Most of the popular book market read for escapism and want something easy to read but also gets you into the story. Dan Brown's books do that. I've read 2 and think they're acceptable, but for most of my reading, I'm not expecting world class literature
A lot of a popular figures popularity has to do with crowd psychology. When your neighbors (or anyone in your social group) are reading him and think he's good, you'll rate him higher. That's just psychology at work. Dan Brown isn't any better or worse than thousands of other authors, he just happened to be at the right place and the right time to get popular.
As for critics, their sole reason for existence is to criticize. If they liked everything, they'd soon be out of a job
I don't pay any attention to critics as I have yet to find one that matches my tastes. I read Amazon reviews, and since I found MR, I read MR reviews and find users that match my tastes. So far, MR wins hands down.
