This the third brown book involving Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon. This book is set in Washington DC and the roles are derived from freemasonry.
Though the book was not as fast paced as the da vince code, the plot here was more believable and realistic. The main antagonist poses as an atheist and the characters try to convince him to have faith and belief in a supreme power.
The reference to Neotic science is a fun read but brown could have given more details about it. Apart from the interpretation of what Hell might be like when Mal'akh dies, there's no Indiana Jones Holy Grail excitement going on here.
Coming to the plot, the novel starts very well. The buildup about the secret - the Freemasons keep and national security crisis forces the readers to keep one hand on the book!! The buildup to find the lost symbol brings along many new aspects connecting science and spirituality. The plot is good until the climax, where he refers to the bible as the 'the lost symbol'. For someone with brown's caliber we can expect a better ending. It is like brown wrote this book with a movie in mind.
Finally saying that the lost symbol is the bible (for a christian, vedas for hindus, quran for Muslims etc) was diluting all the buildup. There are some more loose ends in the book. Was it the bible that the masons were protecting? it is available everywhere! What about the staircase that is going down the earth? cant langdon figure out that he is actually climbing up the stairs?
Barring these mistakes (in the climax), the lost symbol is a nice read. It is typical brown style book. racy, energetic with lot of puzzles to understand and solve. Also inclusion of Neotic science in the book has made every made question his spirituality.
Finally, if you planning to visit washington, read this book and explore the places mentioned in the book (I will if I visit washington DC :) )
For all brown fans it is a must read!! It is an entertaining novel but definitely not the best of Dan Brown’s work.
