The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown
published 2025
I have been away for a while, and am now back and very
excited to read all your kind suggestions for future posts – I had posted (again)
a collection
of pictures from my files, asking for suggestions of books. Watch out
for more on this…
In the meantime, I was
asked by the i newspaper to review the new Dan Brown book, The Secret of Secrets: I
had very little time as I was going away, and I was going to have to read and
review in a very short window…. But I couldn’t resist and said yes, and enjoyed, in a specialised way, the whole thing, including the challenge of doing it thoroughly. (When I said
yes to the commission, I did NOT know that the book was nearly 700 pages long…
)
I wondered if my review was too mean, but I read some of
the other critiques in the rest of the press, and I was quite mild. There
is much to enjoy in the book – and millions of people will.
I collected too many quotes to fit into my review, so here I will just add a few more items:
- "I’m not accepting the alibi of a magical dream"
- Dan Brown likes a capsule description, and my absolute favourite was: "The mysterious Jewish writer Kafka" – every word true in its way, and yet…
Can't say I'm tempted, but welcome back!
ReplyDeleteSovay
Thank you! I'm not expecting a great take-up among my readers, but he is very popular...
DeleteI have to say, Moira, that I'm not at all a Dan Brown fan. But as you say, this one's likely to do very well, so who am I to say? At any rate, it's wonderful to have you back, and I was glad to get your thoughts on the book.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Margot. It was a fun project for me.
DeleteWelcome back, Moira, I hope you had a great time and thank you for taking one for the team. Somehow I don't think many of your readers will be Dan Brown fans. But yes, I am sure you are right (sigh ...) it will be a runaway success. Chrissie
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for giving me a good laugh. Love the review!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I aimed to entertain.
DeleteHope you enjoyed your holiday!
ReplyDelete"The mysterious Jewish writer Kafka" - a masterly selectiob of les mots injustes!
- Roger
I know, you put it so well.
Deletethere is a splendid scene where a walking tour guide tells his tourists “We have
an unexpected guest this morning! One of Prague’s most famous
celebrities!”and "the tourists spun around as if expecting to see Ivan Lendl or Martina Navratilova".
I quite hoped it would be mysterious Kafka, but it was actually the Golem. You couldn't accuse Dan Brown of writing a joke-filled book, but I did think that was funny.
And I enjoyed my holiday very much, thank you,
I’m happy you read this so I don’t have to!
ReplyDeleteSpot on, it is the archetype of my category of 'I read this so you dont have to'!
DeleteI will just add: "'For those who like that sort of thing,' said Miss Brodie in her best Edinburgh voice, 'That is the sort of thing they like.'" Chrissie
ReplyDeleteYes indeed. Good old Miss Jean Brodie always had the right word. My fear is always that I would not have been creme de la creme at all, but one of the pitiful others.
DeleteWelcome back! i'm joining the posers who will not be reading this book!
ReplyDeleteThat was "posters" not "posers"!
ReplyDeleteSome of us are both!
DeleteDo you get paid by the book, Moira, regardless of its length, or is there so much-per-page, but you have to prove you actually read it?
A happy mistype!
DeleteI am a most conscientious reviewer and would never not read the book properly - though in all truth there are plenty of people not so moral about it. It is often obvious if you read others' reviews of the same books.
I am offered the book and a fee, worked out by some mysterious algorithm - there are various considerations, but length not really one of them.
This one really was a lot of reading for the money, but to be fair to him, he does keep you going.
And when I watched all the extant Jane Austen adaptations for a piece earlier this year - well, there was 24 of them, so my hourly rate would have been remarkably low. But then I really loved doing it, no complaints.
I hear there's yet another Pride and Prejudice adaptation coming out? I have no info on it, don't know if it's the same as the Audible (or podcast? IMDb was vague) with Glenn Close as Lady C and Bill Nighy as Mr B. As if the world needed another one...but I guess every generation has to make it their own, so to speak.
DeleteYes, Netflix I think. Emma Corrin, Jack Lowden and Olivia Colman. In my piece on adaptations I said Olivia C should play both Mrs Bennett and Lady Catherine...
DeleteWell, there hasn't been a new Pride and Prejudice since the 2005 film, and no TV version since 1995, so I don't think it's unreasonable.