Controversial Reading

I just started reading this new book by Ashwin Sanghi, called the Rozabal Line. The author desperately tries to mimick Dan Brown's success, by trying to prove that Jesus never died on the cross, but survived and eventually came to India. He stayed there for the rest of his life and died in a place in Kashmir, marked by a tomb, now worshiped by the Muslims. A little research on this book, and I found that this tomb suddenly became a tourist attraction and Lonely Planet even made a documentary on it. The Indian government later sealed this location and stopped further tourist activity. Although the book cannot keep up with any of Dan Brown's novels (Da Vinci Code being my favorite), it makes me wonder, do authors need a controversy to sell their books. Is this hype more important than the quality of the writing? Sadly this is how books are sold these days, either mention something that hurts religious sentiments, or blemish a famous public/historic figure, thereby creating a certain interest to read it. I mean thats why I got this novel, right?