In 2003, when Dan Brown’s novel The DaVinci Code became a pop culture phenomenon – selling tens of millions of copies – a number of us involved in the ‘alternative history’ scene were amazed to find that the central theme of his book was the possibility that Jesus had fathered a child, framed within the related mystery of the French village of Rennes-le-Château and the ‘secret society’ known as the Priory of Sion.
Amazed because, for a number of years before this point, I and a few thousand others had debated over the controversial hypotheses on these topics offered in alt-history books like Holy Blood, Holy Grail and The Templar Revelation (books directly cited by Brown in the novel, and the authors paid homage to) on mailing lists devoted to discussing questions related to them (yes kids, that’s how we did it before social media came about). And I posted news about the topic, as I came across it, right here on The Daily Grail years before Dan Brown’s megaseller was released (we started way back in 1998).
Then, when it was discovered that Dan Brown had left clues to the topics that would be covered in his next novel on the cover of The DaVinci Code, I found that I was so well acquainted with those as well that I was able to write a book explaining those topics – a good four years before the novel even came out (I actually heard on the grapevine from some publishers that I had caused Dan Brown some consternation with my book, and was possibly the reason for some changes of topic and the book’s title…however, I cannot confirm that)!
Fast forward to 2025, and Dan Brown has just released his latest thriller based in the world of symbologist Robert Langdon, The Secret of Secrets. It very much sticks to the formula of his previous novels: Robert Langdon wakes up in a European city (this time around, Prague) and over the course of around 24 hours goes on a wild adventure in which he explores the esoteric landmarks of the city in question, solving puzzles in order to eventually solve the core mystery at the heart of the story, all while evading a monster-like killer.
** Mild spoilers related to topics discussed in The Secret of Secrets follow **
And the core themes explored in this latest novel are, once again, pure Daily Grail material. If Dan Brown doesn’t visit us for inspiration, he probably should, because we’ve written about so many of the topics he touches on in The Secret of Secrets (and more).
Near-death experiences? Check. Daryl Bem’s “Feeling the Future” paper on ‘presentiment’? Check. Pods for exploring altered states of consciousness? Check. Pyramid shafts pointing at stars? Check. Crossovers between the psychedelic DMT and NDE reports? Check. Rewiring the brain using meditation? Check. The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab? Check. Military research into psychics? Check. Savant Syndrome? Check. Ganzfeld experiments? Check. The remote-viewing documentary Third Eye Spies? Check. The Tibetan Book of the Dead? Check. The Institute for Noetic Science? Check. The reincarnation memories of James Leininger? Check. And the list goes on and on!
Daily Grail readers will also recognize a lot of the names mentioned in the book: Dean Radin, Stan Grof, Ingo Swann. Terence McKenna, Michael Pollan, Rick Doblin/MAPS, Doctor John Dee, Raymond Moody, William James, Timothy Leary, and many more.
If you haven’t guessed from the above, the plot of the novel revolves around scientific research into altered states of consciousness, psychically retrieved information and ‘afterlife’ states, so everything from psychedelics to near-death experiences are discussed. This topic comes via the research of major character Katherine Solomon, who returns from her original appearance in The Lost Symbol some 16 years ago, now as Langdon’s partner, romantically as well as joining him over the course of this adventure in Prague.
Since the appearance of Solomon and the Institute of Noetic Sciences in that earlier novel, Brown has obviously immersed himself even further into these topics. He goes in depth into various aspects of them, weaving them into the plot so comprehensively and explaining so much detail that at times the book feels more like he’s ‘Dansplaining’ parapsychology research and its history to his readers. (I did take issue with some of his characterisations though, such as saying the near-death experience memories were usually fleeting and confusing; the opposite is usually the case.)
And the book is hefty: it comes in at close to 700 pages in length. But as is always the case with Dan Brown novels, the story moves along rapidly and readers likely won’t find themselves bored at any stage. While many people get sniffy about Dan Brown not being ‘literary’, I think it’s worth remembering that his books are basically the book equivalent of ‘pop music’, usually sticking to familiar structures, keeping things easily digestible, and ‘hooking’ you through certain tactics. In Brown’s case, those tactics are short chapters which often end on a cliff-hanger (or leave a secret unanswered), that then change to a separate storyline in the next short chapter, then return to resolve those unanswered questions in a following chapter.
Another of Brown’s trademark inclusions, that I think really worked well in The DaVinci Code, are largely missing in this latest book though, to its detriment: puzzles. His biggest selling book engaged readers with a number of codes and puzzles to be solved, but there are only a few this time around.
Another aspect of the book that might struggle to match up to the levels of The DaVinci Code, in my opinion, is the choice of city. Don’t get me wrong, Prague is a beautiful city with a rich history, and plenty of it esoteric. But most readers would struggle to identify the landmarks that Langdon visits in The Secret of Secrets, as compared to the well-known locations in The DaVinci Code (in Paris and London), Angels and Demons (Rome), and The Lost Symbol (Washington D.C.). (I’m still amazed that he hasn’t set anything in Cairo yet, given the pyramids/Sphinx and museum locations available, and the theories of Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval, Robert Schoch and John Anthony West etc!)
But those readers (like me) who enjoy reading about some of the esoteric locations in a ‘lesser known’ European city will certainly find a lot to like about this latest book, even if some photos or maps might have helped (there is a map of Prague at the start of the book, but it might have been good to have more ‘zoomed in’ versions in relevant parts of the storyline).
Personally, a lot of the esoteric topics discussed in this novel were more than familiar to me, but I can imagine neophyte readers being blown away by a lot of this research (even if Brown does perhaps overstate the extent of positive results in these fields). It might not have the culturally explosive impact of a possible Jesus bloodline, but it’s still pretty wild stuff, and I’d imagine it will bring a lot of new eyeballs to these topics, even if Dan Brown’s readership isn’t as large as it used to be.
One other aspect of the book that might polarize readers is the ‘meta’ aspect to it. Brown has always had a bit of fun in his novels, weaving some parts of himself into Robert Langdon, as well as paying respect to people who helped him create the book or provided some of the original research. And in this latest book he makes Langdon’s editor ‘Jonas Faukman’ (a barely disguised anagram of Brown’s real-life editor, Jason Kaufman) a more central character. But further to that, he makes a central part of the plot the handing in of a final manuscript to that editor, as well as the security structures put in place to stop people and groups from hacking in and stealing the highly sought after book draft (the book literally names the real-life book piracy website Library Genesis/LibGen). For some, this self-referential plot might be cute; for others, maybe a little self-indulgent.
But overall, The Secret of Secrets is another easily read, fun jaunt from Dan Brown, that folds in esoteric locations and a bunch of the strange topics that we love to read about here at the Daily Grail (and maybe that Dan Brown reads here too?). Anyone wanting high literature should stay away; but, for those after a simple ‘pop’ read that explores a bunch of fascinating Daily Grail-related topics while providing some escapism, it’s another enjoyable Robert Langdon adventure.
The Secret of Secrets is available from Amazon.com (and every other bookseller on the planet, no doubt)
