How contemporary is Dan Brown’s recipe for success?

A golem roams the dark alleys of Prague. The clay creature has three Hebrew letters carved into its forehead, spelling out the word "truth." It leaves corpses in its wake on its quest for revenge.

The Golem is one of the protagonists in Dan Brown's latest novel, "The Secret of Secrets." His books, from "Illuminati" to "The Da Vinci Code," tell of secret societies and powerful organizations that pull the strings far from the public eye. They have been translated into 56 languages ​​and have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Fans of the American author had to wait eight years for a new adventure from symbol researcher Robert Langdon. In the meantime, the bestselling author has published a musical children's book and, by his own admission, has conducted more extensive research than ever before. The result is an 800-page tome, some of which feature Wikipedia-like inserts.

Dan Brown's trademark is interweaving fast-paced thriller plots full of cliffhangers with explanatory pieces. While his fans love this, it also brings him plenty of criticism. Brown's distinction between scientific findings and esoteric rhetoric is notoriously blurred. His epic conspiracy stories express a longing for meaning, for purpose in the inexplicable, but something crucial has changed since his last novel: a crude mix of half-truths and conspiracy myths is now thriving in the world of politics and social media. Not only does Brown's Golem believe he has a monopoly on the truth, but so does US President Donald Trump, whose own platform, "Truth Social," bears the noble truth in its very name. On this point, everyday discourse has overtaken fiction.

One can argue whether this makes Dan Brown less contemporary or, on the contrary, more visionary. His literary romps have so far been so appealing because they offer a cathartical release from archaic fears while relishing the thrill of creeping out under the sofa covers. But what if reality has become more horrific than fiction? What if a growing army of rulers and internet trolls divides the world into fake news and self-proclaimed "truths" according to their own taste?

Back in 2018, Brown, alluding to the original title of one of his most famous works ("The Da Vinci Code"), said: "If I wrote 'The Trump Code,' nobody would believe me. Reality has caught up with fiction." Nevertheless, Brown recently declared the erratic tech entrepreneur Elon Musk an exciting potential literary figure.

Swiss social scientist Marko Ković researches conspiracy theories. He explains their appeal to RND: "Films, series, and books in which a major conspiracy is uncovered simply tell exciting stories." Real-life conspiracy theories are also entertaining, "but they also give us the feeling of understanding why bad things happen. That's a very strong psychological need."

The basic element of the popular conspiracy thriller is the upright hero who uncovers the conspiracy and thus puts a stop to the powerful villains. In Brown's work, this role is typically played by the scientist Robert Langdon. Trump ultimately also uses such traditional narratives when he portrayed himself as an upright man who took action against the only alleged manipulation of the 2020 US elections.

Dan Brown addresses universal themes and humanity's ultimate questions, even if he sometimes overdoes it and delivers hair-raising resolutions, as in his predecessor, "Origin," which revolves around nothing less than the origin of the world. An intelligent computer system plays a major role in the novel – in light of the current AI revolution, the 2017 novel seems as prophetic as Frank Schätzing's early parable on climate change, "The Swarm" (2004).

Following the Illuminati and the Freemasons, the Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci, the poet Dante Alighieri's journey into hell, the legend of the Holy Grail, and the descendants of Jesus Christ, "The Secret of Secrets" explores human consciousness and Prague's mythology. Kafka's city, with its numerous spires, home of the Vltava River and melancholy, is a testament to Brown's choice of atmospheric settings. He had previously smeared the Louvre in Paris and the Vasari Corridor—the Medici's secret passage in Florence—with inkblood. His novels thus always read like a regional crime thriller, visiting all the tourist attractions.

In "The Secret of Secrets," the author remains true to his winning formula—the Dan Brown Code, so to speak—and once again explores the relationship between science and mythology. It is these references to art and history that remind the reader of their origins in the fleeting digital age. The 61-year-old weaves a captivating web of symbols and hidden meanings, following in the tradition of Umberto Eco, who also wove conspiracy-loving material in "The Name of the Rose" and "Foucault's Pendulum."

The reader involuntarily wonders what is fact and what is fiction in Brown's stories. As the foreword states, all the experiments are taken from reality. Even the sinister laboratories in Prague's underground that claim the life of a scientist in the prologue? The gruesome murder disrupts Langdon's business trip to Prague. Then his girlfriend, Katherine Solomon, disappears.

The scientist was about to publish a book that, it was claimed, would have "revealed groundbreaking discoveries about the true nature of human consciousness." Brown is sympathetic to the fact that he believes a scientific work can be so explosive. At the same time, the thesis testifies to a megalomania that is also revealed in the title:

"The Secret of All Secrets" – the translated title of the novel sounds ominous. One could also imagine this megalomaniac phrase in a post by Donald Trump.

Dan Brown: The Secret of Secrets (Translated from English by Dietmar Schmidt and Rainer Schumacher), Lübbe, 800 pages; 32 euros