The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown

However much I want a book I rarely fail to wait for the paperback so I started reading The Lost Symbol only recently. The hardback launch was amusing enough for me to photograph it at the time - I think I was in Vancouver, maybe Palm Springs. It is important to remember that a large part of Brown's output reached best seller status only after the phenomenal success of The DaVinci Code.

By the time Lost Symbol reached the shops in a welter of apparent over supply, the snipers were ready. I observed the reviews and decided to reserve judgement for my eventual and inevitable purchase. I am reminded that criticism, negative or otherwise and across the cultural spectrum is best validated, or moderated by personal, first hand experience.

I am glad then that I ignored the literary snobbery and opened the pages of this new volume for myself. I am now only on page 118 - nearly 119 - and I am gripped. It was described as silly and worse but it is no sillier than von Daeniken and flows considerably better. It is entertainment and it works for me. In my busy (if unimportant) life, it is worth setting aside a few minutes here and there to rejoin what Michael Palin might call a "ripping yarn". I am enjoying it and I think you would too.