Resident Book Review of “The Secret of Secrets”

Resident Ed Appel will review The Secret of Secrets: A Novel by Dan Brown. [New York: Doubleday, 2025], on Tuesday, January 20, 2026 at 7 PM in the Auditorium. This is his review for the January 2026 issue of The Sunburst.

When Dan Brown came out with his 2003 breakthrough best-selling novel, The DaVinci Code, he already had the formula to drive organized religion crazy, with a line of conspiracy thrillers that raise provocative questions. After all, who would suggest that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a child? In his latest book, The Secret of Secrets, it’s the nature of the mind itself that’s the topic.

Since DaVinci, Brown’s novels have been adapted into three major films and generated millions of fans. His books are published in 56 languages around the

world, with over 250 million copies in print. They include eight number-one best-sellers, with DaVinci selling over 81 million copies and becoming a commercially successful movie.

Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon (played by Tom Hanks in the trilogy of films based on Brown’s novels) is the hero of Secret. As in Brown’s other stories, he embarks on an unexpected adventure with a beautiful woman, this time his intended fiancée. A prominent noetic scientist, she has written a book that can upend humanity’s understanding of consciousness and even death. But to survive, the pair must navigate Prague’s frightening shadows and elude a malevolent force determined to stop them at any cost.

To hear any other Secret details, you’ll just have to come to the January book review!

Ed Appel, a writer, retired FBI executive, and consultant, is a Charlestown volunteer who previously reviewed three other books.