TO-Tech Blog Todd Ogasawara’s Tech Blog

Finished Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol” (audiobook): Predictable But Entertaining Thriller

I finished "reading" (listening) to Dan Brown's latest thriller The Lost Symbol yesterday. Most of my "reading" was done while driving the car commuting to work. Would have never finished the book this quickly (less than 2 weeks) if I had to carve out time to actually sit down and read it.

NO SPOILERS
The audio book is nearly 18 hours long. And, every minute except for the last chapter is fast paced, entertaining, and even educational now and then (who knew that the word "sincere" had such an interesting etymology?).

If you pay attention and are familiar with Brown's writing style and the genre of hybrd techno-thriller conspiracy-theory historical-myth type stories, you can probably figure out the plot twists quite a bit ahead of their reveals. But, while some reviewers criticized the book's predictability, I think this is what makes it fun for those of us that aren't multi-cultural historical detectives (pretty much everybody). There's a kind of "yay, me!" feeling when you find that you correctly figured out a plot twist before it is actually revealed.

There are actually a couple of "endings" to the book. I enjoyed everything except for the final chapter.

MINOR POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT
The last chapter is a pseudo-philosophical sermon of sorts. It could have been summed up in a couple of sentences. I suspect the movie version, if there is one, will do just that.

I think I got my money's worth for this book. Now, I need to find something else on Audible to read. I tried listening a bit more to Lucifer's Hammer. But, after many hours of listening (about 8 so far), it is still a trashy soap opera story so far with no character who has caught my interest.

The "Flashforward" book perhaps? The new TV show based on the book had an entertaining first episode.