The rumours of a plot leak from Dan Brown’s newest book, The Lost Symbol, seem to be true. Doubleday Publishers confirm it. The new book will apparently centre around George Washington and secret reason for the American reverses early in the Revolutionary War. Washington, a true and clandestine Tory, was secretly communicating Colonial war plans to the British via Benedict Arnold, Washington’s secret illegitimate son [that's going to raise a few hackles!].
At the end of his life, Washington’s conscience gets the better of him, and he write a confession that is buried with him in his tomb at Mount Vernon. A scholar discovers Washington’s confession and is murdered by the CIA, who fear that his find will destroy the patriotic mystique of America’s founding father and demoralize the country. The murdered scholar manages to contact Robert Langdon by phone just before his death, with the killer still in the room.
The resulting chase takes Langdon across the Washington capital as the CIA and the FBI, having traced the call, close in. Langdon is contacted by a shadowy female representative of the Masons, a legitimate secret society of which Washington was once [sic] a member. Langdon discovers that the Masons based their foundation on a worship of King George III of England [sic] and his Queen, Charlotte Sophia, as Earth-bound divine figures with connections to the sacred feminine.
The CIA and FBI, learning of the connection of the Masons to Washington and the truth of their country’s founding, target both them AND Langdon. Langdon and his new Masonic female sidekick must go head to head with the forces of the American government in a desperate gambit to get the truth out to the country by television broadcast. Note: In the end, they do not manage to do so.
(The Freemasons are again depicted as being part of a conspiracy. It should be a good read for the holidays. Our thanks go to Prof. Paul Rich of Washington DC who supplied these advance details - Ed.)
