Dan Brown has achieved what every writer of fiction, if he or she is honest, both desires and envies. He managed, with The DaVinci Code, to stir up controversy and lawsuits that were covered by the press at great length, driving sales into the stratosphere.

That Mr. Brown is a moderately talented writer and that his book had nothing to distinguish it other than a controversial theme and breakneck pacing mattered not a bit. People raved about what a great book it was.

It wasn’t. Neither is this one. In fact, The Lost Symbol is essentially The DaVinci Code rewritten to encompass a new topic--Freemasonry in American history--and a new location, Washington DC. Other than that, it’s pretty much the same tale, with the same stock characters.

Somewhat ironically, Zumaya Enigma, our mystery/suspense imprint, released a true crime book at about the same time this one came out that actually has a basis in Freemasonry and the occult: Unveiling the Enigma: Who Stole the Hands of Juan Peron?

Let me be clear. I’m aware there are thousands, if not millions, of people who consider Mr. Brown and his works to be the superb reading material. I don’t happen to be among them, because I prefer my plots have some basis in reality and the characters who deal with them (a) be interesting and three-dimensional and (b) not pause in the middle of a hair-raising situation to expound on some academic/esoteric topic because that information is the only thing driving the plot. That Mr. Brown’s villain, in this case, might have been extracted from any of a dozen SyFy Channel B-movies doesn’t help.

So, if you can put up with the mind-numbing lectures on Freemasonry, American history and architecture, you’ll probably have a fairly good time reading this latest adventure. On the other hand, there’s a new Dean Koontz out, and Stephen King’s Under the Dome, which I’ll be discussing as soon as I get through it.