Dan the don: The Da Vinci Code author returns after eight years with his latest book ‘The Secret of Secrets’

Robert Langdon has had sleepless nights for decades (he could be a new mother). He never gets a full night’s rest. In ‘The Da Vinci Code’, he is woken up at 12.32 am, dragged out of bed to view a bloody murder at the Louvre; in ‘Angels and Demons’, it is at 5.14 am to see a naked corpse branded with Illuminati; in ‘The Lost Symbol’, his evening begins with him getting involved with a disturbing object that carries a message. In comparison, in ‘The Secret of Secrets’, his latest book after eight long years, Robert has not had a restful night and his day, readers hope, will be endless and an adrenaline binge fest.

This time he is sleepless in Prague. His lover, Katherine Solomon, had a nightmare and woke him up. He is returning from his morning swim in Prague when all hell breaks loose. The grotesque figure wearing an outlandish tiara with black spikes she dreamt of appears before Robert as he crosses the Charles Bridge. The plot of ‘The Secret of Secrets’ is wafer-thin. Yet, it begins with a bang. It is a roller-coaster ride where logic isn’t in the driver’s seat. And that is the only way to enjoy it. If you’re looking for anything more, jump off.

Robert has had his share of women. If you’re a Harvard professor in Symbology obsessed with ancient artefacts, the way to find romance is to walk into a conspiracy to destroy the world at night. Vittoria Vetra appeared in ‘Angels and Demons’; ‘The Da Vinci Code’ saw Sophie Neveu and Sienna Brooks was his dalliance in ‘Inferno’. Katherine appears in ‘The Lost Symbol’. But now Robert is smitten. At 62, four years younger than her, his devotion has all the ardour of a Labrador puppy.

But Katherine has “playful eyes”, “mesmerising intellect” and “deepening” laugh lines. She is a noetic scientist — the study of human consciousness, as she puts it — and her ground-breaking new book is due to be out (it could be paradigm-altering like ‘A Brief History of Time’). But the powers that be are out to stop it from seeing the light of day. The publisher, no prizes for guessing, is Penguin Random House. Robert’s editor is Jonas Faukman, an anagram for his own editor Jason Kaufman (Robert’s last book has not done so well, quite like Dan’s last book ‘Origin’. It was the only book that did not get turned into a film).

What follows is a race to destroy the book, including hacking the publishing house’s server and a plot that is so twisty that it leaves you dazed. Katherine disappears, turning Robert into her saviour. He rushes across Prague, being chased by Czech law enforcers and a rather dodgy American ambassador. There are plots within plots and a mysterious Golem clad in clay and a hood out to kill. And the mysteries of the brain.

‘The Secret of Secrets’ is perhaps his most ambitious novel. A 671-page heavyweight book to thrill is a huge gamble to take (his other books did cross the 600 mark, but the times were slower. The last 200-odd pages fly by). But Dan is nothing but a gambler. If his earlier books were about secret clubs, this book takes on the realm of what was science fiction, but now is real. This shift, courtesy Katherine — it is her theories that are at the heart of the book — is perhaps the flaw. Robert is out of his depth and is a knight in shining armour but not always as a code-breaker. Many times in the book, you wonder like Robert when he discovers the super-secret on human consciousness. “Is this really happening?”

Instead of art and religion, ‘The Secret of Secrets’ tackles the questions of what lies beyond, the paranormal, the out-of-body experiences, death, a programme to control not thoughts, but the mind — just enough fact to blend it with fiction, the kind of conspiracy theory of alternate reality that can keep people hooked.

The book starts with the standard fact that all artworks are real, all experiments and scientific results are true to life and all organisations are real too. Throw in Stargate, CIA’s secret project that involved employing psychics and people with ESP to “remote view’’ Russian military installations. It is crammed with the larger questions of human consciousness. In many ways, the book is written for readers who can compress complex ideas into 140 characters simplistically, and are addicted to the hit that an Insta reel gives them. It is junk food in an age of organic quinoa.

The king of horror, Stephen King, described Dan as “the intellectual equivalent of Kraft macaroni and cheese”. But the barbs aside, Dan sells. He has made millions with only seven Robert Langdon cases (his current value stands at $175 million). Unlike other writers, he spends years researching and doesn’t trot out a new book each year. This is why any new title by him is not just a book, but a publishing event. It is a creation of myth — carefully crafted by publishers — that spans continents. Translated into 57 languages, including Ughur, Dan is more than just a writer, he represents the possibility of business. Each book comes tailor-made as a guide — as the cities that they are set in form an integral part of the story.

Florence, the golden-lit city, has seen the benefit of ‘Inferno’ with visitors pouring in. He put Rosslyn Chapel on the tourist map in Scotland. Even snotty Louvre realised the power of an American bestseller and organised a tour, one not focused on its art. This summer, Prague is gearing up for tourists with specially crafted cocktails and tours. The city woke up early to head to Old Town Hall, turned into a pop-up bookstore, where they queued up to buy the book. It is no different in Delhi, where the book is selling briskly. Dan can be relied upon to sell copies. The ‘Da Vinci Code’ became a cult. In 2009, when there was a worldwide slump, ‘The Lost Symbol’ sold 8.3 million copies in the first 24 hours.

He emerged in the early 2000s and just like his character Robert, Dan was not glib. He was reclusive, reticent and almost vanilla (he started drinking coffee only when he was 30). His father was a mathematician. His mother was a believer. If his father was a man of science, his mother swore by the Bible. This battle between science and religion — the two most powerful forces — and his own inner tussle fuelled his books.

It was reported that he corresponded with his wife Blythe by email even if they were in the same house. He wanted to be a singer, but became a writer instead. He wore anti-gravity boots to clear his head, and recreated for his readers the boyish thrill that he felt at the treasure hunts his parents set up for him on Christmas.

Eight years is a long wait for a new book. The world has changed. There was Covid, conspiracy theories that Dan offers have occupied mainstream and the average attention span has shrunk to a blink of an eye from when ‘Origin’ hit the stands. His world has changed too. His divorce has been bitter. Blythe accused him of having multiple affairs, including one with his horse trainer. She was his first reader, and researcher. He now appears on Instagram with his dog Winston as the first reader. Unlike Blythe, Winston is not a natural.

At almost Rs 1,500, Dan Brown’s ‘The Secret of Secrets’ is a commitment, and an expensive one. When bingeworthy content is available at a click — the book costs a little less than Netflix for a year on the mobile — will you give it a miss? It doesn’t matter to Dan. ‘The Secret of Secrets’ will soon be a Netflix show, out next May. Dan has already got a winner on his hands. But does his publisher?

— The writer is a literary critic