I finished The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown last night. It was a good a thriller on par with The Da Vinci Code. Mr. Brown was able to replicate the frantic quest to translate mystic clues that was found in The Da Vinci Code.
The novel starts out with a hokey “Fact” page that states much the organizations, rituals, science artwork and monuments are real and that the CIA has a document locked away that contains the phrase “It’s buried out there somewhere.” I read fiction for the story and don’t really care if based on truth. Especially in a book like this where the conspiracy and mysticism attempted to be portrayed as truth. Just tell me a good story whether fact or fiction.
Robert Langdon, from The Da Vinci Code, is reintroduced in The Lost Symbol. Robert is asked by his mentor, Peter Solomon, to come to Washington D.C. to give a speech in the National Statuary Hall in the Capital building at the last minute. When Robert arrives at the Capital instead of finding the expected reception, Robert discovers Peter’s severed hand in the middle on the hall. The hand is positioned and tattooed to be a Hand of Mysteries. The Hand of Mysteries has been placed by a madman, Mal’akh, to start Robert on a journey to find the supposed Masonic hidden treasure in Washington D.C. If Robert doesn’t complete the task by midnight, Mal’akh will kill Peter.
Assisting Robert on his quest to decipher the clues leading to the treasure is Peter’s sister, Katherine. She is doing research into noetics which is supposedly the underpinning of the treasure. The CIA’s Office of Security Director, U.S. Capital Architect, Washington National Cathedral Dean and other expendable characters are involved in the search and translation of the clues.
The Lost Symbol is a good novel and worth the read. I thought that Mr. Brown spent too much time trying to play up the mysticism and didn’t build up the characters enough. The characters that were built up end up dying at the end of the chapter.
While Mr. Brown has hit upon a successful formula with a character rushing to find a series of mystic clues his two earlier novels, Digital Fortress and Deception Point, that are based on more earthly quests were more enjoyable to me.
