Within this book's hermetically sealed universe, characters' motivations don't really have to make sense; they just have to generate the nonstop momentum that makes The Lost Symbol impossible to put down…The Lost Symbol manages to take a twisting, turning route through many such aspects of the occult even as it heads for a final secret that is surprising for a strange reason: It's unsurprising. It also amounts to an affirmation of faith. In the end it is Mr. Brown's sweet optimism, even more than Langdon's sleuthing and explicating, that may amaze his readers most.
The New York Times
The Lost Symbol
Narrated by Paul Michael
Dan BrownUnabridged — 17 hours, 52 minutes
The Lost Symbol
Narrated by Paul Michael
Dan BrownUnabridged — 17 hours, 52 minutes
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Overview
In this stunning follow-up to the global phenomenon The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown demonstrates once again why he is the world's most popular thriller writer. The Lost Symbol is a masterstroke of storytelling-a deadly race through a real-world labyrinth of codes, secrets, and unseen truths . . . all under the watchful eye of Brown's most terrifying villain to date. Set within the hidden chambers, tunnels, and temples of Washington, D.C., The Lost Symbol accelerates through a startling landscape toward an unthinkable finale.
As the story opens, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned unexpectedly to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building. Within minutes of his arrival, however, the night takes a bizarre turn. A disturbing object -artfully encoded with five symbols-is discovered in the Capitol Building. Langdon recognizes the object as an ancient invitation . . . one meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of esoteric wisdom.
When Langdon's beloved mentor, Peter Solomon-a prominent Mason and philanthropist -is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes his only hope of saving Peter is to accept this mystical invitation and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon is instantly plunged into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and never-before-seen locations-all of which seem to be dragging him toward a single, inconceivable truth.
As the world discovered in The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, Dan Brown's novels are brilliant tapestries of veiled histories, arcane symbols, and enigmatic codes. In this new novel, he again challenges readers with an intelligent, lightning-paced story that offers surprises at every turn. The Lost Symbol is exactly what Brown's fans have been waiting for . . . his most thrilling novel yet.
Editorial Reviews
Writers envious of Brown's sales (who wouldn't be?) have devoted much ink to his deficiencies as a stylist. These are still in place…So is Brown's habit of turning characters into docents. But so, too, is his knack for packing huge amounts of information…into an ever-accelerating narrative. Call it Brownian motion: a comet-tail ride of short paragraphs, short chapters, beautifully spaced reveals and, in the case of The Lost Symbol, a socko unveiling of the killer's true identity.
The Washington Post
Starred Review.
After scores of Da Vinci Code knockoffs, spinoffs, copies and caricatures, Brown has had the stroke of brilliance to set his breakneck new thriller not in some far-off exotic locale, but right here in our own backyard. Everyone off the bus, and welcome to a Washington, D.C., they never told you about on your school trip when you were a kid, a place steeped in Masonic history that, once revealed, points to a dark, ancient conspiracy that threatens not only America but the world itself. Returning hero Robert Langdon comes to Washington to give a lecture at the behest of his old mentor, Peter Solomon. When he arrives at the U.S. Capitol for his lecture, he finds, instead of an audience, Peter's severed hand mounted on a wooden base, fingers pointing skyward to the Rotunda ceiling fresco of George Washington dressed in white robes, ascending to heaven. Langdon teases out a plethora of clues from the tattooed hand that point toward a secret portal through which an intrepid seeker will find the wisdom known as the Ancient Mysteries, or the lost wisdom of the ages. A villain known as Mal'akh, a steroid-swollen, fantastically tattooed, muscle-bodied madman, wants to locate the wisdom so he can rule the world. Mal'akh has captured Peter and promises to kill him if Langdon doesn't agree to help find the portal. Joining Langdon in his search is Peter's younger sister, Kathleen, who has been conducting experiments in a secret museum. This is just the kickoff for a deadly chase that careens back and forth, across, above and below the nation's capital, darting from revelation to revelation, pausing only to explain some piece of wondrous, historical esoterica. Jealous thriller writerswill despair, doubters and nay-sayers will be proved wrong, and readers will rejoice: Dan Brown has done it again.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Impossible to put down.... Another mind-blowing Robert Langdon story.” —The New York Times
“Robert Langdon remains a terrific hero, a bookish intellectual who’s cool in a crisis and quick on his feet.... The codes are intriguing, the settings present often-seen locales in a fresh light, and Brown keeps the pages turning.” —Entertainment Weekly
“Thrilling in the extreme, a definite page-flipper.” —New York Daily News
“[The] Indiana Jones of intellectuals, Robert Langdon, rides again.... Revelations connecting faith and science...add dimension to this page-turner’s thrills.” —People
“Call it Brownian motion: a comet-tail ride of beautifully spaced reveals and a socko unveiling of the killer’s true identity.” —Washington Post
“The wait is over. The Lost Symbol is here—and you don’t have to be a Freemason to enjoy it.... Thrilling and entertaining, like the experience on a roller coaster.” —Los Angeles Times
“A roaring ride.... A caper filled with puzzles, grids, symbols, pyramids and a secret that can bestow ‘unfathomable power.’” —San Francisco Chronicle
“A fascinating pleasure.... Upends our usual assumptions about the world we think we know.” —Newsweek
“Dan Brown is a master of the breathless, puzzle-driven thriller.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch
THE LOST SYMBOL is yet another foray by Dan Brown into the human connection with mysticism, this time within the world of Freemasonry. Narrator Paul Michael faced a challenge in portraying Brown's hero, Harvard professor Robert Langdon, because of the compelling acting of Tom Hanks in the film versions of THE DA VINCI CODE and ANGELS AND DEMONS. Surely THE LOST SYMBOL is headed for the big screen as well as Langdon tries to save a friend from a madman by discovering the truth behind one of Masonry's biggest secrets. Narrator Michael makes the character his own as he maintains a level of suspense throughout the book, which sometimes falls victim to laborious exposition. He manages to inject tension into each scene, keeping the listener eager for more. M.S. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
Product Details
BN ID: | 2940169092837 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Penguin Random House |
Publication date: | 09/15/2009 |
Series: | Robert Langdon Series , #3 |
Edition description: | Unabridged |
Sales rank: | 726,085 |
Read an Excerpt
Prologue
House of the Temple
8:33 P.M.
The secret is how to die.