The Lost Symbol

Starred review from September 14, 2009
After scores of Da Vinci Code knockoffs, spinoffs, copies and caricatures, Brown has had the stroke of brilliance to set his breakneck new thriller not in some far-off exotic locale, but right here in our own backyard. Everyone off the bus, and welcome to a Washington, D.C., they never told you about on your school trip when you were a kid, a place steeped in Masonic history that, once revealed, points to a dark, ancient conspiracy that threatens not only America but the world itself. Returning hero Robert Langdon comes to Washington to give a lecture at the behest of his old mentor, Peter Solomon. When he arrives at the U.S. Capitol for his lecture, he finds, instead of an audience, Peter's severed hand mounted on a wooden base, fingers pointing skyward to the Rotunda ceiling fresco of George Washington dressed in white robes, ascending to heaven. Langdon teases out a plethora of clues from the tattooed hand that point toward a secret portal through which an intrepid seeker will find the wisdom known as the Ancient Mysteries, or the lost wisdom of the ages. A villain known as Mal'akh, a steroid-swollen, fantastically tattooed, muscle-bodied madman, wants to locate the wisdom so he can rule the world. Mal'akh has captured Peter and promises to kill him if Langdon doesn't agree to help find the portal. Joining Langdon in his search is Peter's younger sister, Kathleen, who has been conducting experiments in a secret museum. This is just the kickoff for a deadly chase that careens back and forth, across, above and below the nation's capital, darting from revelation to revelation, pausing only to explain some piece of wondrous, historical esoterica. Jealous thriller writers will despair, doubters and nay-sayers will be proved wrong, and readers will rejoice: Dan Brown has done it again.

THE LOST SYMBOL is yet another foray by Dan Brown into the human connection with mysticism, this time within the world of Freemasonry. Performer Paul Michael faced a challenge in portraying Brown's hero, Harvard professor Robert Langdon, because of the compelling acting of Tom Hanks in the film versions of THE DA VINCI CODE and ANGELS AND DEMONS. Surely THE LOST SYMBOL is headed for the big screen as well as Langdon tries to save a friend from a madman by discovering the truth behind one of Masonry's biggest secrets. Narrator Michael makes the character his own as he maintains a level of suspense throughout the book, which sometimes falls victim to laborious exposition. He manages to inject tension into each scene, keeping the listener eager for more. M.S. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine