The Lost Symbol (audio book)

Confirming that Dan Brown is the master of big story ideas with far reaching ramifications, The Lost Symbol is the piece de resistance and the cherry on the top of The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons.

Focusing on Robert Langdon again as he tries desperately to solve the riddle of the Masonic pyramid in order to save a colleague and friend, The Lost Symbol covers the breadth and depth of Masonic lore. Extremely well researched, Brown is able to bring together a lot of disparate threads into a well rounded whole.

My previous concerns about this book were unfounded. I have thought that Brown sometimes allows his enthusiasm to overstep his writing ability - where his plot's become quite absurd and too far fetched, as if to make up for the depth of information he's firing at people.

This book has changed my way of thinking - the subjects that are covered in this book really need to be taken seriously -as do the idea's that feature in The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Daemons. What Brown is writing about is nothing new, as the crow flies, but he is condensing an awful lot of information into bite sized chunks and giving it to the masses in a way that they can more readily understand.

There is only one thing I would ask of the publishers is that for each of the trilogy of books they add a bibliography of Dan Brown's research texts, or at least the most important books (as I would expect him to have covered a large variety of weighty tomes) so people can do their own research and discover the truths that Brown is writing about for themselves.

This is the first audio book I've heard in many years (since listening to some great Dr Who adaptations when I was a wee bairn) and I really enjoyed it. Paul Michael manages to handle all the parts extremely well and allows the listener to loses themselves completely in the narrative. A thoroughly enjoyable experience!