“In a blinding flash, a frightening memory materialized in Gessner’s consciousness. She now realized where her physical body was lying at this very instant…and, even more terrifying, what was being done to her. She was on her back, tightly strapped into a machine she herself had created. A monster stood over her. The creature looked like some kind of primordial man who had crawled out of the earth. His face and hairless skull were coated with a thick layer of filthy clay, cracked and fractured like the surface of the moon. Only his hate-filled eyes were visible behind his earthen mask.”
That’s a passage from Dan Brown’s novel The Secret of Secrets. Gessner is a scientist working on a top-secret project for the CIA. The monster is someone disguised as the Golem of Prague who sees themself as the protector of Sasha, a young woman who has been unknowingly used as the subject of Gessner’s research.
As the story begins, Robert Langdon has arrived in Prague with his love, Katherine Solomon. Katherine, a noetic scientist, was invited by Gessner to give a lecture on her soon-to-be-published book that reveals her groundbreaking findings on the human consciousness, including out-of-body experiences and what happens at death.
As the book jacket says, when Katherine goes missing, “Langdon embarks on a thrilling race through the mystical landscape of Prague, ruthlessly hunted by a powerful organization and a chilling assailant sprung from the city’s ancient mythology.” On a page before the prologue, Brown lists three facts including this chilling one: “All experiments, technologies, and scientific results are true to life.”
Dan Brown never disappoints, so if you’re a fan of his work, then you must read The Secret of Secrets.
