The Lost Symbol

The Lost Symbol  
LostSymbol.jpg
The Lost Symbol
Author Dan Brown
Country United States
United Kingdom
Language English
Genre(s) Crime, Mystery, Thriller novel
Publisher Doubleday (US)
Transworld (UK)
Publication date September 15, 2009[1]
Media type Print (hardcover), eBook, audio book
Pages 528
ISBN 9780385504225 (US) 9780593054277 (UK)
Preceded by The Da Vinci Code

The Lost Symbol is a 2009 novel by American writer Dan Brown.[2][3] It is a thriller set in Washington, D.C., after the events of The Da Vinci Code.

Released on September 15, 2009, it is the third Brown novel to involve the character of Harvard University symbologist Robert Langdon, following 2000's Angels & Demons and 2003's The Da Vinci Code.[2] It had a first printing of 6.5 million (5 million in North America, 1.5 million in the UK), the largest in Doubleday history. On its first day the book sold one million in hardcover and e-book versions in the U.S., the UK and Canada, making it the fastest selling adult novel in history.[4] It was number one on the New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover fiction[5] for the first six weeks of its release, and remained there[6] until January 24 of the following year.

Contents

Plot

The story takes place over a period of 12 hours in Washington, D.C., with a focus on Freemasonry.[7] Robert Langdon is summoned to give a lecture in National Statuary Hall at the United States Capitol, with the invitation apparently from his mentor, a 33rd degree Mason named Peter Solomon, who is the head of the Smithsonian Institution. Solomon has also asked him to bring a small package which he had entrusted with Langdon for safekeeping years earlier. When Langdon arrives at the Capitol, however, instead of an audience for his lecture, and after receiving a phone call from the person that he thought was from Solomon's office he hears screams coming from the Capitol Rotunda. Running, he finds the severed right hand of Peter Solomon mounted on a stick, directly in the middle of the room. The hand contains tattoos on each finger, and Langdon recognizes it as the symbolic Hand of the Mysteries, which seemingly points straight up to the fresco The Apotheosis of Washington on the inside of the Capitol dome. Noticing Peter's ring on one of the hand's fingers, Langdon realizes that it is the hand of his kidnapped friend, and from messages already received he knows that the kidnapper wants him to find both the Mason's Pyramid, which Masons believe is hidden somewhere underground in Washington D.C., and the Lost Word, which will complete the task that the kidnapper has given himself.

Soon the head of the Capitol police arrives, followed by the head of the CIA's Office of Security, Inoue Sato. As Langdon begins to analyze the tattoos on the hand, he tells Sato that if the fingers of the hand are moved, more tattooing will be found. She opens the fingers, and finds another clue, which eventually they all figure out points them down instead of up. They journey to a neglected and almost unknown portion of the capitol's sub-basement, and in a small room find Peter Solomon's Masonic Altar which many Masons construct in their home to remind them of the fleeting nature of life. A skull and other symbolistic items adorn the altar, but when a candle is lit the group notices that one wall seems to be moving in the slight breeze. When what turns out to be a curtain is moved aside, a small pyramid with no capstone is found, with words carved into it, which obviously will take Langdon to the next stop on his search to find the Word in time to save his kidnapped friend.

During this period Sato, who had asked the Capitol police to look closely at a security x-ray taken of Langdon's bag when he entered the building, finds out that the x-ray shows that the package Langdon is carrying contains another small pyramid. She asks Langdon about it, and he, being unaware of what the package he was bringing to Peter Solomon contained, says he doesn't know what she means. She has him restrained, and is prepared to take him and the two pyramids to CIA headquarters for questioning. At this point Warren Bellamy, the Architect of the Capitol and a Freemason, arrives in the sub-basement room, instantly grasps the situation, and knocks down the police chief and the CIA security chief, frees Langdon, and urges him to follow him back to the upper levels of the Capitol.

The kidnapper turns out to be Mal'akh, a tattooed villain whose main motivation is the obtaining of an ancient source of power,[8] and who continues to demand that Langdon unlock the Ancient Mysteries in return for Peter's life. In a fiery nighttime explosion, Mal'akh also destroys the Smithonsonian-sponsored laboratory of Dr. Katherine Solomon, Peter's younger sister, where she conducted successful experiments in the area of Noetic Science. In addition, the CIA is pursuing Mal'akh in the interests of National Security.

Mal'akh puts Langdon in a tank of breathable oxygenated liquid from where Langdon unlocks the code at the Pyramid's base. Then Mal'akh after learning the answer from Langdon, takes Peter Solomon with him, leaving Langdon - who is seen to apparently drown in the tank - and Katherine, who is bound and left to bleed to death.

When the CIA arrives, they release Langdon and Katherine who tell them where Mal'akh is headed. With Langdon's directions they set out to stop Mal'akh.

In the Temple Room of the Scottish Rite's House of the Temple, threatening to release a heavily edited videotape showing government officials performing the Masons' secret rituals, Mal'akh, who turns out to be Zachary Solomon, forces the Word out of his father, Peter, and tattoos it on his head.

Then Zachary Solomon forces Peter to sacrifice him as he believes that it is his great destiny to lead the forces of evil. Peter refuses to do so just as the helicopter in which Director Sato is in smashes the overhead glass panel, many of its pieces striking Zachary just as Langdon rushes in. Peter Solomon then tells Zachary that the Word he has tattooed on his head is not the Word. Zachary Solomon dies and the CIA stop the video from being transmitted to several leading media channels.

After Peter regains his composure, he tells Langdon that the Word is indeed real, and that he will take him to it. After blindfolding Langdon so he can't see where they are going, likely in an attempt to give him a type of Freemason initiation, they finally arrive at their destination which Sato had arranged to have opened for them. Going through barriers which shut behind them, and then led a few feet within a chamber, Solomon asks Langdon to remove the blindfold and look down. He does, and as his eyes adjust to the darkness and a flashlight is provided, Langdon sees a deep stairway going well into the darkness below. He is then led to a window, eyes closed, and told that what he will see will transform him. He opens his eyes, sees the Capitol below and away from him, and instantly knows that he is in the room atop the Washington Monument.

Looking at the city from the four windows situated there, Langdon is told that the Word does lie beneath hundreds of stairs beneath the massive stone, the pyramid stone atop the Monument, buried in the cornerstone of the building. Langdon realizes that the symbols which pointed there were used to actually spell out the words Laus Deo which translate to "Praise God". These words, Langdon knows, are imprinted in very tiny letters on the actual and very small aluminum capstone which lies on top of the pyramid above. As they descend the staircase, Solomon tells Langdon that the word underground is a copy of the Bible, but explains that the "secrets hidden in plain sight" in the Bible all point to the belief that man is a part of God, and that out of many minds comes one, an at-one-ment. That this Word, this hidden-in-plain-view belief, is contained in all the major books of religion; while the masses look to one set of data in each of the holy books, enlightened men and women can see the encoded-in-plain-sight information in them all.

Cast

Release

The Lost Symbol had been in development for several years; originally expected in 2006, the projected publication date was pushed back multiple times.[1] When officially announced, the hardcopy book was on pre-order lists for months leading up to its release, being heavily ordered both in the United States and Canada.[10][11] The book was published on September 15, 2009 with an initial print run of 6.5 million copies, the largest first printing in publisher Random House's history.[12][13] Electronic versions such as eBook[14] and Audible book versions[15] were also made available on the same date.[16] The American release audio book was read by Paul Michael, who also performed the audio book for The Da Vinci Code.

The book immediately broke sales records, becoming the fastest selling adult-market novel in history, with over one million copies sold on the first day of release. By the end of the first week, a total of two million copies had been sold in the U.S., Canada, and UK.[17] According to the publisher, the rapid sales prompted the printing of an additional 600,000 hardcover copies to the 5 million initially printed for the US market.[4] On its first day the book became the #1 bestseller on Amazon.com,[18] and the Amazon Kindle e-reader edition became the top-selling item on Amazon.com, outselling Amazon's sales of the hardback copy of the novel, which is the sixth best selling book of 2009 on pre-publication orders alone.[19] The Lost Symbol also ranked as the #1 bestseller in Amazon's Canadian and British sites.[20][21] Both Barnes & Noble and Waterstone's reported the book has broken all previous records for adult fiction in the United Kingdom.[22][23] According to Nielsen BookScan data, 550,946 copies of The Lost Symbol were sold in its first week of sale, taking £4.6 million. By the end of the second sales week, Transworld intended to have 1.25 million copies printed.[24]

By September 25 the book ranked #1 in the New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover fiction.[5]

Reception

The New York Times praised the book as being "impossible to put down" and claimed Brown is "bringing sexy back to a genre that had been left for dead". Nevertheless, it noted the overuse of certain phrases and italics, as well as the lack of logic behind characters' motivations. It also likened one of the characters to Jar Jar Binks.[25] Los Angeles Times said, "Brown's narrative moves rapidly, except for those clunky moments when people sound like encyclopedias."[26] Newsweek called the book "contrived", saying that to get through The Lost Symbol, just like The Da Vinci Code, it was necessary to swallow a lot of coincidences, but the book was still a page-turner, and that Brown "is a maze maker who builds a puzzle and then walks you through it. His genius lies in uncovering odd facts and suppressed history, stirring them together into a complicated stew and then saying, what if?"[27] The National Post's review called it a "heavy-handed, clumsy thriller" and that the character of the villain (Mal'akh) "bears an uncomfortably close similarity" to the Francis Dolarhyde character in Thomas Harris' 1981 novel Red Dragon.[28] The Daily Telegraph said the novel was "not quite the literary train-wreck expected."[29] TIME said the plot was fun, if bruising, but "It would be irresponsible not to point out that the general feel, if not all the specifics, of Brown's cultural history is entirely correct. He loves showing us places where our carefully tended cultural boundaries — between Christian and pagan, sacred and secular, ancient and modern — are actually extraordinarily messy."[30] Novelist William Sutcliffe's review in the Financial Times panned the book as "a novel that asks nothing of the reader, and gives the reader nothing back", adding that it "is filled with cliché, bombast, undigested research and pseudo-intellectual codswallop".[31] The digested read by John Crace in The Guardian ends with Robert Langdon begging Dan Brown "Please don't wheel me out again."[32]

Film

Columbia Pictures is producing a film adaptation of the novel for a 2012 release.[33][34] Tom Hanks is expected to reprise his role as Langdon, and Brian Grazer and John Calley have signed on to produce the film, though it has not been confirmed if Ron Howard will return to direct. Steven Knight has been asked to write the script.[35]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Italie, Hillel (2009-04-20). "New Dan Brown novel coming in September". Associated Press. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090420/ap_en_ot/books_dan_brown. Retrieved 2009-04-20. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Carbone, Gina (2009-04-20). "Dan Brown announces new book, 'The Lost Symbol'". Boston Herald. http://bostonherald.com/entertainment/books/view/2009_04_20_Dan_Brown_announces_new_book___The_Lost_Symbol_/srvc=home&position=recent. Retrieved 2009-04-20. 
  3. ↑ "ET Breaks News: Dan Brown Has Finished New Book" ETonline, February 12, 2009
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Rich, Motoko (2009-09-16). "Dan Brown’s ‘Lost Symbol’ Sells 1 Million Copies in the First Day". The New York Times. http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/16/dan-browns-lost-symbol-sells-1-million-copies-in-the-first-day/?scp=3&sq=Dan%20Brown&st=cse. Retrieved 2009-09-16. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Best Sellers: Hardcover Fiction". New York Times. 2009-09-25. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/books/bestseller/besthardfiction.html?_r=1&ref=books. Retrieved 2009-09-26. 
  6. ↑ "Best Sellers: Hardcover Fiction". New York Times. 2009-11-20. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/books/bestseller/besthardfiction.html?ref=bestseller. Retrieved 2009-11-25. 
  7. ↑ "Keys to Dan Brown's Solomon Key". http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/sk/index.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-20. 
  8. ↑ De Vera, Ruel S. (September 15, 2009). "Dan Brown's 'Lost' is no 'Da Vinci Code'". Philippine Daily Inquirer. http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view/20090915-225264/Dan-Browns-Lost-is-no-Da-Vinci-Code. Retrieved September 14, 2009. 
  9. ↑ Burstein, Dan (2009). "Exploring the complex cosmos of The Lost Symbol". In Daniel Burstein & Arne de Keijzer (editors). Secrets of the Lost Symbol: The Unauthorized Guide to the Mysteries Behind The Da Vinci Code Sequel. Harper Collins. pp. 3–48. ISBN 9780061964954. 
  10. ↑ Rich, Motoko (2009-01-20). "Dan Brown returns with Da Vinci Code sequel, The Lost Symbol". The Guardian. http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/16/dan-browns-lost-symbol-sells-1-million-copies-in-the-first-day/. Retrieved 2009-04-20. 
  11. ↑ "New Dan Brown book offers industry hope". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2009-04-21. http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/books/dan-brown-the-great-white-hope/2009/04/21/1240079665360.html. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
  12. ↑ Rich, Motoko; Stone, Brad (2009-07-15). "A New World: Scheduling E-Books". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/books/15ebooks.html?_r=1&hpw. Retrieved 2009-07-15. 
  13. ↑ Goldsmith, Belinda (2009-07-08). "Dan Brown moves to Washington for new thriller". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE5670T120090708. Retrieved 2009-07-15. 
  14. ↑ "The Lost Symbol eBook (Kindle Version)". Amazon.com. 2009-08-17. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B002KQ6BT6/16041987-20. Retrieved 2009-08-19. 
  15. ↑ "Download The Lost Symbol - Preorder". audible.com. 2009-09-12. http://www.audible.com/adbl/site/products/ProductDetail.jsp?productID=OD_RAND_001953&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes. Retrieved 2009-09-12. 
  16. ↑ Irvine, Chris (September 14, 2009). "Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol 'will be biggest selling adult fiction novel of the decade'". The Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/6182628/Dan-Browns-The-Lost-Symbol-will-be-biggest-selling-adult-fiction-novel-of-the-decade.html. Retrieved September 14, 2009. 
  17. ↑ . Associated Press. September 23, 2009. http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2009/09/23/2009-09-23_clinton_book_record_beaten_by_da_vinci_scribe_brown.html. Retrieved September 23, 2009. 
  18. ↑ Amazon's Bestsellers in Books (accessdate 2009-09-16)
  19. ↑ Chivers, Tom (2009-09-16). "Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol on Kindle is Amazon top seller". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/6198072/Dan-Browns-The-Lost-Symbol-on-Kindle-is-Amazon-top-seller.html. Retrieved 2009-09-16. 
  20. ↑ Amazon.ca Bestsellers in Books (accessdate 2009-09-16)
  21. ↑ Amazon.co.uk Bestsellers in Books (accessdate 2009-09-16)
  22. ↑ Rich, Motoko (2009-09-15). "To No One’s Surprise, Dan Brown Books Are Flying Off Bookshelves". The New York Times. http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/to-no-ones-surprise-dan-brown-books-are-flying-off-bookshelves/. Retrieved 2009-09-17. 
  23. ↑ Flood, Alison (2009-09-17). "Dan Brown's Lost Symbol sets adult fiction sales record". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/sep/17/dan-brown-lost-symbol-sets-sales-record. Retrieved 2009-09-17. 
  24. ↑ Stone, Philip (2009-09-22). "Dan Brown sells 550,000 in first week". theBookseller.com. http://www.thebookseller.com/news/97456-dan-brown-sells-550000-in-first-week.html. Retrieved 2009-09-22. 
  25. ↑ Maslin, Janet (2009-09-13). "Fasten Your Seat Belts, There’s Code to Crack". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/books/14maslin.html?hp. Retrieved 2009-09-13. 
  26. ↑ Owchar, Nick (September 14, 2009). "Book Review: 'The Lost Symbol'". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-lost-symbol14-2009sep14,0,5481048.story. Retrieved September 13, 2009. 
  27. ↑ Jones, Malcolm (September 15, 2009). "Book Review: Dan Brown's 'The Lost Symbol'". Newsweek. http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/popvox/archive/2009/09/15/book-review-dan-brown-s-the-lost-symbol.aspx. Retrieved September 18, 2009. 
  28. ↑ Wiersema, Robert (September 17, 2009). "Review: Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol". National Post. http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/afterword/archive/2009/09/17/review-dan-brown-s-the-lost-symbol.aspx. Retrieved September 18, 2009. 
  29. ↑ Jehu, Jeremy (September 15, 2009). "Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol, review". The Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/fictionreviews/6193943/Dan-Browns-The-Lost-Symbol-review.html. Retrieved September 18, 2009. 
  30. ↑ Grossman, Lev (September 15, 2009). "How Good Is Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol?". TIME. http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1923182,00.html. Retrieved September 18, 2009. 
  31. ↑ Sutcliffe, William (September 19, 2009). "The Lost Symbol". Financial Times. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/42ef53aa-a3e2-11de-9fed-00144feabdc0.html. Retrieved September 22, 2009. 
  32. ↑ Crace, John (September 22, 2009). "Digested read: The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/sep/22/the-lost-symbol-dan-brown. Retrieved September 24, 2009. 
  33. ↑ Fleming, Michael (2009-04-20). "Columbia moves on 'Symbol'". Variety.com. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002603.html?categoryid=13&cs=1. Retrieved 2009-09-01. 
  34. ↑ "The Mystery of Dan Brown". The Guardian (London). September 2009. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/gallery/2009/sep/14/dan-brown-the-lost-symbol?picture=352915411. Retrieved September 22, 2009. 
  35. ↑ Siegel, Tatiana (February 3, 2010). "Columbia finds 'Symbol'; Knight to adapt third book in 'Da Vinci Code' series". Variety (Reed Business Information). http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118014685.html?categoryid=13&cs=1. Retrieved February 4, 2010. 

Further reading

External links

Robert Langdon novels by Dan Brown
Angels & DemonsFilm • Soundtrack • Characters The Da Vinci CodeFilm • Game • Soundtrack • Characters • Inaccuracies The Lost SymbolFilm • Characters
Other
Cryptex · The Da Vinci Code Web Quests
Works by Dan Brown
Novels
Digital Fortress (1998) • Angels & Demons (2000) • Deception Point (2001) • The Da Vinci Code (2003) • The Lost Symbol (2009)
Film adaptations
The Da Vinci Code (2006) • Angels & Demons (2009) • The Lost Symbol (2012)
Related articles
The Da Vinci Code (soundtrack) • The Da Vinci Code (video game) • Robert Langdon