Title: The Lost Symbol
Author: Dan Brown
Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Publisher: Anchor Books
"In this stunning follow-up to the global phenomenon The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown demonstrates once again why he is the world's most popular thriller writer.
The Lost Symbol is a masterstroke of storytelling that finds famed symbologist Robert Langdon in a deadly race through a real-world labyrinth of codes, secrets, and unseen truths...all under the watchful eye of Brown's most terrifying villain to date. Set within the hidden chambers, tunnerls, and temples of Washington D.C., The Lost Symbol is an intelligent, lightning-paced story with surprises at every turn. This is Dan Brown's most exciting novel yet."
Ever since I read Dan Brown's two previous novels starring the symbologist Robert Langdon (Angels and Demons and ever-so controversial The Da Vinci Code), I just knew I had to get my hands on this latest creation by Dan Brown. The two previous novels have just kept me hooked as I was reading them, with every page surely containing a revelation or a surprising turn that would keep you from putting down the book, until you reach the very end.
Not surprisingly, this latest novel by Dan Brown isn't any different.
Just like the two earlier mentioned novels, the events in The Lost Symbol take place over a short period of time (about 5 hours). Certain chapters, however, are entirely devoted to flashbacks which may give readers a brief background on a character or more information on symbols or geography which play a key role in the story. The chapters are generally easy to read, though at times it may feel as if you were reading an encyclopedia with all those paragraphs on complex information that the characters may be sharing with one another (especially between Robert Langdon and the female protagonist Katherine, who, unlike the previous two female protagonists in the other Langdon stories, plays a more active role in contributing vital information to the "mystery-solving" activities). These parts of the novel may require more careful reading, since there is a possibility that the reader may get lost or confused further into the novel if these parts are not properly read.
I also appreciate the tidbits of random trivia that Dan Brown included in the novel, allowing you to look at even the most mundane of things from a new perspective. I guarantee you--after reading The Lost Symbol, you will never look at a necktie the same way again.
Compared to the two other novels though, this one seems to be a bit more tame, controversy-wise. There aren't really any shocking "secrets" which would cause a major uproar (unlike The Da Vinci Code which angered, among others, the Rome-based Opus Dei). I'm guessing Dan Brown really just didn't want to deal with any more lawsuits and death threats which he has endured in the past decade or so. Despite the absence of "juicy" secrets, however, The Lost Symbol is still engaging in its own right, especially since the credibility of the revered Founding Fathers of the United States is put at stake, and it takes us to a completely different side of Washington D.C. (read: hidden tunnels, chambers, and passageways) that the public would not (or even never) get to see.
The Lost Symbol further proves that Dan Brown isn't just another mystery-thriller writer. His novels are at times complex and thought-provoking, but that is the way he really is. Dan Brown sees to it that we finish reading his novels as a "changed" person; "changed" in the sense that we become more aware of things which we either ignore or didn't know existed--and this, I believe, is what sets him apart from other mystery-thriller writers. He does not impose his beliefs nor does he force all this information up our throats; what he does is leave the floor open for us to think, be inspired, and move. The Lost Symbol is certainly another masterpiece that you shouldn't dare miss out on. Dan Brown's magic has done it again.
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