"The Secrets of Secrets" Doesn't Add Up

 

I’ve read most of the Dan Brown novels, and for the most part, they are fine. Yes, they usually have a conspiracy that can be seen as silly if you’re a serious scholar. Also, they are solid page turners. They are good fast reads. However, I couldn’t get over how silly the science at the core of the mystery was.

Before I talk about the problems with this novel, I’ll mention too good things about this one. Langdon finally dates a woman who is age appropriate, and the other is Brown keeps the action going, making this a solid page turner.

However, the problem with this novel is the core at the mystery is basically junk science. Robert Landon’s girlfriend, Katherine Solomon, is known as a Nordic scientist, and I had to look up what that is. According to Wikipedia, it’s a part of something called The Institute of Noetic Science. They study psychic abilities, mediation, life after death and other things that don’t really click with actual science. They are under the banner of alternative medicine, and that’s not a good start.

To make matters worse, the C.I.A. is trying to hide experiments on a Russian woman to prove something that has to do with mind reading. Even saying that out loudly, that sounds silly. I just couldn’t buy that. There’s also this mysterious stalker trying to uncover the experiments calling himself the Gollum, naming himself after a Jewish mystical figure. However, this character just seems to want revenge without really diving into what being the Gollum really means.

The C.I.A. really wants to destroy Solomon’s manuscript, and to me, that was the biggest nonsensical part of this book. There are a ton of books with questionable premises, even books considered non-fiction, so why would the C.I.A. think her book expose something if the idea sounds so ridiculous in the first place. There’re even bestsellers that are full of junk science, but serious scholars and journalists don’t take them seriously. No one would suspect that the C.I.A. would be involved either way, and the readers who believe in her book, wouldn’t have power to do anything anyway.

Look, Dan Brown isn’t a great literary novelist. Even among thriller and mystery writers, his proses is often just considered passable. It’s also too long, at 600+ pages.