Well, what a start!

The Mozart Conspiracy has gruesome ritual murder, helicopters full of hard-eyed ex-military in black, shooting everyone, a grinning sadist (mutilated), an ex-SAS hero even tougher than all of them (one blow to the throat and they're dead), etc. The Masonic (secret society and old money villain - german aristocrat) plot almost vanishes in the mayhem.

Pyramid, on the other hand, starts with the murder of a professor (of course) but seems a bit sheepish about even that (it's in the Prologue) and from then on the protagonists spend a lot of time lecturing each other, amazed that someone hasn't heard of the Piri Reis map (and so explaining it), or the fact that many cultures have a myth about The Flood.  People occasionally get shot off in the distance, but (I kid you not) it even includes dialogue like:

"Bezumov - what is that?"

"This, Catherine, is a gun."

Essentially, this one is a fictionalised version of the author's great synthesis of all the alternative history stuff, Joseph Campbell, the transmission of ancient secrets through myth, and 'saving the planet'. It's quite a good synthesis, but becomes a bit literal, and improbable - and the great Illuminati 'Corporation' goes down with barely a struggle.

In the 60s it was The Morning of the Magicians (aka The Dawn of Magic) which sparked my interest, and it was The Magus that planted the paranoiac seed of rich men playing world-wide games with a helpless protagonist. For most people, I guess it was Von Daniken who opened the window on speculation.

And of course, then Illuminatus! appeared in the 70s, and blew the whole thing out of the water.  It seems curious to me that another 30-40 years pass before Dan Brown makes the thing a normal part of culture.  Even The Holy Blood, The Holy Grail only caused a small stir, like Alternative 3.  Fiction beats pseudo-history every time, for market penetration.

And so on to The Gaudi Key!

Very interesting! Translated from the Spanish - set in Barcelona - it had a lot to appeal to me.  Gaudi work still amazes and puzzles me, so it seems a rich source of intrigue.  Whether his major works are laid out to simulate a star map, etc - well, I don't know.  Someone on the writing forums described the Da Vinci Code as 1st rate art history lesson and 3rd rate thriller.  I guess something like that would form my summary of this.  It even included one of the No-No's from "How not to write a novel" - characters experiencing something weird and then saying "if this happened in a novel the reader would really have to suspend their disbelief."  But they didn't have an out-of-novel experience.

From my check list, it has ancient societies of Monks and Knights battling (Good and Bad), hidden in plain sight secrets (Gaudi clues), torture, grim deaths, etc, lots of talking heads explaining stuff to each other, as well as riddles that you might attempt to solve.  I can see tourists wandering around Barcelona with this as their guide book...   Amusing enough, and full of Gaudi-lore (although I don't know how much they made up) but finally, and weirdly, ending with a sort of mystical out [Teaser rather than spoiler] the last baddie seemed to dissolve rather than die, and perhaps the Christians win in the end.  I'd have to re-read the ending to feel sure about that...

Next - Dan Brown and The Lost Symbol.

I read this over the weekend, and found it surprisingly good.  I know he can write a page-turner, but I actually enjoyed this.  Now, using my list, I could mention the Masonic history (he elects for the Masons as the 'good guys' who would all too easily be portrayed as the bad guys), the tourist attractions around Washington DC, the grinning sadist (of course) the horrific torture of our heroes, the puzzles, etc.  Still, overall he intends the books as life-enhancing, I think.

For what it's worth, if you find the Magic Square (that figures strongly in the puzzles and plot) interesting, you might like to know the trick of creating your own. Orville Meyer (among others) has studied these - and my own esoteric childhood (into magic, rather than magick) means I had a go at them, as with many other mysterious, mathematical and magical mind games.   I remember seeing Ben Mack creating a spontaneous magic square in a video, and it certainly impresses people.

If you want to appear a genius, then you might find Meyer's guide - the Amazing Magic Square and Master Memory Demonstration - interesting, and you can download a PDF copy at Lybrary (the excellent online magic resource) for $7.

You can also find free resources online of course, just Google "Magic Square", and have a look at (say) MrExcel

I just read The Exodus Quest, which seemed amiable enough fun.  The usual archaeologists, and the conflict between 'good' archaeology and bogus, with characters lecturing and enlightening each other all the time. Not too much unpleasant violence I am glad to say, although people do get shot, etc, and nearly drown, etc... 

This is not so much a conspiracy thriller, though, more 'our hero on the run' (think Bourne, etc).

The most improbable bit remains the long lecture that our hero gives while running down a dark tunnel, carrying his unconscious girl-friend, escaping from a killer with an automatic weapon!  No, he's not lecturing the girl-friend, but another woman who is accompanying him.  Why she doesn't say "STFU and run!" I have no idea, but as they end up with the treasure it probably doesn't matter.   I'd say 'don't give up the day job', but apparently Will Adams the author did...and if the first two books seemed a bit tame, apparently his latest goes for nasty.  Hey ho. (serial killer, paedophile, see my previous list of ingredients).

As a flashback of relevant books, I just remembered The Templar Legacy, which starts with a particularly unpleasant torture scene (crucify an old man on a door, then slam the door - no laughing at the back, please) and goes on with South of France, monks with modern weapons,  secret monasteries, the battle for power between 'good' monks and bad, and all that. 

They are all starting to blur together. Have I even read 'The Last Templar?  I don't think so...