Dan Brown came out strong with Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code in 2000 and 2003 respectively. But since then, the Robert Langdon series has been middle of the road at best. None of the later books have really jumped out at me, yet I keep getting drawn back into the mysteries. Unfortunately, The Secret of Secrets is more of the same. While not terrible, it doesn’t come close to the highs of the early books.
Robert Langdon, esteemed professor of symbology, travels to Prague to attend a groundbreaking lecture by Katherine Solomon—a prominent noetic scientist with whom he has recently begun a relationship. Katherine is on the verge of publishing an explosive book that contains startling discoveries about the nature of human consciousness and threatens to disrupt centuries of established belief. But a brutal murder catapults the trip into chaos, and Katherine suddenly disappears along with her manuscript. Langdon finds himself targeted by a powerful organization and hunted by a chilling assailant sprung from Prague’s most ancient mythology.
As the plot expands into London and New York, Langdon desperately searches for Katherine . . . and for answers. In a thrilling race through the dual worlds of futuristic science and mystical lore, he uncovers a shocking truth about a secret project that will forever change the way we think about the human mind.
When you pick up a Dan Brown novel, you kind of know what you’re getting, an entertaining, easy-to-follow thriller. But nothing has excited me in the way Angels & Demons or The Da Vinci Code did. For the most part the stories are getting too engrossed in the technological side of things and a bit less historical that made the early books so compelling. At times, it’s hard to say that Robert Langdon is even the central character of the stories these days. While the book entertained, we are bit further away from Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code and not in the direction we had hoped. Not to mention the length can be trimmed a bit.
The Secret of Secrets is classic Dan Brown, but for sure not peak Dan Brown. We get what we would expect, a fast-paced, thrilling, and fun read full of suspense in stunning locations. But if you’re hoping for a return to the roots that made The Da Vinci Code so compelling, this is not going to fulfill your hopes, but it was fun to ride along.
The Secret of Secrets is available at bookstores everywhere from Doubleday Publishing. The audiobook, narrated by Paul Michael, is available via Libro.fm!
