The 3rd Robert Langdon story, set in Washington. Very similar to the previous two books with a lot of running around. This time Langdon has been invited to Washington to give a lecture at the Smithsonian by his friend Peter Solomon, only to find his friend has been kidnapped and it was the kidnapper that had lured him there to decipher a Freemason's pyramid to find the location of the Lost Word, buried somewhere in the capital. In the meantime, the kidnapper has attracted the attention of the CIA, who want to avert a national crisis by cooperating with him, whether that helps to rescue Peter Solomon or not. Katherine, his sister, is also targetted as the kidnapper tries to destroy both her and her work on the Noetic sciences. Katherine and Langdon manage to solve the secret of the pyramid together, as they dart around the city, whilst avoiding the CIA. With a couple of interesting twists near the end, disaster is averted and all is eventually revealed. Despite the formulaic style, I enjoyed this fast-paced historical tour of Washington and the peek into freemason philosophy. I also found the ending to be more satisfying as time was taken to explain the meaning of the ancient mysteries. ( )

I am returning this (overdue)book and will revisit it when my life and my home are less chaotic ( )

Oh dear. I have casually enjoyed Dan Brown's other tomes; however, The Lost Symbol didn't even have that brain candy charm. Tense scenes were frequently interrupted by several page long asides of dubious relevance. The so-called science was hilariously awful and the end of the book suspense revolved in part around the fear that someone would exsanguinate through a "medical needle" placed in a vein in the antecubital fossa (i.e. venipuncture.) Luckily, that part was so ill-paced that the character was saved before I had to waste too much time screaming about how infeasible it was to be killed by an IV.

The core plot -- many important men in Washington are Free Masons, a group that has left hidden symbols all over Washington DC and celebrates human life -- was far less intriguing than Brown's other books.

Overall -- this was in SORE need of an editor and a fact checker. ( )

The Lost Symbol was another great read by Dan Brown!

I found this novel not to be as good as Angels and Demons or The Da Vinci Code, but I still really enjoyed it! This book felt slower and a little more boring until I got half way into it, but I still felt the need to read it and be hooked onto Dan Brown's story.

I enjoyed this book! The twists and turns were great (even if I guessed some of the plot twists that occurred). I can't wait for more Dan Brown!

He is almost untouchable for problems in the story. I didn't see much wrong with the story or plot or characters.

Good book!
Five out of five stars! ( )

OK, The Lost Symbol is a suspenseful, fast paced, fairly enjoyable read. But I just couldn't help but think that Dan Brown seems to enjoy deliberately misleading (dare I say, deceiving) his readers. Time and time again we're led to believe something has happened, or is about to happen, and then a page or two later, we realize we've been had. It's an effective writing tool or time or two, but after awhile it gets very tiresome. And the surprise revelation of who the villain really turns out to be, is totally over the top. Overall, a dissappointing read ( )