• The Lost Symbol

  • By: Dan Brown
  • Narrated by: Paul Michael
  • Length: 17 hrs and 47 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (454 ratings)

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The Lost Symbol  By  cover art

The Lost Symbol

By: Dan Brown
Narrated by: Paul Michael
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Editorial reviews

International best-selling novelist Dan Brown delivers the exhilarating third audiobook in his Robert Langdon series, The Lost Symbol, narrated by American actor Paul Michael. This phenomenal series has taken the world by storm. Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon hunts through hidden chambers and secret tunnels under Washington D.C to save his kidnapped mentor. He must use all his knowledge and skill to break through the codes but the task ahead seems impossible and the clock is ticking ever-closer towards danger. What Langdon never suspects is the shocking twist of truth that will change everything. Available now from Audible.

Publisher's summary

The Lost Symbol, the stunning follow-up to The Da Vinci Code, is a masterstroke of storytelling - a deadly race through a real-world labyrinth of codes and unseen truths...all under the watchful eye of a terrifying villain. Set within the unseen tunnels and temples of Washington, D.C., The Lost Symbol accelerates through a startling landscape toward an unthinkable finale.

Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building. Within minutes of his arrival, the night takes a bizarre turn. A disturbing object - artfully encoded with five ancient symbols - is discovered in the Capitol Building. The object is an ancient invitation, meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of hidden esoteric wisdom. And when Langdon's mentor Peter Solomon - prominent Mason and philanthropist - is kidnapped, Langdon's only hope of saving Peter is to accept this invitation and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon finds himself plunged into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and never-before-seen locations...all of which seem to be dragging him toward a single, inconceivable truth.

The Lost Symbol is exactly what Dan Brown's fans have been waiting for...his most thrilling novel yet.

©2009 Dan Brown (P)2009 Random House Inc.

Critic reviews

"[I]mpossible to put down....Mr. Brown was writing sensational visual scenarios long before his books became movie material. This time he again enlivens his story with amazing imagery....Thanks to him, picture postcards of the capital's most famous monuments will never be the same....In the end it is Mr. Brown's sweet optimism, even more than Langdon's sleuthing and explicating, that may amaze his readers most." ( The New York Times)
"Thrilling, entertaining....Robert Langdon goes for another roller-coaster ride - this time in a hunt for a Masonic treasure in Washington, D.C." ( Los Angeles Times)

What listeners say about The Lost Symbol

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

16 hours you'll never get back ...

I enjoy some good old airport fiction as much as the next person, but there is a limit. The characters are one dimensional - which is fine - the plot however is tissue paper thin, and this is a problem for a book that is entirely plot driven!

We stumble from one poorly realised "revelation" to another under an avalanche of portentous prose that completely fails to deliver anything like excitement or tension.

The narrator does an heroic job, but there are only so many times you can say "the ancient mysteries" and "the wisdom of the ages" before you sound like you're taking the mick. So run don't walk and look elsewhere!





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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Very typical of Dan Brown. Easy brilliance.

If you are a fan of Dan Brown then you won't be disappointed with this volume either. Holds your interest and has good solid info presented in his riveting style.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Ending drags on too long

The ending drags on too long. The narrator did an excellent job though. Hope the next book is better.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Why did I do this to myself?

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Having it been written by a different author

Has The Lost Symbol turned you off from other books in this genre?

Only if I see the name Dan Brown as the author.

What about Paul Michael’s performance did you like?

He imbued emotion and read well, with clarity and didn't just use a dull plodding monotone, would happily listen to him as a reader again.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Not really, it was pretty much utter bilge from start to finish. The only redeeming quality is that I didn't pay full price for my misery!

Any additional comments?

I wish that I had just read this book instead of listened to it, as it would have been over in a far shorter time.

To be honest I am not entirely sure why I bothered with it in the first place, it was either idle curiosity or masochistic tendencies...or most likely both!

Any book which has you expleting audibly in exhasperation more then once (even just once would be bad enough) really cannot be recommended.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

What more can be said

Dan Brown is the best!

His books are fantastic!

I've recently been able to introduce my fiance to audio books as he reads all day and find "leisure reading" tedious.... Now we spend evenings listening to books before snuggling up for the night!


Dan Brown needs to give us more!!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

dissapointing... very

a half decent listen until the final 1/4 of the book. the climax and ending is both predictable and very weak. obviously written to cash in on DVCs popularity, it stuggles to be either entertaining or engaging. a poor effort and i cant stress enough how disapointed I was with the concluding chapters.

perhaps the most annoying part of the actual audio is the readers attempts to pronounce most of the more obscure names and regilion related words as well as the extremely grating female CIAs characters voice... i actually couldnt make it to the very end and had to turn it off.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Wondrous

Dan has, once again, managed to write a work that elicits introspection, whilst taking the reader on a thrilling adventure. Beautifully narrated by Paul Michael.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Mr
  • 11-25-09

Preposterous, in a good way

Well, the hype surrounding "the next Da Vinci Code" actually detracted from the experience for me.

I enjoyed this book none the less, as it was pure unadulterated pulp, and pretty self aware. It didn't set out to climb literary mountains, or be worthy or clever. I seemed to be content with just telling a ripping, and totally preposterous story and trying to be entertaining with it.

I was entertained. The story was read very well, and the sound and quality were excellent.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Dan Brown has lsot more than a Symbol!

I was totally and utterly disappointed in this book which trades on his (Brown's) past success. It is repetitive, predictable, stupid and badly written!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Simple fun or ridiculous? You decide.

Here we go again. Robert Langdon and a random woman go on a trail of secret symbols to uncover the meaning of life, the universe and everything, this time in Washington DC and via Freemasonry. My relief that Brown was leaving Christianity alone evaporated in the last hour of this preposterous revision of US history. As with his previous 2 books knowing where fact stops and fiction begins is horribly difficult, this time especially for a Brit. However, his numerous errors with science, Biblical quotes and simple facts (apparently you can go south from DC on a line of longitude 24,000 miles long...) are easy to spot and either forgiveable (as its fiction anyway), or complete spoilers, suggesting Brown hasn't researched as he should. There are a few moments of genuine tension, and a couple of surprising twists, but by the time you get there you'll be wanting to grab Langdon by the trousers (sorry, pants) and give him an all time great wedgie. You'll also be wishing all sorts of horrible ends for the annoying CIA woman. Written undoubtedly with Hollywood in mind, Brown has crafted a story that might make a fun movie - all that CGI in Washington DC! As a book though I found it ultimately disappointing with a hint of annoyance bordering on offence, as he has no grasp of Christian teaching. His mishandling of Biblical references to Jesus, especially in the gospel of John, is so glaringly and straightforwardly wrong that it undermines his entire thesis, and left me finishing this book with one word uppermost in my mind - ridiculous. Am I right? You decide!

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1 person found this helpful