The All-Seeing Eye

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Reviewed by Sue Wolfe

Ooh.  Do you like Conspiracy theories?  Cliff-hangers?   If so, The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown will keep you turning pages from one chapter to the next.  I found the book almost impossible to put down until the very end.

And what an action packed adventure it is.   In a Masonic ritual at the very beginning, a plot is planned by a new inductee, Mal'akh, to embarrass the country’s leadership, expose Freemasonry, and unexpectedly, to seek revenge on a family’s misdeeds.   The action really starts with a severed hand.  And then, the race is on.

This is the third Robert Langdon novel.   Again, Dan Brown dishes up a plate full of symbolism, historical mysteries, and brilliant twists and turns.  The villain is as smart as Langdon.   It is a chase up, down, over and through several of the best known sites in Washington.  Just the descriptions alone of the Capital building makes you wonder:  how does he know this stuff?  The symbolism, details on architecture, and secret rites had to have taken years of research.   Did you know that there was an eternal flame in the capital?  Or that a little known misprint about Moses having horns led to statues of a horned Moses?

Freemasonry has had a bit of a black eye in the media over recent years, and we have books that touch on this.  From what I have heard, the rituals described are accurate.  Plus, Brown goes into a bit of a background about the symbolism behind them.  This alone makes this a fascinating read but the information about the Masonic background of the original leaders of America left me way impressed.  Their touch is imprinted all over Washington, DC.  They tried to pass on the best of hope for our country.  Did you know why there is a limit to the height of buildings in Washington?  It has to do with the “Lost Symbol” and the sun daily hitting a monument capstone with an inscription.  (Sorry, don’t want to give away one of the best parts.)

The Lost Symbol also does a great job of introducing mass numbers of readers to Noetic Science.   It’s a newer field of science that is relatively unknown, and wow…it is like magic.  Surely there have now been thousands of Google searches about it, thanks to this book.

Brown’s books are always controversial.  They’re rich in detail, fun and unusual.  You will not be disappointed!

Both Main and Avoca hold copies of this book ( F BRO); in Large Print (SSB F BRO); and on CD  (CD F BRO).