The Secret of Secrets: A Novel (Robert Langdon) Hardcover – September 9, 2025

WOW! If you love thrillers, read this book!It has been more than two decades since I first picked up “The Da Vinci Code,” a novel that consumed me so thoroughly I finished it in just two days. Now, with Dan Brown’s latest work, “The Secret of Secrets,” I felt that familiar pull again; though this time it took me five days to reach the end, which i just did this morning. That pace says far more about me than about the book: I’m in my fifties now, working 50-hour weeks, need 8 hours of sleep a night,and simply can’t devour novels at the same clip I once did. Yet, despite the slower progress, Brown’s new novel gripped me with the same intensity as his modern classic.From the very first chapters, The Secret of Secrets announces itself as a return to form. Brown once again marries history, science, and religion with razor-edged suspense, challenging readers to question what they thought they knew about the world. Like The Da Vinci Code, this is not a passive read; it’s an active experience. I frequently found myself pausing mid-chapter to Google frontier scientific research, a legend, or a location, just to see how much of it was grounded in fact. Brown has always excelled at blurring the lines between scholarship and speculation, and here he does it with a renewed sharpness.The book unfolds across an astonishing 140 chapters, each one a tightly wound spring of tension. True to form, Brown structures his narrative around cliffhangers that almost dare you to set the book down, only to ensure you’ll pick it right back up. Every chapter ends with a twist or revelation that spins the story in a fresh direction. The effect is relentless forward momentum driven by the kinetic circumstances thrown at Robert Langdon, a hallmark of Brown’s thrillers, and here it feels particularly refined.As ever, the stakes are sky-high. The central mystery of The Secret of Secrets is nothing less than civilization-shaking, touching on ideas that strike at the core of belief, truth, and the hidden forces that shape human history. Brown’s great gift is to make you feel those stakes personally, as if the very fabric of your own worldview is unraveling alongside his protagonist’s. The suspense never lets up, and just when you think you’ve grasped the answers, another layer of deception is revealed.Equally compelling are the exotic settings through which the story unfolds. From hushed libraries and candlelit subterranean halls to sprawling plazas and shadowed alleys in faraway cities, the novel doubles as a globe-trotting travelogue. Brown’s eye for architectural detail and cultural nuance once again makes his settings feel like characters in their own right. More than once, I found myself jotting down names of locations, inspired to imagine journeys beyond the page.But perhaps what distinguishes The Secret of Secrets most is not just its entertainment value, but its ability to linger. Long after closing the book, I found myself revisiting its questions, its revelations, and its provocations. Brown doesn’t tie everything up neatly with a bow. Instead, he leaves you wrestling with the very ideas he’s unearthed, precisely what made The Da Vinci Code so impactful in the first place.Is this Brown’s best work since The Da Vinci Code? Unquestionably. While he has written successful novels in the years between, this one captures that same lightning-in-a-bottle alchemy of intellect, suspense, and sheer readability, all delivered at breakneck speed. It is as though Brown has circled back to his greatest strength: not merely telling a story, but unsettling the reader’s sense of reality.For fans who have been waiting for Brown to reach those heights again, The Secret of Secrets is the book we’ve been hoping for. I personally am so glad that he found that magic again. It’s a novel that thrills as much as it enlightens, entertains as much as it disturbs. And if, like me, you find yourself poring over Google searches late into the night, don’t be surprised. That is precisely the kind of spell only Dan Brown can cast.

This is a stunner, perhaps the best DB book since The Da Vinci Code.My philosophy of reviewing is that it involves three questions. What did the author set out to do? Did the author accomplish that? Was it worth doing? In the case of DB we have a specific kind of book. It has a pile-driver plot. It has interesting characters but it is not really character-driven. It is popular fiction. In addition to plot its long suits are setting and subject matter. Here we are largely in Prague, with momentary side trips to New York City.The title refers to consciousness (Langdon’s girlfriend Katherine has written a book on the subject). Consciousness is indeed the most challenging element of brain science and it includes both scientific and spiritual dimensions of immense importance. In the novel the plot is advanced by the principal fact that Katherine Solomon’s book on the subject keeps disappearing; someone does not want this book to hit the booksellers’ shelves. Who? Why?DB writes this story with a hand tied behind his back. He requires that the science all be right (this may make it somewhat fanciful, but not science fiction) and that the setting (also something strange and almost mystical) be rendered faithfully and honestly.Bottom line: this is the kind of writing which requires enormous planning and research. At the same time it must be intelligible to a broad range of readers and it must be plausible.The book succeeds on all counts. It is both the ultimate popular read and something with fascinating and important scientific/spiritual content.It is, unmistakably, a ‘Dan Brown book’. It is not Dostoevsky; nor was it meant to be. Those who write condescending reviews of it should themselves attempt to write such a book and they should be reminded that readers can enjoy and admire a wide range of genres and styles. (Yes, I wrote this review after reading a snooty review by an individual who probably longs for an audience as wide as DB’s. And, yes, there is also some puritanism at work there. Great 18thc readers like Addison and Samuel Johnson knew that ‘honest pleasure’—the kind that will neither send you to prison nor to hell—was a great desideratum in our culture, a lesson that is often lost on those who consider such pleasure beneath them.)

Dan Brown delivers another tightly woven thriller, rich with meticulous research and intellectual intrigue. Secret of Secrets revisits familiar ground while offering fresh angles, with the return of Katherine Solomon adding both intellectual weight and a subtle romantic thread. The central topic is fascinating—rooted in history, science, and esoteric mystery—and Brown’s signature suspense keeps the pages turning with satisfying twists and turns.That said, the story takes its time finding momentum. The setup, while detailed and immersive, stretches longer than necessary before the real action begins. Once the narrative finally hits its stride, however, it becomes the gripping, fast-paced ride Brown is known for.In sum, Secret of Secrets is a rewarding read for fans of historical puzzles and high-stakes thrillers—engaging, thought-provoking, and suspenseful, even if it demands a bit of patience upfront.