Summary: Langdon calls his New York editor, Jonas Faukman. Faukman reveals that he sent Langdon’s unpublished manuscript on the nature of the Grail to several Grail experts worldwide for review and for publicity blurbs without Langdon’s knowledge. One of those experts was Jacques Saunière—finally giving Langdon an explanation of how the Louvre curator knew of him and his work. Teabing wonders if the Priory liked or disliked Langdon’s research. For her part, Sophie fears that Fache will believe Langdon was lying about never having corresponded with her grandfather. The Range Rover arrives at the private airfield, where Teabing’s pilot readies the jet for takeoff. Teabing indicates the group will be taking Silas to England with them.
Analysis: Much as André Vernet was awakened by a late night phone call and thrust into a mystery larger than himself, so now is Jonas Faukman. Faukman, however, does not prove to be an important player in the plot: this chapter shows that his primary function is, rather, as a plot device, placing Langdon’s unpublished manuscript in Saunière’s hands. The device does yield one of the more colorful comparisons in the novel: “Asking Jacques Saunière to endorse a manuscript on goddess worship was as obvious as asking Tiger Woods to endorse a book on golf” (pp. 314-315).
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