whatsoever on these issues. The books ends with the hero successfully the CEO of his company, refusing the U.S. President use of his DaVinci lightning weapon & then gazing wistfully out his window to reflect on how much he's been through. I won't even mention the post 9/11 re-edits that were completely unnecessary & sloppily done. As a lover of bad books, I can't even endorse this one. Too long & not even entertaining.

[Susie G · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was originally published in 1983 then republished in 2004 to capitalize on the Da Vinci Code phenomenon. It may seem rather dated to those not familiar with a world without cell phones, the World Wide Web, etc.

The book is does not contain many details about Da Vinci or his works, so if one is hoping for a lot of Da Vinci - related information, background, or intrigue he/she will be disappointed. However, if one enjoys a story of spies, international intrigue, and action, with a fanatical religious order thrown in for good measure, it’s a good read. Not amazing but enjoyable enough.

[Peggy Huey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book starts with an interesting premise: Leonardo Da Vinci created designs that could result in an atom-splitting device that would change the balance of power in the world. However, in Lewis Perdue's hands, the story becomes a plodding tale of Vance Erikson assisted by former CIA operative/now journalist Suzanne Storm against the Bremen Legation and their hitman Elliott Kimball tearing up Italy, even endangering the Pope, in their quest to find the pages with the design on them.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Less like The Da Vinci Code than one is led to believe, but a perfectly decent thriller in its own right. The Da Vinci and Christianity stuff is McGuffin here, rather than meat, but it's still a pretty fun ride.

[KelticKat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story-line & characters. Took a bit for me to feel that the characters were multidimensional - but after a bit they seemed to come into their own.

If you like cloak and dagger stories with fast moving action and plot - this is a great read.

[Kayleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10. I liked this book a lot more than I was expecting. I loved all the mystery and history behind everything. It kept me on my toes the entire time. I also learned so much about Da Vinci so it also felt productive haha

[24th $Aint · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spoiler Alert;
Politics in a church setting ..Very Lame and Annoying

[Bookish Bluestocking · Rating 3 out of 5]

average

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting concept and makes you think of what DaVinci may have accomplished if he had lived in our time.

[Aglaïrwe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh, entretenido para un viaje en tren o en avión. Poco más.

[Liz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolute garbage

[N Mursidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perebutan Naskah da Vinci
(sumber: Suara Merdeka, Minggu 28 Oktober 07)

Judul: Deadly Triangle,
Pengarang: Lewis Perdue
Penerbit: Dastan Books, Jakarta
Cetakan : Pertama, Juli 2007
(512 halaman)

SEBUAH karya sastra memang tak semestinya ditulis berdasarkan fakta, apalagi hanya sekadar merekam peristiwa sejarah yang pernah terjadi di masa lampau. Karena pada dasarnya fiksi merupakan capaian ikhtiar pengarang meniti jalan berkelok dalam menerobos "relung-relung" sejarah, juga realitas. Tak pelak, kalau "jalan peniruan" itu yang kemudian dipilih atau ditempuh, tidak mustahil, karya sastra yang lahir tak ubahnya sebongkah foto hasil jepretan kamera. Indah dan menggugah, tetapi kurang bisa mematik kesadaran pembaca untuk berpikir kritis.

Tapi novel Deadly Triangle (aslinya berjudul The Da Vinci Legacy; 1983) karya Lewis Perdue ini termasuk perkecualian. Meski sebagaimana diakui pengarang yang kini tinggal di Sonoma, California ini ditulis berdasarkan fakta sejarah, Perdue tetap tak terjebak pada setumpuk bahan literer "sejarah yang bisu" melainkan dapat melangkah lebih jauh, menyeruak di balik bilik peristiwa juga melampaui realitas dan lorong-lorong masa lalu yang nyaris tidak terekam sejarah.

Jika diibaratkan, sejarah merupakan kisah tentang pertumpahan darah orang yang membunuh, mencuri, dan bahkan melakukan berbagai hal di tengah lautan. Tak mustahil, apa yang terjadi di tepian laut justru luput dari perhatian. Nah, Perdue melalui novel ini dapat diibaratkan menulis kisah mengenai apa yang terjadi di tepian laut tersebut.

Kisah yang terjadi di tepi laut itu dituturkan oleh pengarang dengan jalan membuka lapis demi lapis "lingkaran maut" The Elect Brothers (kelompok biarawan keturunan St. Peter), Nazi, GRU (intelejen kemiliteran Rusia), dan Vatikan dalam memperebutkan naskah kuno karya da Vinci. Awalnya, Kingsbury membeli sebuah naskah kuno Leonardo dari keluarga Caizzi. Saat Vence Erikson --sarjana da Vinci yang dipercaya Kingsbury-- mengamati dengan cermat, ternyata ia tahu naskah kuno da Vinci itu dipalsukan.

Sontak, Kingsbury dan Vance ingin mengetahui "isi dari naskah yang hilang" itu, serta mencari tahu di balik pemalsuan tersebut. Tapi, saat Vance menyelidiki lebih jauh, dia justru dihadang berbagai peritiwa aneh. Tiga orang ahli da Vinci yang mau ditemui justru meninggal dunia dan ia bahkan menjadi target pembunuhan. Dari petunjuk yang ditulis Martini, satu dari tiga ahli da Vinci yang terbunuh, Vance kemudian terbang ke Italia. Jalinan kisah pun jadi berbelit, karena Vance selalu diburu oleh sekelompok orang yang tidak jelas beralifiasi di pihak mana.

Alhasil, novel ini selain menghibur dapat dipastikan juga menyentak kesadaran pembaca.***

*) n_mursidi, cerpenis asal Lasem, Jateng. Kini tinggal di pinggiran Jakarta.

[gardienne_du_feu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Vance Erikson hat schon in jungen Jahren ein bewegtes Leben hinter sich – nach ein paar Jahren als hauptberuflicher Glücksspieler sucht er nun für einen amerikanischen Ölkonzern erfolgreich nach neuen Ölquellen und widmet sich nebenbei seiner großen Leidenschaft, Nachforschungen über Leonardo da Vinci.

Eines Tages stellt sich heraus, dass in einer alten Schrift da Vincis, die Vances Chef Harrison Kingsbury für seine Sammlung erworben hat, einige Seiten gefälscht wurden. Wo stecken die Originale? Und was steht darin geschrieben?

Offensichtlich etwas sehr Begehrenswertes – denn als Vance sich auf die Suche nach den verschwundenen Seiten macht, gerät er mehr als einmal in Lebensgefahr.

Das Buch entstand bereits 1983 und wurde nun im Zuge der „Kirchenthrillerwelle“ aktualisiert und neu aufgelegt. Wie der geneigte Leser bereits im Vorwort informiert wird, hat Dan Brown angeblich auch von Perdue abgeschrieben.

Allerdings muss man Dan Brown lassen, dass er seine Leser deutlich besser zu fesseln versteht. Bei Perdue passiert zuerst ein grässlicher Mord im Dom von Pisa, dann wird man erst einmal seitenlang mit Erikson bekannt gemacht, der trotzdem sehr schablonenhaft und gesichtslos bleibt. Dazu gibt es noch eine hochnäsige Journalistin, die Erikson gerne in die Pfanne hauen würde, und mit dem Schauplatzwechsel nach Europa eine ganze Horde Killermönche, ein paar alte Gemäuer mit düsteren Geheimnissen, einen fiesen Vertreter einer Wirtschaftsorganisation und einen Forscher, der den Bösen in die Hände gefallen ist.

Heraus kommt eine Abfolge lieblos aneinandergereihter Actionszenen, eine grottig beschriebene Klischee-Liebesgeschichte (ratet mal, wer mit wem …) und eine ziemlich verdrehte, überfrachtete Verschwörungstheorie, in die vom Vatikan über Nazigrößen und die Rüstungsindustrie bis hin zu Mozart, Glenn Miller und Amelia Earhart so ziemlich jeder verwickelt ist. Und einen potentiellen Papstattentäter gibt es auch noch. Die Zusammenhänge bleiben natürlich anfangs unklar, aber das erzeugt keine Spannung, sondern eher Verwirrung und Langeweile.

Fazit: das war nix …

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was originally released in 1983, then was tweaked for a re-release in 2004 amongst all the DaVinci Code hubbub. However, this book lacks the cultural and historical awe of Brown’s famous novel and a number of others who jumped on the religious conspiracy-theory type novel bandwagon. Purdue tries to fit in too much action and not enough character development or history, leaving DaVinci himself to take a backseat to international politics and economics. Plus, while Purdue tries to update his book for the 21st century (euros, Iraq war, 9/11) he fails to make other necessary adjustments, which leave the timeline inconsistent and half of the narrative stuck in the early 80’s.

The hero, Vance has a background in the military, while being a rogue oil locater and the most experienced amateur DaVinci scholar in the world. Um, how convenient for a guy like him to have so many obscure skills. His accomplice in the adventure is enemy reporter turned lover, Suzanne, who happens to be an ex-spy, another set of useful abilities to go along with Vance’s as they dodge bullets, make narrow escapes, and add to the body count. And though Suzanne still holds a grudge for being spurned by Lance in college, the immediacy of their professions of love seem a bit implausible.

The only moderately fascinating plot point was the mystery behind the secret organization, which wields uncanny power and has a bizarre if fanciful history. But the captivating things that should have been more elaborately portrayed fell short. There is not enough about DaVinci and the religious aspects of the plot. It tries too hard to be about international conspiracy that is so far reaching it seems ridiculous. While Purdue tried to capitalize on a hot topic that was revitalized in fiction, he would have been better off completely re-writing the book and thoroughly revising the sub-par dialogue, rethinking the poor decisions made by the characters, completely modernizing it, and developing the plot to be more engaging.

[Nikki · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't even finish it. It was so predictable and bland. I zoned out far too many times while reading it and then had no idea where the characters were and why they were doing what they were doing. Also, the characters were all over the place. One minute Vance seems like this shy professor type, the next he seems like an FBI agent, and then the next some bad boy. Suzanne was horrible written. She was clearly the love interest from the start; detesting him, but then asking him out and falling head over heels for him (and of course, he did the same with her). Predictable.
The plot was a bunch of cliches. Da Vinci was almost completely forgotten. I'm still not sure what his codex even had to do with the plot; was it a forgery or was it missing?
If it wasn't for the fact that this was written in the 80s, I would have assumed it was a horrible knock-off of the da Vinci Code, which I loved. Instead it was edited later to be a horrible knock-off. Why the author would edit his book to have it keep up with the times, is beyond me. There was no consistency as to when the story was supposed to take place because of the pointless edits.
Needless to say, I forced myself to read two-hundred pages before I realized that I just didn't care about the characters and what happened to them. I wouldn't waste your time. Read Dan Brown's version instead.

[Belinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Een avontuur, een Da Vinci Codex waaruit pagina's ontbreken. Als Da Vinci-kenner Vance Erikson ontdekt dat verschillende pagina's uit de Codes vervalsingen zijn, gaat hij op zoek naar de originelen. Nadat hij zijn ontdekking wereldkundig heeft gemaakt, wordt hij het doelwit van een genootschap van conservatieve monniken die beweren dat hun organisatie stamt uit de tijd van Petrus zelf. Erikson begint aan een tocht door Europa om de documenten te vinden, terwijl het Genootschap hem op de hielen zit. Het gegeven is goed. De verhaallijn en spanningsopbouw zijn ook goed. Maar de hakkende manier van schrijven, zonder een "gedachte" goed af te maken en het verspringen van hot naar her in locaties vind ik minder en soms zelfs storend.

[Hayley · Rating 2 out of 5]

The novel was alright, very much follows the cliche of the hard hero who will always prevail and get what he wants in the end. Not heavily based on Da Vinci. Its based around people wanting to get their hands on some his writings for new ideas of powerful weapons.

A few areas were stretching it a bit far, especially the graveyard in the monastery. Lots of famous people being "disappeared", their deaths faked and being imprisoned there.

Nothing like Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code'

[Tifa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was obviously a novel written for men by a man. The lead character is ridiculously perfect and impossible, as well as the obviously gorgeous femme fatale who enters the picture. Everything is cliché and over the top, and not in a fun B-action movie type way. I rolled my eyes at so many parts, I think I sprained something. The convoluted conspiracy plot was disappointing, and I'm sorry there wasn't more about Da Vinci in it because that was the only reason I chose this.

[Mirella Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cerita ini tidak terlalu seru dan bagus kalau dibandingkan dengan the Daughter of God karya pengarang yang sama. Tapi, ceritanya tetap seru dan menarik.

Memang sejarah hidup Leonardo DaVinci selalu asyik untuk ditelaah ya, dari mulai The Medici Dagger, lukisan Monalisa, sampai lukisan The Last Supper.

[Calle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is fast paced, with lots of action and some nice conspiracy touches. My only complaint is the sloppy update in the 2004 edition (the novel was first published in 1983) which has resulted in some weird anachronisms and inconsistencies in time and setting. If you can overlook this (or I suppose if you read the original version), it's a fun, quick read. 4-

[Rebekkila · Rating 1 out of 5]

This story was originally published in 1984 and reissued about 8 years ago. The author updated the story but probably would have been better off just writing a new book. The protagonist's name on the back cover was Curtis, but in the story it was Vance. The author obviously did a lot of updating. But the story was uneven and I couldn't stand Vance. I finally gave up.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to see how it ended. Not sure how impressed I was. It wasn't horrible but a lot confused me. It had elements I'm always attracted to though: nazis, the C.I.A., the papacy, high speed chases, castles... and then the city I went to high school in and a college there were mentioned even though the author is from Mississippi.

Not sure if I'd recommend to others. But it was good to me.