The Formula Still Works

After the success of both The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, there was a lot of hype surrounding the release of Dan Brown’s latest book, The Lost Symbol. I wasn’t really supposed to buy the book so soon, but on the eve of its release, I was already in the area of Fully Booked at the Promenade in Greenhills, so I figured that I might as well purchase a copy for myself already. I even ended up first in line to get it. Did it live up to the hype?


Robert Langdon is summoned to Washington, D.C. by his mentor, the Director of the Smithsonian Institution, Peter Solomon. A 33rd degree Mason, Peter asked Robert to keep a package for safekeeping years before and asks him to bring it. Upon arriving at the U.S. Capitol, Langdon is shocked to find a severed hand tattooed and pointing to the painting The Apotheosis of Washington. It turns out that Solomon has been kidnapped by the mysterious Mal’akh, a diabolical, tattooed villain who has devoted his life to unlocking the secrets of the Masons. In trying to get Solomon to reveal where the mythical Masonic pyramid is located, Mal’akh hunts down Peter’s sister Dr. Katherine Solomon, an expert in the relatively new Noetic Sciences. As Langdon and Katherine attempt to find Peter’s location, they go around Washington, following clues that America’s forefathers planted to hide their most ancient secrets.

Brown has obviously found a formula that works for him. His two previously mentioned books were so engaging and fast-paced, they were eventually adapted into two films directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks. The Lost Symbol follows most of the formula but it still develops into a more than decent page-turner. Instead of the Vatican, Rome, London, or Paris, Brown sets Langdon this time in the good old U.S.A. Rather than the Opus Dei, the Knights Templar, or the Illuminati, the secret society is now the Masons. Forget Silas the infamous Albino from The Da Vinci Code, Mal’akh is more menacing, more intelligent, and has an even more scarred past. Sophie Neveu and Vittoria Vetra have now been succeeded by Katherine Solomon.

These “replaceable parts” aside, I still found this novel engaging. My friends and I didn’t really like the short chapters (resulting in 133 chapters for a 500+ page book) but it did make it easier to stop for breaks while reading. As in his previous two books, Dan Brown makes you want to visit Washington, D.C., or at the very least, look for pictures of the paintings, sculptures, and buildings he points out online. He also makes you curious to know more about the Masons, their history, and their influence on the development of the United States. The author obviously does a ton of research and manages to weave together some seemingly unconnected pieces into a more coherent whole thanks to some coincidences sprinkled with a little healthy artistic license. I really liked the surprise twist at the end of the book as it was something that completely caught me off-guard.

As in any formulaic book, you’ll end up looking for something new that the author brings to the table. But again, since it follows a tried and tested formula, The Lost Symbol lacks that. If you’re one of the few who haven’t read either The Da Vinci Code or Angels & Demons, then this book will probably seem fresher for you. It’s not necessarily a bad thing that Brown follows a formula as when I hit about the halfway point of the book, I found that I couldn’t put it down anymore. With the success of the film adaptations of those two earlier works, I couldn’t help but see and hear Tom Hanks every time that Langdon was featured. Before those movies were made however, I used to envision Harrison Ford playing Langdon. I’d still recommend The Lost Symbol whether you read the previous books or not and whether you liked the film adaptations or not. On its own, this novel definitely has enough of a good premise and pacing to merit checking out.