posted by: Mustansir Mamawala Oct 26 2009 @ 4:48 pm

Author: Dan Brown
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Dan Brown over the years has created his own style of writing, he gave us some page-turning thrillers, the most popular being ‘The Da Vinci Code’. What makes his writing an enjoyable read is that he keeps throwing up information which takes you by surprise, all in the form of a puzzle waiting to be solved.

After taking on Christianity first hand with his previous two creations, this time around, he keeps Langdon in the US capital and tries to glorify the Bible (damage control I sense.)

Brown traverses the same territory again with his new book ‘The Lost Symbol’, with none other than the all-knowing, Harvard-brain Robert Langdon. This time around the he is caught in the mysterious brotherhood secrets of Freemasonry. The plot is based in Washington DC and how the city holds one of the greatest secrets which still elude mankind.

The skeleton of the plot remains same as Brown’s previous novels, the powerful secret, clues which only Harvard-brain can figure out (everyone else just agrees with him…ain’t he the hero!), One lunatic out to get his hands on the secret, the powerful organization (CIA) chasing it, lastly some old guy’s beautiful relative (sister is this case) who is a “great scientist” working on some path-breaking research. Along with Harvard-brain this dame puts ‘two and two’ together and helps solve clues faster than Google Search.

The book does a very good job of creating the mystery around the US capital in the initial chapters. The steam runs out as you find the twists and turns in the plot give you a déjà vu feel rather than satisfy you. The plot follows the same jumps from one scene to another leaving you to connect the dots if you want to ponder over it or wait till you come across and read it.

Through this book Brown tries to balance out things within the religion and science battle and pretends to be too profound. Harvard-brain tries to shower his knowledge upon every character he meets and seems equally startled at every revelation he comes across. But unlike the previous attempts, this time Harvard-brain gets too preachy and also tests your patience. The last bit tries a tad too hard to give you some ‘gyaan’ but only leads to a ‘yawn’.

Verdict: The excitements like the Lost Symbol get ‘Lost’ till you reach the end.

Price: Rs 600- Rs 700