Here is an oddity of a book, the kind that we only really get when a Dan Brown book or film remake comes out – Brown’s unique mastery of drama fiction matched equally by “the real story”.

It is hard to fault this book, in that it does what it says on the cover. But do not be fooled by the carbon copy Dan Brown graphics. This is as far removed from his conspiratorial roller coaster world as you can get. As it does say on the cover, the book is a word for word copy of the rites of Masonry, together with other experts from Masonry’s past on the theory of what the rites actually mean. This is a book clearly compiled or reprinted (I could not work out which) to cash in on a monster that is The Last Symbol.

In the book, the documents date from the mid-eighteenth century, with some reputed to be from ‘ancient times’. That rather special Mason Benjamin Franklin features heavily as does George Washington and his rather dashing apron . But as any Freemason will (or rather shouldn’t) tell you the rites and the meaning thereof are nonsensical – their meaning lost to time and circumstance and the wording antique. Perhaps they meant nothing in the first place.

The crux of any secret society is its unique rites and, well, secrecy. What happens when the meaning is lost? It makes the secret more appealing, adherents eager to get to that next step – there are believed to be 33 rites in Speculative Freemasonry. The other point is that even reading in plain text the rites as they are practiced in Lodges shows them as amateur dramatics practiced by middle-aged men in darkened rooms. More importantly this book does not really give away the secrets. The texts have been there, published and reprinted, for a century or more.

Rather than buy this book I would point the reader in the direction of any Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas book. Start with The Hiram Key, their original and best work. The team are Freemasons who were spurred on by the rites to investigate their ancient origins. Like any esoteric book they are prone to leap from shaky hypothesis to shaky conclusion. This makes the book no less thrilling and a great introduction to the murky world of the Masons. Their investigation of the Turin Shroud in The Second Messiah is also highly recommended.

I am reminded of the fiasco that followed the blockbuster hit that was The Da Vinci Code, specifically the court case involving Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln and their book Holy Blood, Holy Grail. They alleged that their ideas were at the core of the Da Vinci Code, and that as such they had a monopoly on this view. Either alternative books such as The Hiram Key are non-fiction history, pitting their views against the establishment. Or they are pure fiction, made to get readers like me excited about another alternative world. Seen in this context, the fictional thrillers of Dan Brown are perhaps the more honest form.

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