Dan Brown

Famed Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon answers an unexpected summons to appear at the U.S. Capitol Building. His plans are interrupted when a disturbing object—artfully encoded with five symbols—is discovered in the building. Langdon recognizes in the find an ancient invitation into a lost world of esoteric, potentially dangerous wisdom.

When his mentor Peter Solomon—a long-standing Mason and beloved philanthropist—is kidnapped, Langdon realizes that the only way to save Solomon is to accept the mystical invitation and plunge headlong into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and one inconceivable truth ... all under the watchful eye of Dan Brown's most terrifying villain to date.

A Novel

The Lost Symbol

Maura 

For lovers of art, history, and travel, Dan Brown books are delightful smut. He may be a formulaic writer, but his works are a quick and thrilling read filled with all the things we love: action, history, drama, and a bit of romance.  It is by no means a literary masterpiece nor to be deemed a classic. But I don't think that was his intention anyhow. 
It was to entertain us in a world rich with art, conspiracies, history, beautiful cities, and even at times a bit of religion and science. 

He is worth the fun and exciting read, but not worth the very serious critiques.

Manojkumar Seenivasan

Another great one from the master story teller. Didn't failed to amaze us with his page turner. Excellent.

'Impossible to put down . . . Another mind-blowing Robert Langdon story' New York Times A mysterious invitation brings Robert Langdon to Washington DC. There, he is presented with a sequence of bloody clues which he must unravel if he is to prevent a terrible plan. But all is not as it seems in this dangerous city - an ancient organisation will reassert its power once more. The only man standing in its way - Robert Langdon.

Luke Harkness

As is with his previous books - a thoroughly enjoyable book for the first half and then the second half seems to drag on and introduce far too much history and begs the question "can this all really be true?" Taking away from the feeling of immersion.

However, as aforementioned, it is enjoyable and Dan Brown certainly does his research to make the theories and conspiracies within the book as plausible as possible.

Sarah Sammis

When the Weekly Geeks asked for our top reads of books published in 2009, I included The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. Although I don't like to call any of my reading "guilty pleasures" if I were forced to, then Dan Brown would be one of my "guilty pleasures."

Robert Langdon is back for his third adventure. This time he's in Washington D.C. trying to help rescue a friend whose severed hand is left in the capitol as a dare and invitation to Langdon.

Anyone who knows anything about Washington D.C. already knows it's a city full of Masonic history and symbolism. Just look at the back of the dollar bill and you'll see the Masonic temple. It's not exactly a secret part of the United States' history or culture.

So before even cracking open the book I had a pretty good idea of what would be contained within. First there's the crazy and dangerous quest done against a ticking Mickey Mouse watch. There's a fanatically evil villain who is closely related to the victim (in one way or another). There's the pseudo-science which is there to remind everyone that the book is fiction and finally there's the (mangled) symbology and art history.

To put it another way, Dan Brown writes capers. They're art history themed capers through famous landmarks: Vatican City/Rome, Paris/London and now Washington D.C. When you add in the symbology puzzles these books begin to resemble a grown up version of the old Encyclopedia Brown series of mysteries. A big part of the fun for me is figuring out the solution to the biggest riddle and the location of the treasure long before "expert" Robert Langdon does.

Brown gives them a hectic but pretty straightforward plot played out within a few kilometres of the Capitol in Washington during 24 hours.
The story goes something like this. Robert Langdon – familiar to readers of The Da Vinci Code – arrives in Washington by private jet. He has come at the invitation of his friend and mentor Peter Solomon. Solomon, apart from being a multibillionaire scholar and sage, is Washington's highest- ranking Mason and also the director of the prestigious Smithsonian Institute. Almost straight away, Langdon discovers that he is the victim of a ruse. Instead of meeting Solomon, he stumbles on Solomon's severed right hand, its fingertips tattooed with mystic symbols, pointing up at the vast dome of the Capitol. There follows 500 pages of a breathless search for a) Solomon and b) the secret his tormentor is trying to extract from him.
That secret seems to be of such earth-shattering significance that the CIA is on the scene almost immediately, in the person of Inoue Sato, the chain-smoking, cadaverous Japanese-American chief of the CIA's Office of Security. 
Solomon's sister, Katherine, also gets involved in the mayhem. She is a top-notch researcher in noetic science. Katherine has been able to verify the central hypothesis of noetic science – that thoughts and feelings, indeed the soul itself, are material objects with quantifiable mass. So thoughts, especially thoughts acting in concert, can exert physical influence – mind over matter, in a way.
All this, and much more besides, gets mixed up with Freemasonry, with the founders of America and the great monuments of Washington, DC, with Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein and with a horribly disfigured, be-tattooed villain calling himself Mal'akh (the name inspired by Moloch in Milton's Paradise Lost), who has a particular grudge against the Solomon family. And also an unquenchable thirst to get his hands on the great secret concealed beneath a secret Masonic portal somewhere in Washington.
How will Langdon extract himself from the coffin-like box in which he has been confined? How will Katherine elude her assailant in a pitch-black airtight hangar the size of several football fields? What lies behind the concealed door in a sumptuous mansion in the poshest part of Washington?

Similar to Origin, this novel was a bit underwhelming.  The novel being set in the United States took away some of the wonder that Dan Brown usually creates when the storyline takes place in Europe.  Connections to art and historical events were as interesting as always, but I didn't feel like I was learning or discovering as much as I did when I read Angels & Demons or The DaVinci Code.  

Summer Joy

Kritika Narula

the complete novel is breath taking and it becomes difficult to decide the best moment. the account of noetic science to the multiple revelations, the thrill never subsides. a must read for Dan Brown or Robert Langdon fans...

Thought it was just as good as the other ones, liked how the information wasn’t too confusing in comparison to the others. Did take me longer to read though. Not sure if it was the larger pages or what not but put me off picking it up.

Cameron Gleeson 

Briar's Reviews

The Lost Symbol was another great read by Dan Brown!

I found this novel not to be as good as Angels and Demons or The Da Vinci Code, but I still really enjoyed it! This book felt slower and a little more boring until I got half way into it, but I still felt the need to read it and be hooked onto Dan Brown's story.

I enjoyed this book! The twists and turns were great (even if I guessed some of the plot twists that occurred). I can't wait for more Dan Brown! 

He is almost untouchable for problems in the story. I didn't see much wrong with the story or plot or characters. 

Good book!
Five out of five stars!

Anthony

Another great adventure with Robert Langdon. Possibly my favourite of the series so far. I really enjoy the inclusion of secret societies and that type of stuff. I enjoyed hearing about CERN and new "fringe" sciences. Exciting stuff.

Lacy W

Holy cow. This was such a ride. I feel exhausted but exhilarated finishing this book. 

Let's dive right in shall we?

This book starts a few years after the events in the da Vinci code. Robert Langdon has been called to give a speech about the Masons by his mentor, Peter Solomon. He quickly realizes that he was called to do something much more dangerous and deadly. If he wants to save his mentor, Robert has to quickly figure out the secret that the Freemasons have held onto for centuries. 

I really am at a loss of words. This book was a thrill ride. There were some parts that I couldn't breathe because of how intense it got. There was so much jammed into this book that at times it almost felt overwhelming. We have the mystery of the Freemasons. They were protecting the Lost Word which would reveal all sorts of wisdom know as the Ancient Mysteries, that was lost to man long ago.

There was also the concept of Noetic science. Basically, Noetic science is the science of thought. That our thoughts can actually interact with the physical world, effecting change all the way down to the subatomic realm. This is according to the book. It has been around for centuries but was often suppressed because it terrified people. 

I'll give an example because I know that sounds like a mess. Take a healer. The ones that "pray" and you are healed by whatever ailment you have. Like that Supernatural episode, where Dean gets shocked and has only a few months to live. Sam find a faith healer. The healer touches Dean and prays, along with the congregation, and Dean is "healed". That is clearly not what really happens in that episode but it shows an example. Katherine Solomon, Peter's sister, was able to capture the actual energy flowing from the hands of a healer. 

I had a lot more written down but I think those few paragraphs really sums up what the book is about without giving a lot away. The reason why I docked this book a star was because the beginning was kind of slow for me. I wasn't super into the Noetic science right away so it was kind of boring reading Katherine's POV. However, once I realized just how cool the science was, I was on board. But I couldn't justify giving this book another star because of those beginning pages. 

Really though, this entire series has been a treasure so far. I am anxious to begin the next installment and then it's off to do research about when the next book is released.

Jacalyn Boggs

I really enjoyed this, even if it wasn't as Illuminati Conspiracy Theory Badness like I was hoping considering it was Masons in DC. What can I say, as a native to the area, I happen to have a lot of love of Illuminati Conspiracy Theory Badness things. What I did like was that instead of doing that, which I suppose has seen itself overdone, this book showed a far more respectable side to the Masons. Which is definitely nice after Dan Brown's blatant Catholicism issues of Angels and Demons and DaVinci Code. 

I definitely think this book was better than DaVinci and I think I enjoyed it more than Angels, which surprised me since at first I was a little disappointed at Brown not delving into the darker tales people tell of the Masons.

Alyssa 

really good! a bit hard to get into at first, but an engaging read! i totally didn't expect Ma'lach to turn out to be Zachary Solomon! definitely didn't see that one coming! :O

Hrishikesh Bhaskaran

It was not as good as Dan Browns other books like Angels and Daemons and the Da vinci Code. but since it is containing some information about freemasons, it was fun to read it. now I have to check the details mentioned in this book are true or not :)

Seah Andrea

500+ pages, but it's all worth it I guess

Ahmed Salem

I love Dan Brown. I love Robert Langdon.
In this novel, Brown keeps his good style in making the fine art of thrilling novel. Also the style of mixing true information and some of his fiction imagination.

Yet two points made me disappointed. I am considering the work for many reasons a way to enhance the face of Free Masons!

Also Brown used a lot of statements, paragraphs and useless chapters to reach his final point in this novel.

Dear Dan Brown, this is not that what I and so many others of your loyal fans waiting or expecting for more than 4 years!!

Merged review:

I love Dan Brown. I love Robert Langdon.
In this novel, Brown keeps his good style in making the fine art of thrilling novel. Also the style of mixing true information and some of his fiction imagination.

Yet two points made me disappointed. I am considering the work for many reasons a way to enhance the face of Free Masons!

Also Brown used a lot of statements, paragraphs and useless chapters to reach his final point in this novel.

Dear Dan Brown, this is not that what I and so many others of your loyal fans waiting or expecting for more than 4 years!

Nelson Zagalo

A minha análise: http://virtual-illusion.blogspot.pt/2...

Noha Abdelaziz

السر يكمن في كيفية الموت !

Abhinav Choudhary

An another awesome book in the Robert Langdon series by Dan Brown.How can a writer be so perfect?This book personifies Perfectness... A Must Read

Wouter ter Keurs

Best spannend, maar op 85% is het verhaal afgelopen en volgt er nog een essay van Brown met zijn uiteenzetting -of misschien zelfs betoog- over wereldreligie en vrijmetselarij.

Ley Stanton

Dan Brown never ceases to amaze me. This one was a little different than the others, with Robert running around DC instead of Europe. It was even more exciting because I've been to some of the spots they talk about, leaning about the secrets hidden in those well-traveled areas is always fascinating. I also did not see that twist coming, there were obviously some hints but they were so well obscured with other information. He got me good this time. I can't wait to pick up another one of his books.

A novel

Sara Hakkoum

Personally, I think this book 
  sucked
. The Da Vinci code was way better.
I would've given it one star if the whole Masonic thing wasn't interesting.

The ending was so cliche and somehow unprofessional. It's like Dan Brown came up with absolutely anything just to give the ending a twist. The antagonist was a bit too hardcore to be believable. I just found the whole plot a bit meaningless.

The thing with Dan Brown's books is he makes the "secrets" or "mysteries" in the stories seem like such a big deal, like the apocalypse is actually going to happen by the end of the story, or the characters are going to find the physical tomb of Mary Magdalene, but in the end, everything is just figurative. It makes me feel like I read the books for nothing.

It took me so long to really get into the book, and even then I forced myself to read it quickly just to get it over with. I definitely do not recommend it.

Denise Tamburro

I don't usually write reviews but after the ridiculous ending of this one I felt like I needed to express my opinion. If only basing my review on the the first 2/3 of the book, it would have been 4-5 stars.  But the "revelation" in the final few chapters of this book, I ended up skimming to see if there was anything else, if I missed something, anything but no. Don't get your hopes up on this quest You will be utterly disappointed.

Washington. El experto en simbología Robert Langdon es convocado inesperadamente por Peter Solomon, masón, filántropo y su antiguo mentor, para dar una conferencia en el Capitolio. Pero el secuestro de Peter y el hallazgo de una mano tatuada con cinco enigmáticos símbolos cambian drásticamente el curso de los acontecimientos. Atrapado entre las exigencias de una mente perturbada y la investigación oficial, Langdon se ve inmerso en un mundo clandestino de secretos masónicos, historia oculta y escenarios nunca antes vistos, que parecen arrastrarlo hacia una sencilla pero inconcebible verdad. Con la ayuda de Katherine Solomon, hermana de Peter y experta en ciencias neoéticas, Robert Langdon tiene doce horas para salvar a su amigo y, al mismo tiempo, evitar que uno de los secretos mejor guardados de nuestra historia caiga en manos equivocadas... Dan Brown vuelve a retar a los lectores con una historia inteligente y de ritmo vertiginoso que ofrece sorpresas en cada página. El símbolo perdido es lo que los fans del autor estaban esperando: su novela más emocionante.

El símbolo perdido

Rebeca Keren Nuñez

Es interesante, pero me dejo con gusto a poco. El final, después de que se resuelve todo, es demasiado extenso y me resulto un poco extenuante. La mayoría de los plots ya los sabia, tengo que verificar si por la sinopsis que viene con el libro o que.

Skye Sherman

I can't resist a Dan Brown masterpiece--especially not an illustrated one! Diving into the story with relevant pictures and symbols adorning the margins enriches the entire experience immensely. I learn so much from his works, and they're worth every eye-roll I receive from professors and other academics who turn up their noses at Brown's fiction! This book is particularly thrilling, since the setting is Washington, D.C., a city I have visited and was able to envision as I joined the scholarly Langdon on his (forced) death-defying ventures. With twists and turns waiting at every turn of the page, I could hardly put it down--despite how badly I needed to in order to catch a breath! I appreciate Brown's extensive research and his creative weaving of little-known facts in our world--facts that are so unbelievable, the reader begins to accept that they just might be true...

The Lost Symbol A Novel

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