When The Da Vinci Code hit bookstore shelves in 2003, it was immediately slammed by critics and members of the Catholic Church alike. Accused of slandering and misrepresenting Christianity and its icons and likened to literary diarrhoea by writer and comedian Stephen Fry, it still became one of the best-selling books of the early 2000s.
What was it that drew so many to pick up Dan Brown’s fourth novel? The tale follows protagonist Robert Langdon, the world’s only professor of Religious Iconology and Symbology, who is falsely accused of murder and has to team up with police cryptologist Sophie Neveu to uncover a conspiracy of secret societies long thought defunct.
The story’s twists and interpretations of Christian lore sent it rocketing up charts. It tackled what felt too highbrow for the layman and made it easy-to-follow and understandable.
Readers were introduced to an underground group devoted to protecting the alleged descendants of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene — based on the heretical claim that the two were married and had a child; secrets hidden behind cleverly designed puzzles; and a psychotic killer on the loose, all packed in short, snappy chapters that could be devoured in a single sitting.
In The Secret of Secrets, published in early September this year, Brown revisits this riddle-solving, adventure-mystery format after eight years (his last book Origin was released in 2017). After all, it seems he has cracked the code for crafting a gripping tale the masses cannot resist. But can he pull off another best-seller?
You can almost grasp the plot through the thick mist of Wikipedia facts and bizarre inner monologue. Langdon, the star of five previous books, including Angels and Demons, Inferno and The Lost Symbol, returns with his antique Mickey Mouse watch (yes, this is an important part of his character). This time, the story sees him in Prague, attending a lecture by his friend and love interest, noetic scientist Katherine Solomon, whose research is centred around human consciousness and how it is separate from the physical body.
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This is apparently such groundbreaking news that everyone is certain it will change the world, and Solomon is eager to publish her manuscripts on her findings, believing that consciousness can exist beyond death in a collective hivemind. But when she vanishes, along with her draft, it is up to Langdon to dodge sketchy Czech police and premonitions of death to find her.
When the two main characters reunite, they work to unveil the threat and discover the CIA is behind it, storing people in an underground lab in the City of a Hundred Spires with plans to use the collective consciousness of the dead for spying on others, and have used Solomon’s old work to benefit their own.
Chock-full of scientific mumbo-jumbo and seemingly profound, informative subject matter, the fundamentals of The Secret of Secrets are not much different from Brown’s other books; yet, this is also its downfall. Though both this new release and the 2003 hit are steeped in history and symbolism, The Da Vinci Code shines in its incredulous topic and “what if” factor.
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The idea that Mona Lisa’s knowing smile hides clues which can only be seen by those who look hard enough or that the tomb of Mary Magdalene is tucked away under the Louvre sends anticipation creeping up the spines of those who walk through the museum. It is still enjoyable to imagine that a holy lineage which holds claim to the throne of France exists somewhere out there. To readers in the early 21st century, real life seemed all the more exciting when considering that Brown’s ideas might have a smidgen of truth in them.
Despite its grandeur, Prague Castle only appears a few times in the book / Photo: Prague City Tourism
In a time when the internet was first gaining its footing, excited readers gathered online to discuss the book. Some wanted to uncover more about the Priory of Sion, said to protect Jesus and Mary’s secret descendants, or pondered the idea that the Catholic Church was really hiding such a thing. Further outcry from the religious institution gave them more incentive to dig further. Put simply, The Da Vinci Code readily gave people an untouched topic in an absorbable format.
Compare that to secretive government organisations attempting to control humans with mind experiments using noetics, a pseudoscience whose preachings you might find similar to yoga class meditations, and The Secret of Secrets ends up falling flat. How people chose to filter or believe in what they read has changed drastically. Conspiracy theories are a dime a dozen nowadays, and many already doubt the idea that everything and everyone is connected to some higher level of existence. Brown’s choice to write a story that hinges so heavily on a fringe science just does not feel fresh or very well thought out, despite what the lengthy information dumps might want you to believe.
Brown is eager to reinforce the idea that his subject matter is rooted in reality — so much so that the book opens with a disclaimer that “all experiments, technologies and scientific results are true to life”, a point he has emphasised repeatedly even in his interviews for The Da Vinci Code. Perhaps if Brown had taken himself a little less seriously and gone full force on painting a fantasy that does not necessarily need to tie in with real-life organisations or current happenings, The Secret of Secrets might have been the enjoyable, thrilling read it claims to be.
And why Prague? Its streets are undeniably beautiful and packed with history, with Gothic spires abound and its iconic Astronomical Clock, but its value as a setting is wasted here. Langdon spends half the book scooting around its landmarks and they end up serving as little other than scenic imagery for the imagination. Additionally, every location’s description reads like a summary you would find on a travel docket. Plop the characters into Kuala Lumpur, where they can dash about in the hubbub of Petaling Street, and you might still get the same story.
It is easy to tear into Brown’s writing style instead of the plot, something many have called clunky, disjointed and famously “repetitive and repetitive”. Though it helps to push some along for the ride, this time it feels rushed, as though readers may get bored after digesting another chapter on brain functions or get lost amid the overused italics. We also cannot help but be confused when key plot points are partially established and revealed only in full two chapters later. Perhaps it is better to turn off the brain to truly enjoy The Secret of Secrets.
Linger too long on its story and theories, and you realise how it is convoluted and bloated with unnecessary detail. This formula of ramming a book full of jargon and hoping it reads intelligently is not working out as well as it used to for Brown, who grasps at his template for even a modicum of the success that The Da Vinci Code brought him.
