Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor, is back once again in Dan Brown’s newest release, “The Secret of Secrets.” This makes the sixth novel in the blockbuster series starring the world’s most famous symbologist.
The most notable installment of that series is, of course, “The Da Vinci Code,” which has sold an astounding 80+ million copies, making it one of the top-selling books of this century (so far).
Buckle Up
Right off the bat, author Brown starts in with some “trippy” scenarios. A neurologist named Dr. Gessner is dead or possibly having an out-of-body experience, but is also being tortured by a dark and mysterious figure.That same figure, readers learn later, calls himself a golem, after a giant mythical clay creature in Jewish folklore. Whoever this evil character is, he sometimes wears a mask of clay, platform boots, and a heavy cloak to disguise himself as the genuine article and seems to be on some kind of holy quest.
The first crisis to hit Langdon is when he encounters a woman on the Charles Bridge who looks exactly like someone his girlfriend’s described as a nightmare. Suddenly disoriented, Langdon races back to the hotel screaming that there’s a threat. He then jumps out of a window and into a nearby river as a bomb goes off behind him.
Later, he can’t rationalize his actions or how a nightmare might have come to life. He'd better figure it out quickly because a member of the Czech intelligence service shows up at his door and threatens to arrest him and Solomon.
Capt. Janacek tells Langdon there actually was a bomb in the hotel set to go off at the exact moment he leaped from his hotel room window. Langdon is flabbergasted and has no explanation for his premonition or his actions.
And where is his lover? She had left earlier to meet with the shady neurologist Dr. Gessner, the mysterious figure who was being tortured earlier. Gessner has a lab in the famous Prague Castle, but no one can contact either of them.
The Da Vinci Playbook
The beginning of “The Secret of Secrets” follows the same basic structure of “The Da Vinci Code” almost to a T. This time, the Louvre in Paris has been replaced with the Prague Castle, but Langdon is once again a suspect in a major crime he didn’t commit. There are also shadowy conspiracies and more symbology than you can shake a stick at.And why not? It’s risky to mess with a winning system. However, when the modern demand for very short chapters is merged with Brown’s trademark deep research about history, science, mythology, and symbology, it becomes an awkward pairing.
Bonus Material Is Non-Negotiable
A major part of Brown’s success has stemmed from incorporating many lesser-known historical and scientific details into an artfully constructed storyline. “Da Vinci” spawned many related websites, nonfiction books, and other promotional and lucrative devices in its wake, a marketing phenomenon for its time.
“The Secret of Secrets” offers a lot of material and ideas to ponder on when not reading the book. Instead of religious themes, this time Brown reveals some cutting-edge science and technology related to brain functions and how humans perceive reality.
Concepts like nonlocal consciousness, the significance of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the brain, and the possibility of proving there is life after death are just some things readers can chew on. Diagrams of puzzles and symbols that need to be deciphered pop up frequently, too, allowing readers to play along if they like.
All this hinders the flow of the story somewhat, and many of the characters are decidedly thin. But Brown is smart enough to provide a solid thriller plot with plenty of twists and peril for one’s reading entertainment, so long as you don’t mind having your concept of reality challenged now and then. For others, the ideas presented could easily be the best part of the novel.
It may be rather crowded between the covers, but Brown does a first-rate job in “The Secret of Secrets.”
