Heart says

I loved The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, and I enjoyed Deception Point and Digital Fortress. But the Lost Symbol just didn't really click for me. I dunno what it was, but something was just lacking.

In this book, Robert Langdon just didn't really feel like Langdon to me. He was always dismissing possibilities and refusing to speculate stuff, and he just didn't seem to be the same Langdon from DVC and A&D. Admittedly, it has been several years since I read those 2 books, but in the Lost Symbol I was constantly getting annoyed by him and his attitude.

I also felt that the mystery and plot this time around wasn't quite up to scratch. I guessed a fair bit of the major plot a long way ahead of time, and the mini plot twists were all quite easy to guess how they would be resolved (at least in my opinion). And while I understood some of why what the main bad guy (Mal'akh) was up to was bad, I felt it was greatly over-exaggerated to be a bigger deal. The main baddie was introduced within about the first 5 chapters or something, which I felt detracted a bit from the overall mystery and plot as I liked the feeling in DVC and A&D that there was a greater mastermind manipulating the events behind the villian/thug who Langdon kept running into, and I just hoped from the moment Mal'akh was introduced that this would be the case too.

Also, I just didn't feel that the plot was overly intriguing or gripping, and I don't know whether I just wasn't particularly fascinated by the Mason-plot or whether it was because I felt the book was not as good as the previous 2 Langdon ones, or maybe it was because it was set in America as opposed to Rome and Paris, cities of greater intrigue and love for me.

Overall, for a Langdon book by Dan Brown, I was fairly disappointed. It was a decent book, but it just did not live up to my expectations as a fan of the Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons. It might have been a bit better if Robert Langdon hadn't been the protagonist but obviously would have required a lot more in terms of character set up and development. It may have been better if it wasn't a Dan Brown book. Basically, it was a good book, but not great.