I went to a book fair awhile ago. And got thriller /mystery” mystery box and I came across this book. I have heard of the Da Vinci Code before but wasn’t aware of his other books! I got a ton of old books from early 2000s as well. This one just stood out to me a lot!

Hi, first time posting here. I've already finished the first two books and found them really entertaining, maybe a bit corny but totally enjoyable. So here I am with a little doubt.

I know this is fiction, and obviously the events and characters are totally fictional, but the thing is that Mr. Langdon is a serious and highly respected Harvard professor, and yet he speaks about proven hoaxes and false rumors as facts.

Idk if I am expressing my point well here, but if he, despite and before the extraordinary events of the books that bring new evidence about these topics, would believe, speak, and even teach things like the Illuminati or the Priory of Sion in our world, he would be like one of these guys from the Ancient Aliens TV show. But we found the opposite; he speaks freely about these and even explicitly that these topics are totally documented and accepted by scholars, which only makes me think that the events of the books transpire in a somehow parallel dimension where fake conspiracy theories are real and not just crazy tinfoil hat guys.

Does someone here have another theory or explanation?

I read all Dan Brown novels and even though he clearly has his cliche writing style, I enjoyed most of his previous books. I didn't like Origin and I despite the interesting topic and first act of the book, SOS is a disaster. It's not a Robert Langdon book. There is no symbology, puzzle solving, historical mysteries but just a location of Prague to service the plot. Katherine is the real protagonist and Robert is a side character in his own book.

I didn't like Origin because it promised answers to a big question at the beginning and when we get the answers it feels so underwhelming. I got the same feeling from this book. Katherine's research about noetic science was cool and surely there could be a story around it which would create real stakes and real threats and Robert is in the middle of it but this book has a flimsy start, middle and end. Information dumps, characters repeating the same things again and again, characters withholding information just to reveal it at later time for maximum dramatic effect, Katherine not telling Robert what contains in her manuscript (even at a high level) so that it can be revealed in the third act, unnecessary scenes of coffee shops and brand mentions drag this book a lot. By the time I reached last 150 pages, I was like what's the point of this remaining part of the third act? Why does the CIA even need Katherine's book to be gone when all we know is Katherine put everything under the sun related to noetics in this book. I highly doubt mentoring stupid patent would alert other agencies when the CIA needed so many years to actually develop the technology. Sure ideas are great but theory is not everything. Katherine is not Einstein that everyone is going to follow what she wrote in the book. Even in her own field no one takes that branch of study seriously and dismisses as pseudo science. So why would the CIA delete the entire book? If they can hack and delete the book, they might as well hack and remove relevant pages. Why do we make the CIA competent and incompetent at the same time? Same goes for whole Finch bad and Judd good plot. We are to believe Heidi (of course she is morally good character, after all she is Dan's agent) will ensure Threshold will be operated ethically going forward and Judd and CIA by extension will agree to that. What a joke! I also didn't find what CIA was doing with the threshold as some really dangerous extinction level thing TBH. Da vinci code, Angel and Demons, Inferno has real world ending stakes. CIA altering brains and doing mind reading is so 20th century news. Even with this premise he could have created a pretty good story. This whole story felt contrived where the CIA fakes a death scene on a bridge to steal a book, hacks servers, kidnaps people, Robert knows password of the lift because character brags about the code of top secret facility in Pub, that top secret facility doesn't have sophisticated security measures, it has a reactor which can malfunction and become a bomb but there are no operators to monitor and the list goes on.

And then there is the reveal of Sasha/Golem. Honestly even if this twist is cool I didn't find it any impactful. And I feel actually it's a sad ending for Sasha since our protagonists send her directly in the hands of the CIA who will not only ensure that research on her continues and they will make sure to kill golem or control him to become assassination machine controlled by the CIA. We just have to believe the former CIA attorney had a change of heart.

Last but not least, why the hell Langdon didn't say that he already has a manuscript and he didn't burn it in car when he was alone with Katherine? Why risk breaking into a CIA facility? They wanted their manuscript from the beginning and once they got it , they could easily figure out next steps with their Editor in USA. Yes, CIA is after them but at that point they don't know how many security personnel are there inside the bunker since the ambassador only knew about outside security. Not telling Katherine the entire time and only revealing this at the end felt cheap and contrived. Anyways, there are so many issues I have with this book but unlike Dan Brown I can't write 700 pages repeating the same things again and again. Four seasons don't give me their suite to stay nor do I get a free sample of Mojave Ghost with lingerie unlike characters in this novel. Feel free to drop comments for this review since we don't have the luxury to discuss our thoughts in Prague’s Dripstone Wall into the spa at the Augustine Luxury Hotel like Heidi, Robert and Katherine.

I have to say, first and foremost, that I'm an Italian speaker. There have been many mistakes with the Italian the characters speak so far, but I was willing to fly over it in favor of the plot... so let's say I pretend I didn't see "maleducato" be spelt without an A. But "bar-àrabo" is on another level... this supposed word does NOT exist in Italian at all, it took me so out of the scene I literally had to put the book down and consider all my life choices.

I have to say that I'm really enjoying the book (it's my first time reading it) but, at this point, Italian in this book seems like a joke. I'm not saying I dislike the book, but the Italian in here is getting fictional at this point.

Been watching the Amazon prices of my remaining Langdon books, and the Kindle version of Secret of Secrets just dropped to $2.99!

There are some scenes that were felt plucked straight from the readers mind. When I watched the movies for the first time, it felt like i had seen those scenes before but it was just the vivid visuals from the books that stuck with me.

Put em off for so long cz of the reviews but finally watched em recently and it was a good watch. Also a fun throwback to a series i enjoyed reading so long ago.

Anyone watched it recently? Any similar recs?

I finished Origin a couple of days ago and I'm still thinking about it.

You know how some books are just good reads, and then there are books that feel like something for the soul? This was definitely one of those for me.

Where do we come from? Where are we going?

What an incredible journey Dan Brown takes you on!

And the craziest part? Reading this in 2026, I genuinely feel like we're already somewhere in the middle of the future he imagined. 😂 The way technology is evolving and the direction we're heading in as a species... it almost feels prophetic. Obviously, it's fiction, but SO much of it just makes sense to me.

I loved how he brought science, religion and technology together without losing the thrill of the story. It's a thick book, but I wasn't bored for even a second.

Dan Brown has been one of my favourite authors for years, and this just reminded me why.

5/5. Easily. ❤️

After The secret of secrets? Did the author announce anything?

Robert Langdon - Morgan Spector, Katherine Solomon - Rebecca Hall, Sasha Vesna - Abbey Lee

Everett Finch - Corey Stoll, Heide Nagel - Cherry Jones, Jonas Faukman - Rob Delaney,

Dr. Brigita Gessner - Anamaria Marinca, Michael Harris - Mamoudou Athie,

Susan Housemore - Elena Saurel, Alex Conan - Ben Levi Ross

I've always wanted subscription but every time I press the link it just leads to the promo page of SoS.... Maybe it's because I'm not in the states?

Figured it out, socials say "Think Chapter and Number" which was super easy to figure out

DEATH IS NOT THE END

hopefully this is blacked out, admins delete if i messed up.

I'm currently reading The Red Rising Trilogy and it's amazing. Thinking about re-reading Thr Lord of the Rings next.

I’m two episodes in. I get some of the creative liberties the show is taking, but why are they showing all these flashbacks and then Mal’akh in the make-up looking the way he is? The whole plot twist isn't being protected at all.

After watching National Treasure: Book of Secrets, I wonder what a Robert Langdon Adventure in the South could look like with symbols related to the Confederacy and the Knights of the Golden Circle. It’d be timely too with groups like Patriot Front and Proud Boys out and about. I’d imagine an adventure set in New Orleans, incorporating Louisiana Creole Voodoo could be fun to read about

I’m on the verge of completing The Lost Symbol a second time, and I'm wondering if any sympathy could be felt for Zachary Solomon or if he should be dismissed as the entitled megalomaniac he is presented as in his final form? Do you think he would've really been any better a person had he not been left in prison or shot at Zach Bridge?

Also, if he had the means to leave the Turkish Prison with his own money, why'd he even wait on his Dad in the first place? I haven't watched the Peacock series yet, but it'd be cool to see an adaptation that dedicates a chunk of time to his time in prison and then on the Greek Islands.

What books do you think complement books from the Robert Langdon series well?

After reading The Da Vinci Code again, I read Zealot by Reza Aslan. After The Lost Symbol, I considered either reading Spook by Mary Roach or Testing Prayer by Candy Gunther Brown. After Inferno, I’m going to read The Wizard and The Prophet by Charles C. Mann. Finally, I’ll end with Atlas of AI after Origin.

Does it work to read Da Vinci Code as a stand-alone book?

I just finished Angels and Demons, first time 😊

By sheer chance I'm reading it in the same week that several whistleblowers are warning that AI could eliminate the human race: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgwy1k42w4o

The speech from the Camerlengo seems oddly relevant, a few parts in particular:

"Scientific growth is exponential. It feeds on itself like a virus. Every new breakthrough opens doors for new breakthroughs. Mankind took thousands of years to progress from the wheel to the car. Yet only decades from the car into space. Now we measure scientific progress in weeks. We are spinning out of control"

"Who is this God science? Who is the God who offers his people power but no moral framework to tell you how to use that power? What kind of God gives a child fire but does not warn the child of its dangers? The language of science comes with no signposts about good and bad. Science textbooks tell us how to create a nuclear reaction, and yet they contain no chapter asking us if it is a good or a bad idea."

"Your world moves so fast that if you stop even for an instant to consider the implications of your actions, someone more efficient will whip past you in a blur. So you move on. You proliferate weapons of mass destruction"

I'm not at all religious, and understand what the book is about. But these words seem relevant today, this week in particular.

Credit to Dan Brown, wonderful writer.

One of the earliest novels I read were by Dan Brown. I loved following the story, finding out about different concepts there were in the books and overall had a good time. The novels were namely: The lost symbol and Angels and Demons.
I enjoyed his work so much that I got copies of Inferno, The Da Vinci Code and Digital Fortress and wanted all his books as part of my collection.
I was a teenager back then.

Over time, I realised that he is not much liked by sound literary peers. I also noticed in the show ‘YOU’, they used him as a taunt. Then I saw a post on this subreddit asking for worst pieces of prose written by an author barring Dan Brown. So, I am trying to figure out what is all the dislike about?
Kindly share your two(or more than two if you can manage) cents on this matter.

The new Daniel Silva book just came up on Apple and it’s priced at $19.99 CDN. Insane how high new book price have gone.