Rivals fail to crack The Da Vinci Code

In a year that the heavy-hitters didn't quite deliver, Dan Brown's much derided and debunked thriller ruled. Ronan Browne looks back at fiction from 2004

In a year with few heavy hitters or instant classics, one book ruled all. Released in February 2003, it would be difficult to describe The Da Vinci Code as anything other than the book of 2004. You know how huge a book has become when you notice a rise in the "millions in print" number on the cover.

The Da Vinci Code is now nearing 16 million copies in print (it gets hazy after a while, but ranks somewhere between The Firm and The Bible.) People debated it, derided it, debunked it but bought it in unprecedented numbers, keeping it at No.1 in the book charts for most of the year.

Its popularity has slowly dragged the book upmarket, turning the book from pretty formulaic pulp fiction to a book of literature, required reading for those who wouldn't normally bother. Suddenly, those lost to the habit of reading were back in the bookshops, looking for more of the same. In the main, this interest was in Dan Brown's other books. Angels & Demons, Digital Fortress, Deception Point which remained in the two, three and four spots for most of the second half of the year, both here and in the UK. We are certain to be inundated with lesser versions of the books in 2005.

Two of the few books to compete in the paperback market both benefited from the word of mouth marketing which contributed to the Da Vinci Code's success. Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime saw the children's writer create a work of cross-generational appeal. His tale of Christopher, a 15 year-old with Aspergers syndrome was enlightening, heartbreaking, at times thrilling and a deserving winner of the Whitbread in January. It sold in adult and children's editions and proved an accessible and endearing book to all ages.

The second surprise success was Joseph O'Connor's Star of the Sea, which despite excellent reviews had its day in the sun until it was recommended to viewers by the Richard & Judy Show. The story of a ship and its passengers sailing from famine-struck Ireland to New York is a harrowing, involving and surprisingly easy read which deserved its reappraisal, even so late in the day.

The spectre of Henry James loomed large over the Man Booker prize this year. Three books featured James, and while David Lodge's Author Author fell at the first by not being nominated both Colm Tóibín's The Master and Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty went on to contest the prize. While Hollingurst took the award (and most other accolades in 2004) the book may well not have the scope or gravity that would earn it longevity. It was, however universally acclaimed (except by some Irish critics) and its evocation of '80s politics and corruption of youth struck chords with most. Although popularity with the public will not be proved until its release in paperback next summer, The Master's chances seem as good if not better. At year-end, Tóibín's fictional life of a youthful James is growing in stature and repute. Equally successful and recommended this year was Ronan Bennett's 16th century set Havoc in its Third Year. Hollinghurst remains favourite to take the Whitbread in 2005 and his critical popularity denied the hottest Booker favourite in history, David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas, of its expected prize. Cloud Atlas was the startling third novel from Mitchell that, through six different but interlocking stories developed his use of different voices and unique style evident in Ghostwritten in 2001.

Dan Brown ruled thrillers and crime fiction this year with usually dominant blockbuster authors consolidating rather than innovating. Henry Porter's pacy Empire State tackled global terrorism and sleeper cells which eerily echoed the year's real events in Europe and the US. The ever reliable Richard Price's Samaritan was a smaller, character-based mystery based in the New Jersey project setting of his previous novels. It showed how few murders and serial killers this genre needs when you can write with a credible, original voice. John Le Carré and Carl Hiassen were back on form with Absolute Friends and Skinny Dip respectively, both better than the efforts of Patterson, Grisham or Cornwell. The major breakthrough was made by Karin Slaughter whose fourth book Indelible continued the series of Sara Linton, a UK counterpart to Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta. Bet Cornwell wishes she has as good a surname. Looking for the pace of a thriller with the concerns of a novel? Robert Harris looked at the last two days in the life of a doomed city in Pompeii while Douglas Kennedy as successfully continued his move away from thrillers in A Special Relationship. Alexander McCall Smith brought mystery and crime to a warmer yet more reflective place with his hugely successful series of the No1. Ladies Detective Agency, which spent most of 2004 on the best seller list. War and the US election dominated the world in 2004 and this was reflected in the book markets with fiction being replaced with major works of non fiction and a glut of political works, from doom mongers to biographers.

The most successful work of fiction from the US was Philip Roth's The Plot Against America. Imagining a US in the 1940s where Jews were persecuted and Lindbergh was President, much was made of the parallels to modern America as the nation became polarised by modern events. It has proven an equal to Roths's other works like American Pastoral and is the standout book of the year.

In paperback, Anne Tyler proved herself back on track if also on familiar ground with The Amateur Marriage. Those who weren't reading non-fiction found a salve of sorts in Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner or Gil Courtemanche's Sunday in the Pool at Kigali. The books offered immersion in world events but at a slight distance from the harrowing unrelenting focus of CNN. Tóibín dominated Irish fiction, particularly as Roddy Doyle disappointed with Oh Play That Tune. Chris Binchy turned his attention from young middle class Dublin to an amusing tale of moving to the young adult suburbs in West Dublin in People Like Us. Also enjoyable, after the heights of Lucy Gault was a new collection of short stories by William Trevor, A Bit on the Side. William Boyd in Fascination matched his return to the format, a welcome retreat for him to the length he so successfully used in A History of the World in 10.5 Chapters.

Jonathan Coe's The Closed Circle was a welcome return, finishing the lives of his much loved characters from The Rotter's Club. It made me smile as much as any book this year, although the knowing grimaces that accompanied Notes From a Scandal and Eleanor Rigby came close.

William Sutcliffe's Bad Influence held its sucker punch until the end in an eye-widening tale of cruelty and madness in pre-teen Britain. There are a few books I missed that I am looking forward to catching up with at Christmas. Among them are Kate Atkinson's Case Histories, Colin Harrison' Sanctuary and Alex Garland's The Coma are top of the list.