The Secret of Secrets : Robert Langdon Returns
Dan Brown, who triumphantly took us on a reading tour to the Vatican and the Louvre now escorts us to the Czechian capital of Prague. The story starts off with a pleasant description of the Charles Bridge, but things escalate in a typical Dan Brown fashion, and we now turn to the Harvard Professor and Religious Symobologist, Robert Langdon. The quintessential backbone of the Dan Brown novels, the highly educated and stellar Professor has to look into his internal encyclopedia, with his eidetic memory being his biggest weapon.
The author has always amazed me with the amount of research he puts into his books, this one being nothing less of spectacular. As someone who rarely finds an opportunity to travel, Brown’s ability to make me visualize the places effortlessly is one of the reasons I will always find a reason to return to his novels. As a pleasant consequence, I find myself plotting a visit to Prague myself, wanting to put myself in the presence of these architectural marvels that have placed themselves in the Bohemian capital.
The Robert Langdon series primarily centers itself on history and deriving meaning from ancient locations and artifacts alike. However, the concentration of history has visibly diminished, in favor of a psychological replacement, quite literally. The book explores the depths of nonlocal consciousness, the idea that our consciousness does not reside in our brain, but we are a universe of interconnected consciousnesses. The book’s biggest selling factor is obviously Robert Langdon, but not in the way that you might think. I took a very long time to warm up to the book’s core plot, being this idea of consciousness, and interestingly, Langdon also shared my skepticism about the idea, which made me easier to connect with him, his thought process mirroring mine.
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While incredible effort has undoubtedly gone into crafting this story, with extensive research being present in many parts of the book, I still could not enjoy the book as much as I wanted to. The Noetic Science mentioned in the book did not convince me enough to invest in the story. Perhaps, it was my ignorance and misinformation, but this book was definitely a harder read than Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code.
I have come across this quote — “The Robert Langdon series is to History what Call of Duty is to the Military”. I could not agree more. It is very important to suspend your belief and keep an open mind to what happens in these books. This was comparatively easier while reading the first two of his books. However, in this one, a little more open mindedness is essential in going through with the story.
Like the other books in the series, The Secret of Secrets also follows a similar skeletal structure. A very important person gets murdered in the prologue, and the wheel of the story is in motion. And like his other novels, preventing the death in the prologue renders the entire novel moot, thereby exposing two of Dan Brown’s biggest weaknesses, plot armor and intentionally holding back information. At times, it feels like certain pieces of the story move only because the author wants it to, instead of following a natural progression or a flow. Puzzle solving, as always, is very convenient, our heroes seem to get out of every complication in the last breath and so on. Convenience is this book’s biggest theme, and while this does not take away from the page turner that this book inevitably is, it is still something to be pointed out.
Unfortunately, I cannot go more into the book without spoiling it, and the previous paragraphs might contain some ambiguity as to whether I liked this book or not. That is exactly how I feel. I will always have a soft spot for the Robert Langdon series, but this one was a difficult read for me. I enjoyed the book in bits and pieces, and I finished this in just under a week, but ultimately, the book ends up being a disappointment for the amount of time it had spent in the oven.
Not everything is negative about the book, however. Robert Langdon’s partner, Dr. Katherine Solomon, is a wonderfully crafted character. Their chemistry is something I did not expect in a thriller book, but there it was, in all its romantic glory. The fantastic epilogue was a testament to their incredible chemistry, and I loved reading every single word. Along with that, the book also made me want to plan a visit to Prague (as I have mentioned many times, purely for emphasis), so I would consider that as an absolute win!
All in all, The Secret of Secrets is a fairly decent page turner, and I would suggest you to go with an open mind. Happy Reading!
