Book Review: The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Book synopsis at Good Reads

Famed Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon answers an unexpected summons to appear at the U.S. Capitol Building. His planned lecture is interrupted when a disturbing object—artfully encoded with five symbols—is discovered in the building. Langdon recognizes in the find an ancient invitation into a lost world of esoteric, potentially dangerous wisdom. When his mentor Peter Solomon—a longstanding Mason and beloved philanthropist—is kidnapped, Langdon realizes that the only way to save Solomon is to accept the mystical invitation and plunge headlong into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and one inconceivable truth . . . all under the watchful eye of Dan Brown's most terrifying villain to date. Set within the hidden chambers, tunnels, and temples of Washington, D.C., The Lost Symbol is an intelligent, lightning-paced story with surprises at every turn--Brown's most exciting novel yet.


My Review at Good Reads

2 out of 5 stars

In a word, my reaction after finishing this book is disappointed. Having read Angels and Demons and The DaVinci Code my expectation was high for The Lost Symbol, the bar had been set high.

The story starts in the way I’d come to know and enjoy that a Robert Langdon adventure begins, not for the week of spontaneity! But it went downhill from there. The plot and subplots could have been much better defined, or defined at all.

Good fiction has a believability factor. Your mind has to think what’s happening is possible in the parameters of the book. This book pushed those bounds of the shocking believability from “oh my” building to “oh my God” and then trailing to “Oh please.” So it gets 2 stars for the action before “oh please.” The most troublesome part is that it reached “oh please” numerous times.

I think the most irritating thing about this book is that there were 150 pages left after the climax. I kept expecting that something more, something bigger, was going to happen but it never did. By the end of the book I’d almost forgotten the main storyline and that there actually had been a bad guy. It was over 100 pages leading up to a triumphant final “oh please.”

I bought this book based on liking the other two books I’ve read in this series. I got an email with the opportunity to reserve the next one for $15.00 for the electronic version. Read another nook like this? Fifteen dollars? Oh please.