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The lost symbol

Shelf life: Looking at secular books

THE LOST SYMBOL
By Dan Brown
Bantam Press. 510 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978-0-59305-427-7

Well over one million copies of The Lost Symbol were sold on its first day on the shelves. It looks set to follow The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons as a great money-spinner for Dan Brown.

So what makes this a hit? Would it be the cliched characters (a deranged baddie, who is ‘pulled onwards by destiny’s gravity’, a brainy hero and a scientist sidekick)? Or perhaps the wearisomely breathless plot which speeds from one grand location to another? Maybe it’s the obvious or patently silly twists in the story? I suppose it could be the paragraphs of dubious facts dumped awkwardly into dialogue.

Secret worlds?

No, I think that (setting aside aggressive marketing) Brown’s books have gripped people because of his supposed revelations about secret worlds. Although a lot of what is presented as fact, whether in terms of history or science, is actually bunkum, many readers will surely be taken in, enjoying the thrill of the conspiracy theories which abound. In The Lost Symbol the focus is on Freemasonry; this secret society is presented as deeply involved in the foundation and history of the United States, as well as being highly influential today.

What is curious and, I think, worrying about all of this is the spiritual angle Brown takes. Freemasonry, throughout the book, is presented as an enlightened society; Masons go beyond narrow dogma, are tolerant, and benevolent (Occult? Corrupt? Ridiculous? No, no, no, says Brown). And with a peculiar fervour he espouses a belief in a new age of human potential (rather a limp ending for a thriller!).

One good thing

But here is one good thing; people reading this book will be thinking about whether religion is good, whether all religions are the same and whether our world is improving. You, dear reader, have something to say about all of that.

Sarah Allen