Ever since I read The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown has been one of my favourite reader and this new book was definitely not to be missed. The Lost Symbol unlike Da Vinci Code and Angel and Demons does not talk about Holy Grail or Christianity and its past and secrets. On the other hand it talks about Dan’s favourite topic Freemasons who had been often referred in his past books.
The entire story happens over a night and it involves Robert Langdon’s race against time to save his friend cum guide Peter Solomon who is Worshipful Master of Freemasons and who has been abducted. The abductor is a learned but relegious fanatic in search of the Word which will make him the controller of Dark Side. The story is very fast paced and three subplots are beautifully interwined. Once you pick up, its very difficult to put it down.
This book has its usual reference to orgin of words which is very very fascinating. The reader would be amazed to know the history of the origin of day to day words like sincerely, abra da cabra, alchohol. These small pieces of information are interwoven into the story so beautifully that it always keeps the interest level high. I would recommend the reader using google search while reading the book. In the book, the characters often take help of Internet for searches and if you do so while reading you would be able to appreciate the book better. Search for Melancholy I the painting before reading further and you would feel yourself discovering the hidden meanings.
there has been ample reference to all religions in this book from Islam, Judaism, Pythogorean to Hinduism. The book has an religious undertone which cannot be missed. At the end of the story, the moral is all religions are same and lead to God. Nice way of putting it.
The only shortcoming of this book that I felt is it became a bit lengthy towards the end. The last two chapters went into preaching mode and failed to keep up my interest. But for the remaining 105 chapters, the book is just awesom