In 2003, everyone was reading The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, from the beaches of Barcelona to the shores at Siófok. To be honest, I got hooked, even though I didn’t really understand what took the main character, Professor Robert Langdon, so staggeringly long to figure out the truth. Compared to the previous Langdon stories (Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code), The Lost Symbol is simply boring and annoying.
From start to finish, the book takes up only twelve hours, and only a tiny bit longer to read all of its 450ish pages. Having said that, I expected a fast-paced, really exciting story, but the book failed me utterly. The main characters are Professor Robert Langdon and the Freemasons, but instead of the usual European running amok, Langdon looks for the truth in Washington DC. I have to admit that I don’t know too much about the American capital, and the book didn’t enlighten me either, so if you’re not an expert on DC, you’ll only learn that the place is full of Freemasons, which comes as no surprise in a Dan Brown book. In Dan Brown’s world, every second person is either a Mason, a Templar, a Rosicrucian, or a member of some brotherhood or other.
Robert Langdon, the John McClane of arts students, solves all the mysteries as usual, but this time with a little help from his friends. And thought the very solution is hinted at (well, if you call a pointing finger with blinking neon lights a hint), it takes some 400 pages for the professor to realize what he is dealing with. In his defense, (SPOILER ALERT) he dies in the process, but he doesn’t really. Oh, and this time he doesn’t get together with the female character, but no woman can be as interesting as the great-great-…-great-granddaughter of Jesus Christ…
The story kicks off (some more spoilers) with a phone call. Professor Langdon is asked by an old and, as we learn later on, highly influential friend, to go to Washington DC and give a lecture in the US Capital. However, there is neither an audience, nor a friend waiting for Langdon, but a severed hand full off tattoos, and a CIA big shot full of ego. A messy journey into the secrets of freemasonry, ancient symbols and the wisdom of the golden age of humankind begins, looking for a word, which is not a word all along. We find out who the killer is, (but honestly, if you don’t know who the killer really is by halfway through the book, you shouldn’t bother with thrillers), all the mysteries get solved and the world is safe again.
The Lost Symbol is in great need of a punch line, the mock-shocking element of Dan Brown’s previous Langdon novels. Actually, the whole book is like apologizing for their church flagellations. Although one of the topics is the divine being of man, The Lost Symbol is neither suggestive nor strong enough to be a self-confidence boosting, proper self-help book either. I don’t think it will be as successful as its predecessors were, though it is already the best-selling book for adults of all time, and it will probably make it into a spectacular but boring-as-hell movie starring Tom Hanks. But nobody will talk about it and look for hidden symbols and connections every time, everywhere like we did in 2003.