Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol
One word review: Bwahahahahahahaha!
On the bright side, he did move a smidge away from the formula of the other two Robert Langdon books, since this one doesn't open with an improbable murder and the killer isn't being manipulated by a religious figure. On the not so bright side, we still get the absolutely ridiculous killer, a woman with close ties to an older man who (in this case) is in jeopardy (usually he's dead), difficulties with the authorities (okay, that's almost par for the course in adventure novels), a very tight time frame, and absurd religious gobbledy gook. Undoubtedly, there are all kinds of botches on geography and history as well, but I'm not an expert on Washington DC or the Freemasons, so I couldn't tell you what they are.
The absurd killer is (shocking reveal! not) the older man's son, something I guessed as soon as I read that the killer had been in a foreign prison with said son and knew for sure when I read that he'd overheard the man not pay for the son's release and made a bargain with the jailor to share the son's money. He's also hairless and covered in tattooing that is supposed to be impressive but had me chuckling in amusement. "...his feet, which were tattooed with the scales and talons of a hawk. Above that, his muscular legs were tattooed as carved pillars - his left leg spiraled and his right vertically striated. Boaz and Jachin. His groin and abdomen formed a decorated archway, above which his powerful chest was emblazoned with the double-headed phoenix...each head in profile with its visible eye formed by one of Mal'akh's nipples. His shoulders, neck, face, and shaved head were completely covered with an intricate tapestry of ancient symbols and sigils." *sporfle* I mean "oh horror!"
There's stuff about the noetic sciences, there are cryptic clues that only Robert Langdon can decypher, there are over the top characters, and the great revolation that the Freemason's biggest secret is that we are all god. Oh, and a terrible threat to national security! A CIA operation level threat! A home video of Freemason rituals that include Freemasons who are American politicians! Wait, what? It is no secret that there are and have been American politicians who are (or were in life) Freemasons. It is also no secret that Freemasons have wonky rituals. In fact, some of those rituals were discussed on a History Channel program a few days ago. (A program that also mentioned Yale's Skull and Bones society, which has had at least two presidents as members. And features wonky rituals. Oh, the HORROR.)
In short: Bwahahahahahaha.
I mean, if you take it as silly fluff, it's kind of fun, though I had more interest in a couple of side characters than in any of the main characters. And I found it sort of disgusting that the killer only killed women. Oh, no wait, I'm sorry, the only people he killed "on screen" were women. Wait, that doesn't help. Hm, on the whole, I prefer Clive Cussler for my silly fluff. He's more acurate (when not being as down to earth as your average Roger Moore Bond flick) and has no pretensions that I know of. And at least avoids random women in fridges. (Seriously, I don't know why the killer had to off the main woman's assistant and a happless security guard, but chose to leave alive other people. Oh, wait, he did kill one male CIA agent on camera. My mistake, it wasn't all women. It still left a bad taste in my mouth.)