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Amazon.co.uk Review
Vehicles move through the murky night, carrying highly secret material. And that clandestine material will only be available--after midnight--to those who have signed non-disclosure notices. The plot of the new Dan Brown novel? No, it’s actually how reviewers such as myself obtained our copies of the much-anticipated The Lost Symbol, the follow-up to the Da Vinci Code. And as we read it in (literally) the cold light of dawn, we wonder: is it likely to match the earlier book’s all-conquering, phenomenal success?
Firstly, it should be noted that The Lost Symbol has incorporated all the elements that so transfixed readers in The Da Vinci Code: a complex, mystifying plot (with the reader set quite as many challenges as the protagonist); breathless, helter-skelter pace (James Patterson's patented technique of keeping readers hooked by ending chapters with a tantalisingly unresolved situation is very much part of Dan Brown’s armoury). And, of course, the winning central character, resourceful symbologist Robert Langdon, is back, risking his life to crack a dangerous mystery involving the Freemasons (replacing the controversial trappings of the Catholic Church and homicidal monks of the last book). And while Dan Brown will never win any prizes for literary elegance, his prose is always succinctly at the service of delivering a thoroughly involving thriller narrative in vividly evoked locales (here, Washington DC, colourfully conjured).
Robert Langdon flies to Washington after an urgent invitation to speak in the Capitol building. The invitation appears to have come from a friend with copper-bottomed Masonic connections, Peter Solomon. But Langdon has been tricked: Solomon has, in fact, been kidnapped, and (echoing the grisly opening of the last book) a macabre mutilation plunges Langdon into a tortuous quest. His friend’s severed hand lies in the Capitol building, positioned to point to a George Washington portrait that shows the father of his country as a pagan deity. The ruthless criminal nemesis here is another terrifying figure in Brown’s gallery of grotesques: Mal’akh, a powerfully built eunuch with a body festooned with tattoos. Mal’akh is seeking a Masonic pyramid that possesses a formidable supernatural power, and a pulse-pounding hunt is afoot, with Langdon stalled rather than aided by the CIA.
Caveats are pointless here; Dan Brown, comfortably the world’s most successful author, is utterly review-proof. And there's no arguing with the fact that he has his finger on the pulse of the modern thriller reader, furnishing the mechanics of the blockbuster adventure with energy and invention. Like its predecessor, The Lost Symbol will unquestionably be--in fact, already is--a publishing phenomenon. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
"Expertly researched and written with breakneck pace, THE LOST SYMBOL once again demonstrates why Dan Brown is the world's bestselling thriller writer." EDITION
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
It's been an absolutely absorbing book, especially if your into the whole conspiracy type of thing. The only let down which I get what the other reviews are about is the ending there is no massive mystery that is implied throughout the whole book. Other than that still a great book I'll be looking forward to the next one!
94 of 110 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I can understand why this book has received varied reviews - anything from "it's an unputdownable classic" to "what a load of tosh."
I fall somewhere in the middle. I enjoyed it but towards the end it dragged and the unravelling of the lost symbol was hugely disappointing as all Dan Brown books seem to be. It's almost is if the author is pulling back from producing something ground shattering because 1/he runs out of ideas and 2/ is afraid to take the book out of its believable past. Brown wants us to believe in his symbolism, but he stretches the point.
Firstly let's take the positive points:
1/ It is a good read. The early chapters rattle past
2/ Much of what occurs is intriguing. On more than one occasion I stopped reading to look up information and claims on the internet
3/ There is plenty of action
Now to the negatives which sadly outweigh the positives.
1/ The characters have become wooden. I no longer care what happens to Robert Langdon and when it looked as if he had been drowned I was quietly pleased.
2/ Much of the action is contrived and ridiculous
3/ The "baddie" is a typical Brown character that we have seen so many times in his previous books
4/ Brown seems to have run out of ideas - just forcing into us numeorus codes
5/ He has an annoying ability to end every chapter as a cliffhanger with pompous phrases leading us to believe that a stunning revelation is about to be uncovered.
6/ The stunning revelations never come leading to a feeling of so what.
7/ The action is, as with all of his books, very difficult to visualise.
8/ The plot twists and turns and the whole thing becomes very dull towards the end where one of the main characters acts as if nothing has happened despite the fact his son has been killed and he has had a hand chopped off (a fact he seemingly ignores as being pretty irrelevant).
Brown seems scared to geniuinely give is a catyclismic novel, preferring to lead us on, promising much but delivering relatively little. For the first half of this novel I was intrigued but it then got rather dull and predictible.
I fall somewhere in the middle. I enjoyed it but towards the end it dragged and the unravelling of the lost symbol was hugely disappointing as all Dan Brown books seem to be. It's almost is if the author is pulling back from producing something ground shattering because 1/he runs out of ideas and 2/ is afraid to take the book out of its believable past. Brown wants us to believe in his symbolism, but he stretches the point.
Firstly let's take the positive points:
1/ It is a good read. The early chapters rattle past
2/ Much of what occurs is intriguing. On more than one occasion I stopped reading to look up information and claims on the internet
3/ There is plenty of action
Now to the negatives which sadly outweigh the positives.
1/ The characters have become wooden. I no longer care what happens to Robert Langdon and when it looked as if he had been drowned I was quietly pleased.
2/ Much of the action is contrived and ridiculous
3/ The "baddie" is a typical Brown character that we have seen so many times in his previous books
4/ Brown seems to have run out of ideas - just forcing into us numeorus codes
5/ He has an annoying ability to end every chapter as a cliffhanger with pompous phrases leading us to believe that a stunning revelation is about to be uncovered.
6/ The stunning revelations never come leading to a feeling of so what.
7/ The action is, as with all of his books, very difficult to visualise.
8/ The plot twists and turns and the whole thing becomes very dull towards the end where one of the main characters acts as if nothing has happened despite the fact his son has been killed and he has had a hand chopped off (a fact he seemingly ignores as being pretty irrelevant).
Brown seems scared to geniuinely give is a catyclismic novel, preferring to lead us on, promising much but delivering relatively little. For the first half of this novel I was intrigued but it then got rather dull and predictible.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Having read the other Dan Brown books, I thought I knew what to expect from this one and unfortunately that was all it delivered. There was nothing novel about this novel. It was just like he'd taken a set template from his other books and filled in the blanks to make it appeal to an American audience. It had the standard wise old man, love interest, crazy fanatic, unsolved codes etc. However for me, this was made worse by the fact that it was about a subject that you would expect to have secret codes and hidden meaning everywhere. It is based around The Masons and unlike his other books which took religion, art, science as their subject matter, this was immersed in a world where codes and mysterious mythology are the whole ethos so the 'revelations' just fell flat. So the Mason's have some strange ceremonies, rituals, beliefs and are full of high ranking Americans, so what? We knew that anyway. Also it's based in Washington DC and all the buildings mentioned were only built in the nineteenth century so it didn't have the feeling of secrets passed down through the annals of time. It was secrets that had only been kept for a few generations. I think this 'history' would have been more interesting to an American readership but frankly, I just didn't care.
The good point of this book is that it is easy to read, not too taxing although the narration is repetitive and Brown's endless listing of religions where xyz is a belief got tedious. There are some twists and turns but whilst you may not see exactly what's coming, you have a good idea. I had to force myself to read the last few chapters though as there was a small chance that the big secret was not the damp squib revealed a few chapters from the end but alas, that was it.
SPOILER ALERT: I was almost glad when Langdon drowned as it did feel like his time should be up. He is a bit of a one trick pony and we've seen enough of him now. It seems there's nowhere new for him to go now. I for one doubt I'll be reading the next book he appears in if/when there is one.
The good point of this book is that it is easy to read, not too taxing although the narration is repetitive and Brown's endless listing of religions where xyz is a belief got tedious. There are some twists and turns but whilst you may not see exactly what's coming, you have a good idea. I had to force myself to read the last few chapters though as there was a small chance that the big secret was not the damp squib revealed a few chapters from the end but alas, that was it.
SPOILER ALERT: I was almost glad when Langdon drowned as it did feel like his time should be up. He is a bit of a one trick pony and we've seen enough of him now. It seems there's nowhere new for him to go now. I for one doubt I'll be reading the next book he appears in if/when there is one.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
ABSOLUTE PIFFLE!
At 07:46 this morning, I (deliberately) left this book on the platform bench at my local train station. Read more
Published 14 days ago by Dyernamite
ITs Bad
The characters are, frankly, utterly wooden. Their actions, motivations and desires are a hodge-podge that seem to exist only to move the book forward. Read more
Published 1 month ago by EllieP
The lost Symbol
I'm not a big reader but after reading Digital Fortress I have read what I have found from this aurther and have not been disappointed. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Hendrick
If you like this book you are an idiot.
It is awful. It started off well enough and I was a little intrigued at first but by the time I was about a quarter through it just becomes incredibly frustrating here is why:... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Alex
Predictable.
I'm not going to waste too much time doing a review, I wasted enough of it reading the book. Just following a formula from his other books, Dan Brown needs to come up with... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Devil Don J
A good read for the historical detail, but a disappointing end...
I've read all of Dan Brown's books, but sort of missed out on the hype surrounding the release of The Lost Symbol and have only just read it recently. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Stacey Mitchell
WHAT SICK STORY IS THIS ?
I was quite looking forward to this book, having read The Davinci Code, and being interested in the Freemasons.... But I found it not just disappointing, but sickening ! Read more
Published 3 months ago by Cat Balou
Annoying and tedious - definately not his best
I was really looking foward to this book but about half way through i was just shouting "Please God, when will this end!". Read more
Published 4 months ago by Saint
No more Robert Langdon, please
Brown has undoubtedly spent many, painstaking hours researching for this book since the Da Vinci Codes success, but he hasn't learnt the art of filtering what he has learnt and... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mark Mcclelland
Disappointing
The basic storyline was ok but not very energetic. It dragged in places with an overload of material that seemed unecessary and eventually just annoying. Read more
Published 4 months ago by M. Parsons
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