TDVC, in certain respects, has become a cultural soap opera, much like Michael Jackson or Kate Moss, where every development - however bizarre - further increases the hold on the public.
TDVC, with its arcane amalgam of esoteric symbology and cranky conspiracy theory, tapped into this deep-seated desire for the deliciously perplexing, as did the tie-in on-line contest to crack the codes embedded in the book's US cover, which attracted 40,000 eagle-eyed grail-hounds.