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 The Lost Symbol, developed under the working title The Solomon Key, is a 2009 novel by American writer Dan Brown. It is a thriller set in Washington, D.C.
The story takes place over a period of 12 hours in Washington, D.C., with a focus on Freemasonry. Robert Langdon is invited by his friend and mentor Peter Solomon, a 33rd degree Mason and head of the Smithsonian Institution to give a lecture in National Statuary Hall at the United States Capitol.
Solomon asks him to bring a package he left with him for safekeeping, which we ultimately find out contains the capstone to a small Masonic pyramid hidden by Solomon in a sub-basement room of the Capitol. When Langdon arrives at the Capitol, instead of an audience he finds Solomon's severed right hand tattooed into a symbolic 'Hand of the Mysteries' seemingly pointing to the fresco The Apotheosis of Washington on the inside of the Capitol dome.
Solomon has been kidnapped by Mal'akh, his only son who he thought was dead, a brilliant, tattooed villain who is searching for an ancient source of power from what he believes is a single magical 'word'. Mal'akh demands Langdon unlock the Ancient Mysteries in return for Peter's life. In a fiery nighttime explosion, Mal'akh also destroys the Smithonsonian-sponsored laboratory of Dr. Katherine Solomon, Peter's younger sister, where she conducted successful experiments in the ability of the human mind to affect subatomic particles. In addition, the CIA is pursuing Mal'akh in the interests of National Security.
In a fast-paced series of chases, finding and decipering clues, and misdirection, Langdon is befriended by the Capitol Architect, who is also a 33rd Degree Mason, escapes the CIA chase with Katherine Solomon through the book-shuttle system of the National Archives, further outwits the CIA, is captured and seemingly drowned by Mal'akh, is rescued, and finally finds Solomon just after his son, Mal'akh, has been killed in front of him by falling glass. Solomon then takes Langdon, blindfolded, to the place and object which Mal'akh had attempted to obtain, the top of the Washington Monument and an education about what lies within its cornerstone. The 'word' sought turns out to be the hidden-in-plain-sight teachings of the Bible, as well as almost all other principal religious texts and secret societies, that all men and women are Gods, and that combined we form the mind of God, an interconnecting creative force which guides life and the universe.
Source: The Lost Symbol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
