The Lost Symbol is the 3rd in Dan Browns Robert Langdon series. The story goes over 24 hours and starts with Langdon being flown by private jet to Washington to give a lecture as a favour to his long-time friend (and Mason), Peter Solomon. Soon enough, this turns out to be a ruse, and Langdon finds himself at the Capitols Rotunda where Solomons severed and tattooed hand is left by a mysterious man. Langdons expertise as a symbologist is demanded to find and solve legendary Masonic Pyramid. The CIA are involved, and soon the action hots up. This book is (of course, as a Robert Langdon novel) filled with symbols, codes and puzzles, religious icons, lots of technology, chases and escapes, a seemingly invincible villain who is not what he seems, plot twists, apparently impossible resurrections and a virtual travelogue of Washington DC. There are some obvious flaws, and we are asked to believe that some characters will bizarrely put up with lengthy and unnecessary inconvenience. It is fiction, after all. But it is, nonetheless, exciting and fast moving. There are many facts about Washington and Masons and Ancient Mysteries. I couldnt get the image of Tom Hanks out of my head for Robert Langdon, although he really doesnt fit this description. I thought the climax was a bit anti-. Entertaining, all the same.

Another nail biter by Brown. Brown's strengths are his knowledge of place, the depth of his research, and his manipulation of history to construct a plausible plot. Plot dominates and is adrenalin packed but I never engaged emotionally with any of the characters. Brown is weak on characterisation.

Brown mantains his skill in story telling in this novel. A hard punching narrative that I stayed up into the small hours of the morning to read. The plot seems to take precedents over characterisation. The only problem I have with Brown as a story teller is that I never really care about the central characters in any of his novels. Read last night and forgotten by next week.