"The Lost Symbol"

So, I just finished reading the "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown.  It has been in my "to read" pile for almost two years.  Now, I know why I waited.

Despite the constant action, various perspectives and cliffhangers (almost one per chapter) it actually reads like a university lecture.  Ooh, the mysterious Freemasons!  How wise, wonderful and super-intelligent they were.  Yes, "were", there are no new Masons that have done anything stupendous in the last hundred years (that we are told about) to take the place of George Washington, Sir Francis Bacon, and Sir Isaac Newton.

The final messages of the book are pure "Hallmark" or "Disney" movie.  The messages are as follows:  The power is within you.  We all have the capacity to be more than the sum of our parts.

The book is well-written, the dialogue well-played, the characters are as fleshed out as they can be.  The ancient mystery that he goes on and on about, was no great revelation.  The book is formulaic.  Basically, if you have read any of the other Robert Langdon books, you have read them all.

Until next time!