Sunday, September 20, 2009

Dan Brown's, 'The Lost Symbol'


Dan Brown's latest novel has a lame title and limps out of the blocks before gathering speed and confidence. The book displays all the elements we associate with the author of The Da Vinci Code: a plot that unfolds in an extremely compressed time-span, cutting between multiple locations; chapter endings that keep the reader hooked and turning the pages; secrets buried, literally and figuratively, for centuries; a secret society with powerful members; a security chief with an agenda; a giant, beast-like killer with a fondness for self-mortification; a hero turned fugitive; mystical symbols hidden in plain view inside familiar monuments; and cyphers waiting to be cracked by the protagonist and his accomplished, good-looking female partner.
The novel reaches a climax around page 380 with a shocking passage in which Brown raises his mediocre descriptive skill a few notches above anything he has published previously. At this point, The Lost Symbol is transformed into something more than an enjoyable reworking of a successful formula. I won't disappoint you with details of what happens in the subsequent 130 odd pages. The book itself does a pretty good job of that (disappointing you, that is).

6 comments:

adrian mckinty said...

I quite enjoyed the Da Vinci Code as an audiobook except when he claimed that Lady Di and Prince Charles got married in Westminster Abbey. There were quite a few witnesses to the whole St Pauls thing.

I'll probably listen to this one too on my way to work.

Dr. Ally Critter said...

I felt it was "More lost than symbol"

jaimit said...

so... i assume this is a recommendation for those who enjoyed da vinci

Girish Shahane said...

Yes, if you liked Da Vinci, you will like this, at least till page 400.

hampshire said...

The lost symbol.... lovely review..

Jabeen said...

Well, I liked Da Vinci... in the sense that I was perfectly taken up while I was reading it. This one, on the other hand, I had to force myself to finish!