Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown

After so many years yet another Dan Brown novel and based on who else but the redoubtable Robert Langdon, whose eidetic memory and the speed with which he could link clues would put any processor to shame!! This time, after several books, he finally finds his pair, Katherine Solomon, who, if i am right, is only the second recurring character, apart from Langdon, obviously. She is a renowned noetic scientist and if "Origin" was pushing the boundaries with its theme, you should read this book!!! 

There were previous instances, especially the books leading to "Origin" were Brown was dwelling more on the creation moving slightly away from the creator, dabbling more into the sciences associated with that porous topic that is finding firm footing as we speak and is more evident in this book. As science advances more into unchartered territories, nothing could be more interesting or complex than what goes inside one's mind. As much as they try to explore the world beyond earth, something that is as easy to reach as to scratch one's head, no one can confidently tell how we think what we think and why we think what we think. In this book, there is an interesting premise that borders on something that we used to wonder as children, that every thing is already decided and done, we are just playback sessions of events that had already happened. Similar to that, the scientist lady in this book claims that, there is something called a collective consciousness cloud, like a cloud server literally in the clouds or somewhere above, to her credit she doesn't mention where this is stored though, from where we get inspirations. The more focused we are and determined towards a solution, we derive the "answer" or the inspired moment from that consciousness which literally means that, all this while what was thought as something internal is now lying outside of human body. In a way it tags along to the hindu concept of aatma and paramaatma and there are even references of Lord Muruga and his Vel in this book!!! Innum konja naal pona motha mythical literaryum namma oor pathi thaan irukum nenakren. 

The best part about a Brown or Rollins's books are that they entwine fact and fiction so tightly that we wouldn't be able to decipher one from another. The usual template of Langdon visiting an exotic European location, getting into some seminar that only ends in either the star speaker getting killed, kidnapped or about to be killed. Like younger sisters of yesteryear tamil movies, who will either get assaulted or married to villain's family to suffer throughout the movie, its a bane to be a speaker character in Robert langdon series of Dan Brown, onnu firstlaye wicket gaali illa till last chapter they would suffer near death!! In this book also, Langdon gets into trouble and for someone who is supposedly so well known wherever he goes for his knowledge, not a single police from any country could suspect him for any and all of the previous instances where he gets into trouble with every law agency of every place he ever visits!!! The usual chase across the scenic city where Dan Brown gets to explain everything he ever witnessed or availed in that city and the travel brochure like description of every major landmark about the city is followed in this book as well. The typical villain who will be super brainiac and super conformist of every nonsensical ritual only to falter at a trivial miss is depicted here as well. The twist being an "Anniyan" like characterisation or should is say "Anni"yan??? And the ease with which Langdon cracks code that would put ChatGPT to shame continues as well!! The way they've have linked epileptic seizures to brain getting unmanageable amount of inputs was interesting. I felt this book was much better than his previous books and even though he is losing steam on getting any more novel ideas, the fact that he is trying to build towards something is intriguing and interesting. May be he is planning a finale for Langdon series down the line with something that may tie it back across the series? 

A decent read which is quite pacy and Dan Brown fans may enjoy the references to the previous books and some of the comments on his writing style which has been included as a self mock or boast(?!) attempt.