The Lost Symbol

The Solomon Key is an unreleased novel written by author Dan Brown that will be released sometime in 2006. This will be the third book involving American professor Robert Langdon and will take place after the events of Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code.

Likely Content

There have been a number of educated guesses regarding the likely content of The Solomon Key. While Dan Brown has offered some hints in interviews, in large part most ideas to the likely content of the upcoming book come from an interesting marketing strategy used by Brown and his publishers. On the original jacket cover of The Da Vinci Code were a number of ciphers and symbols, the meaning of which was made clear when a web quest was posted on Dan Brown's website which referenced these clues. This competition made clear that the ciphers referenced the content of the next book from Dan Brown:

"Disguised on the jacket of The Da Vinci Code, numerous encrypted messages hint at the subject matter of Dan Brown's next book"

From these clues, it seems that the following will certainly play a part in the novel:

• The 'secret society' known as Freemasonry
• The Masonic connections of the Founding Fathers
• The esoteric architecture of Washington, D.C.

Author Greg Taylor, in his book The Guide to Dan Brown's The Solomon Key, says that it seems likely - based on Brown's track record - that the book will reference controversial subjects such as the non-Christian viewpoints of the Founding Fathers, and the fact that the most recent U.S. Presidential election was a choice between two members of the quasi-Masonic secret society, Skull and Bones.

Further research into the ciphers left on the dust jacket of The Da Vinci Code, and also into Brown's previous sources of information, suggest that the following are also possible plot devices in The Solomon Key:

• The Kryptos statue in the complex of the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Virginia (the web quest mentions it by name)
• The Mona Lisa's "right eye" (oeil droit in the web quest), possibly mixed with esoteric connections to the Eye of Horus (udjat) and the portrayal of George Washington on the U.S. dollar bill (see here).
• The Great Seal of the United States, which contains the alleged Illuminati symbol of an eye above an unfinished pyramid.
• The Information Awareness Office, which has as part of its logo the eye and pyramid mentioned above (David Shugarts, author of Secrets of the Widow's Son, made this connection after hearing Brown mention that he may include a certain super-secretive government department in his next novel).

External Links

• The Da Vinci Code Web Quest