The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

I'm going to trash this book a little, but I did enjoy it. The first couple of chapters almost made me angry. There were definitely grumblings of "formulaic crap", "just like the Da Vinci Code" and enough with the stupid tiny chapters that must (absolutely must) have a cliffhanger that's not what it seems. And then I got drawn in and started to enjoy it. Don't tell anyone.

The Lost Symbol is very typical Dan Brown. He flips perspective between characters a lot, allowing the reader to feel "special" because they know more than the stupid security guard who's about to die (etc). It gets a little painful at points. I accused Dan Brown of taking me for a simpleton at one point. Out loud. So he might have a point.

The book is typical Dan Brown in other ways too. It's a "page turner" (or at least so proclaims the jacket), which I am starting to think means "he could have easily shaved 100 pages off, but for the sake of advancing the plot, you almost skim the pages. You have to read two more (tiny) chapters to have the last cliffhanger. So you do. Damn you Dan Brown, damn you. If I had to sum up this book in just three words, they would be "don't you see?".

There was a point near the end of the book where I was almost very impressed. I thought, "if this is real, this is awesome." I'd ruin it if I told you what I am referring too, but it was another one of those DanBrownian "not what it seemed" moments, and not in a good way.

I'd love to trash the ending, but it was pretty good.

Reading this book made me glad that I have seen the movie "Angels and Demons". It meant that I could picture Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon. I had to work at it. Number 2, without the eye patch and in tweed and loafers, kept creeping into my mind. Tank Hanks is much nicer to picture.

If you need some candy fiction for the subway, this is your book. Just don't tell your friends.