Don't buy Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol: read these instead

What to buy instead of Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol

First Post writers choose books as exciting as a Dan Brown novel, but by better writers

FIRST POSTED SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Despite punishing reviews - Salman Rushdie famously described it as "a novel so bad that it gives bad novels a bad name" - Dan Brown's thriller The Da Vinci Code has proved to be one of the most popular novels of recent times, selling 81 million copies worldwide.

Today, amid considerable hoopla, Brown's latest, The Lost Symbol, goes on sale. Its publishers have ordered an unprecedented 'first print run' of 6.5 million copies and it is fully expected to become the biggest-selling adult (ie. not Harry Potter) fiction book of the decade.

And yet Brown's writing is universally ridiculed by reviewers and fellow novelists. Stephen King called his work the "intellectual equivalent of Kraft macaroni and cheese". The New York Times film critic AO Scott, while reviewing the Tom Hanks movie based on The Da Vinci Code, called the book "Dan Brown's best-selling primer on how not to write an English sentence".

And while you might not expect a linguistics professor at Edinburgh University to be taken by Brown's efforts, you would not perhaps expect him to be quite this rude: Geoffrey Pullum called Brown one of the "worst prose stylists in the history of literature". He added: "His writing is not just bad; it is staggeringly, clumsily, thoughtlessly, almost ingeniously bad."

This presumably explains why Dan Brown was recently revealed to be the "most donated" author in a survey of Oxfam stores: unable to wade through his leaden prose, many readers have simply discarded his novels.

In a vain effort to put up some sort of protest at today's brazenly commercial publishing event The First Post asked a number of writers and publishers to recommend an alternative thriller - something just as exciting, but well written. Their choices are below, but if you disagree, join the debate in the comments section at the foot of the page:

ALONE IN BERLIN by Hans Fallada
Recommended by Crispin Black, Intelligence analyst
A man and woman on the Unter den Linden omnibus outwit the Gestapo - for a while - and then get beheaded. By someone who was there. Exciting enough to make an Opus Dei bishop kick a hole in Dan Brown's windscreen.

THE TWELVE by Stuart Neville
Recommended by Ruth Dudley Edwards, historian and satirical crime novelist
Every page of this superb debut - about what happens when a ruthless ex-terrorist is driven through remorse to seek vengeance for his own victims - will grip, shake, stir, shock, move, astonish and thrill you.

THIS NIGHT'S FOUL WORK by Fred Vargas
Recommended by Geoffrey Mulligan, publisher-at-large for Harvill Secker
If I can't choose The Twelve - already picked by Ruth Dudley Edwards - then anything by Fred Vargas. She has won the Crime Writers Association International Dagger three times and is one of the most interesting and intelligent writers around.

THE DYING LIGHT by Henry Porter
Recommended by David Jenkins, Tatler writer and former First Post contributing editor
A rattling good story about Governmental wickedness, disappearing intelligence experts, sassy (and sexy) lawyers, the surveillance state and

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For those interested in historical novels - the series by Celia Boyd about Tom Fletcher, a young Worcester surgeon during the English Civil War, the most recent of which is "ACT OF REBELLION". Addictive good reading.

Posted by Thomas Allwright at 11:02am on September 15, 2009

Yes, well in response to all you pseudo-intellectuals, Dan Brown has appealed to over 84 million reders, so he must be doing something right! Jealousy strikes again.

Posted by Philip Thacker at 12:13pm on September 15, 2009

Try the C J Sansom novels set in Henry Viii time. Well written historical thrillers.

Posted by robert thornton at 12:15pm on September 15, 2009

Ironic, innit, that the words of support for Dan Brown come from a man incapable of spelling the word reader.

Posted by Seth Jacobson at 12:16pm on September 15, 2009

I would like to proffer CS Lewis's advice: for every new book you read, read one or two old ones. The old ones that have survived are timeless classics, not the dross which is recycled to Oxfam in a few weeks. How about 'The Epic of Gilgamesh' (Babylonian), 'The Story of Sinuhe' (Middle Kingdom Egypt), 'The Iliad' (8th century Greek), 'The Odyssey' (follows from the Iliad), or 'The Republic' by Plato - lots of good fables interspersed and not as difficult in the philosophical dialogue as you might think, whatever you do read any version except the appalling Benjamin Jowett translation. Or you could try CS Lewis's sci-fi trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength), or Charles Williams spiritual thrillers, 'Descent Into Hell' or 'The Place of the Lion' are good. Or 'The Worm Ouroboros' by ER Eddison for a Shakespeare-meets-Tolkien fest. Or Herodotos' Histories - mostly good stories. Go on, go back in time, enjoy yourself.

Posted by michael jose at 12:20pm on September 15, 2009

The Harry Flashman series by the late, much-missed George MacDonald Fraser, all 12 books. As Auberon Waugh said, "twice as good as Buchan and twenty times better than Fleming."

Posted by Mark Brittain at 12:49pm on September 15, 2009

Since when was it correct to start a sentence with the word 'or'?

Posted by Daniel Pallant at 1:40pm on September 15, 2009

Well said, Phillip Tacker, if more than eighty million people read the book then perhaps it was not too terrible. Like JK Rowling, Dan Brown has never considered himself the equal of Shakespeare and in this time of concern about declining interest in literature and competition from other media surely anything that gets children and adults to read is to be applauded rather than derided?

Posted by Manny Goldstein at 1:41pm on September 15, 2009

There are probably more than 80 million holocaust deniers out there. That doesn't mean the holocaust was a good idea. If I were to suggest some reading that might shed light on the Dan Brown enigma I might choose Charles Mackay's classic 'Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds'.

Posted by Holly Cox at 4:32pm on September 15, 2009

Offering a selection of books recommended by experts is a very useful service. Why not make it a weekly feature? I found this very informative and useful - thank you.

Posted by Vivien Tarkirk-Smith at 7:34pm on September 15, 2009

I suspect many of the suggestions are a little too grounded in reality to meet the craving that Dan Brown seeks to meet, which is essentially complex plot fantasy masquerading as an ostensibly more respectable literary form such as historical novel. But rather than consume this brain fattening confection masquerading as health food, perhaps they should go for something that is proudly and far more tastily a dessert for the brain, such as some classic science fiction space opera from the likes of masters such as Ian M Banks and Neil Asher.

Posted by Fred Smith at 7:36pm on September 15, 2009

Sorry to make the point, but there can only be TWO alternatives. As many options as you like though. I realise this is written by journalists, but it is useful to get the basics right when you write.

Posted by John Clare at 8:27pm on September 15, 2009

"The Spy Who Came in From the Cold". Quite simply the best spy thriller ever written. 40 odd years old and has never been beaten.

Posted by Hammer at 12:12am on September 16, 2009

I can start a sentence with a conjunction if I want, because I can, be it 'or', or 'and', or, like, whatever. Or not.

Posted by michael jose at 12:28am on September 16, 2009

In the Dan Brown genre but better, try 'The Last Templar' by Raymond Khoury, Macmillan. He has written for 'Spooks' too. Just a thought!

Posted by John Hatchard at 11:20am on September 16, 2009

When I am chaneling Crocodile Dundee, I love anything by Australian sardonic writer Peter Temple. But Alan Furst is great for his dark eastern post war Europe thrillers. One can smell of the stinky cheese and feel the damp.

Posted by melody kemp at 12:10pm on September 16, 2009

For mysteries with satisfying endings (unlike any of Dan Brown's novels) try any Peter Robinson - preferably begin at the earliest. Wonderful gripping stuff!

Posted by David Cornelius at 9:27pm on September 16, 2009

I am surprised that the reviewer did not suggest some Umberto Eco novels. I have long thought of Brown as Eco Lite. In particular Foucault's Pendulum, and of course, Name of the Rose, but even Baudolino shines next to the entire Brown corpus of pap.

Posted by John Wilkins at 8:27am on September 17, 2009

the DV Code was very funny for us Frenchies especially when the heroe (sorry, can't remember his name) asks the girl (French) if she has ever heard of an obscure king named Dagobert. Every French Child knows the song, c'est le roi dagobert qui a mis sa culotte a l'envers... I'd add to yr list all books by John Harvey and RJ Ellory

Posted by martine_silber@yahoo.fr at 10:37am on September 21, 2009

I agree with Vivien Tarkirk-Smith... this could well be a bi-weekly or monthly service. But why not broaden it out, so that one could have different genres such as thrillers, crime, sci-fi, historical, humour, etc. I know that they will inevitably overlap but, heh, its only a bit of fun.

Posted by martin gowar at 12:53pm on September 21, 2009

Quoting Stephen King to stain another author's "intellectual" capacity? Really? It's just fun fiction that happens to get some readers interested in researching history for themselves. Art is and always will be subjective. I happen to have enjoyed a few of Dan Brown's novels including Lost Symbol. Having stated that I would have to agree with Manny Goldstein as popularity mostly caters to the lowest common denominator. Take the Bible for example: Billions of us own a copy, but who among us could reasonably agree that the violence, obsenity, slavery, masogyny, etc. contained within would ever be considered a "good" thing in practice?

Posted by Billy Hutton at 2:15pm on September 21, 2009