She said:

Like Angels and Demons, and The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown’s third novel, The Lost Symbol solves puzzles, analyzes paintings, explores religious misconceptions and reveals forgotten histories in its 509 pages. Spanning 12 hours, this story is a thriller replay of The Da Vinci Code, except that it is set in Washington instead of Paris and Masons feature as the star secret society, instead of Opus Dei.

Langdon arrives in Washington D.C., invited by his wealthy friend Peter Solomon, a high-ranking Mason, to deliver a speech in the Capitol building. But there is no speech, only an “invitation” fashioned by a severed hand believed to be that of his friends. The hand is marked with Masonic tattoos and propped to point to an 1865 painting of George Washington depicted as a pagan god. The hand of mysteries directs Robert Langdon to find a legendary Masonic treasure for a ritualistic killer who has kidnapped his dear friend all the while special ops squads are hunting him down.

Storylines include, alchemy, the war on terror and the study of Noetics, a branch of physics that draws on string theory that attempts to prove that “mind over matter” is a scientific reality.

Although expectations for this novel were probably not likely to be reached, I enjoyed scenes such as Langdon and Katherine’s narrow escape from the CIA by riding the book conveyor belts of the Library of Congress. I was also fascinated by  the hidden Masonic threads in America’s founding, such as the Masonic affiliations of at least half the Founding Fathers, including George Washington, and the design of the dollar bill, with its prominent pyramid on the back.

I did find the book plagued with choppy writing, and unrealistic scenes. For instance, in the end when the characters climax through an especially emotional and draining experience, Katharine directly spends the evening in the rotunda at Peter’s urgings and Peter meets with Robert in his office to have an intellectual, story-telling moment after spending 2 days getting tortured. Why would they not head directly to the hospital?

The Lost Symbol more or less follows Dan Brown’s winning formula that includes Robert Langdon, a pretty woman, a mystery shrouded in code, and a thoroughly evil twisted villain. Of course, there is also the twist at the end that I admit to having guessed if not having all the details figured out.

I do not see Brown’s book being shrouded in controversy similar to his previous books.  They do include some premises that the founding fathers did not fashion our country and government on Christian principals as much as the desire to be recognized as gods themselves.  An overshadowing theme throughout the book of new age thinking that we all within ourselves have godlike potential and a positive plug for Masonic principals of  moving beyond traditional religion so as to “harness our true power. Brown’s works keep putting religion in critical light as he explores issues between science and religion.

He said:

In Dan Brown’s latest book, The Lost Symbol, we see the return of Professor of Iconology, Robert Langdon who was convinced into traveling to Washington D.C. on very short notice, only to become involved in another mystery involving, religion, symbols, lunatic bad guys, and puzzles apparently only he is able to solve.

The book was a very fast-paced and exciting read. I have enjoyed Dan Brown’s storytelling skills in past novels, and this story is definitely no disappointment. I do not want to give away any of the story or its deeper secrets, but I will say if you could imagine a story that mixes National Treasure and The DaVinci Code, then you now pretty much have an idea where The Lost Symbol is going to take you.

During the time I spent reading this book, I longed to return to Washington D.C. so I could revisit all of the places Dan Brown described and see the symbols he was mentioning in person. Although there were times you felt that Brown was just going through a list of urban myths and other conspiracy theories dealing with the building of Washington D.C., he did a great job neatly bringing everything together into a fun ride.

Now, I will be honest and say that from a philosophical, theological, or even rational perspective, I do not agree with much Dan Brown preaches in his works, and specifically the rhetoric he presents in the Lost Symbol. That being said, I was very disappointed that after the story was “complete” and “resolved”, Brown felt the need to go into over 45 pages of nonsense and wild theories and beliefs. I could definitely have used that reading time more wisely, like closing the book and going to sleep.

All in all, Lost Symbol was a good story, with fun characters, and interesting mysteries and puzzles. Discounting Dan Brown’s need to express his beliefs so blatantly during the last 45 ages of the book  as a huge disappointment, but overall a job well done for Mr. Brown.

GENRE: Suspense/ Mystery