One of my favorite books is Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code and I have been waiting years for Brown to put out his next great Robert Langdon novel. After reading The Lost Symbol, I am still waiting. Now I am not going to get into the details of the book here, you can read a synopsis at Amazon. Instead I am going to tell you the problems I had with the book and they don't all necessarily revolve around this book.

First, there was no way Brown could have topped Code. It would have been like hitting the literary lottery twice. He didn't. It just seems to me that Symbol was rushed and yet I know it wasn't. I know it took Brown six years to finish this book. I saw interviews where he drones on and on about all the research he had to do for Symbol. It is a shame it never made it into the book. Sure there is some detail but no where near the detail and undercurrent that floated through Code.

My second issue with the book has nothing to do with the book, it has to do with the Code movie and Tom Hanks. When I read Code I imagined the main character Robert Langdon to be an older Indiana Jones not Buffy from Bosom Buddies. And now when I read Landgon I can't get Tom Hanks funky hairdo out of my mind.

The Lost Symbol is just an average read for me. Nothing great. A little drawn out. Nothing like Code but more like all of his other works prior to the Code. Tobey summed it up best saying Symbol read more like a script than a book and I agree. If you are wanting to read excellent books that are script-like then pick up a few Brad Meltzer titles instead.

~ame