The Lost Symbol –

The only ‘thing /one’ that seems to be lost in the novel is the ‘unfortunate reader’. Despite the hype that surrounded its release, the book could hardly be called a best seller as far literature is concerned. It seems that the Author is trying to carve a niche for himself in the good books of the Vatican after his first novel very clearly earned its wrath. ‘Spirituality and Suspense’ is a tough combination to put together for a masterpiece. It has been tried in the past as well but Dan Brown in the latest book misses the bulls-eye by 3000 miles and 2 centuries (in his own words).

Being a Dan Brown book and with Robert Langdon as its protagonist, it does validate the hype with regards to academic potential and raw volume of facts presented to the user. With a detailed description of the architecture of Washington D.C and its connection to Rome, the current developments in ‘Neotic Science’ where harnessing the minds infinite potential is the supreme objective, the secret society of Masons and Smithsons, their illustrious legacies and symbolic yet shocking initiation rituals and the frequent reference to various religious texts from various parts of the world are quite the read. It would be unfair to say that the author did not do a complete research on his subject. The detailed descriptions of the various aspects mentioned above are mind boggling.

What the Author missed is on the plot. There is the ultra modern and highly sophisticated unit of the CIA investigating a ‘national emergency’ and yet at various places one can find their behavior more childish than amateurish. CIA seems to have the technology to have an EMP gun mounted on a helicopter yet not the presence of mind to triangulate a simple phone call. One of the most influential persons in the world did not get a postmortem or a DNA test done on the dead and mutilated body of a person whom the prison authorities in Turkey claimed to be his son. This list of goof ups in the plot is endless.

If one has read the Author before then it can be seen that there is not much difference in the narration style with sudden last moment revelations of various obviously ‘staring at your face but you dint notice’ kind of facts. As is with most of his books there are a lot of puzzles involved most of them pertaining to symbols and its history and its relevance to the Human history.

Be that as it may, what separates this book from the rest of Dan Brown’s work is that the centralized theme here is the ‘power of human mind’. There are discussion in depth about the so called “wisdom of the ancient mysteries” which deals basically with spirituality and its implication in the day to day world and about people who knew about the importance of Spiritual Intelligence and its awesome constructive as well as its destructive powers. Most of this spiritual learning, in this case is based on the “Bible”; though there are reference to other religious texts as well. It does seem like a futile effort on the part of the Author to glorify the spiritual side of the “Bible’.

The ending is quite unlike Dan Brown. The book has around 115 chapters and the major plot (the plot to rescue the world from total chaos) ends by the 111th chapter. The remaining 4 Chapters which consume around 50 pages are like an epilogue which, to the user might initially seem like a treasure hunt but as it progresses; one can find the treasure does not actually exist, there is just the illusion of its presence. One almost feels like reading a Spiritual text and not a Suspense Thriller.

To summarize, the book is like the quest for ‘wisdom’ for the uninitiated; a maze where every corner promises to reveal a great mystery but instead reveals the location to another magical corner and the seeker is lost in this never ending maze. As for those who have actually acquired it (wisdom) this book is no “Armageddon”.