The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Robert Langdon is invited, last minute, to give a lecture at our nation's capital.  When he arrives, instead of finding a waiting audience, he finds the severed hand of one of his dearest friends.  The whole thing is tied up with Masonry, and the CIA wants Langdon to interpret some curious symbols found in relation to the case.  Langdon worries that the CIA agent assigned to the investigation is somehow hiding ulterior motives.  He decides to follow the symbolic clues without the interference of the CIA, but with the help of some powerful Masons, and his friend's sister, a famous Noetic Scientist.

This is now the 4th Robert Langdon book I have read and it is very much like the others.  All the action,  takes place in one 48 hour period. There is an attractive woman who is along for the ride, the reader doesn't know quite who are the good guys and who are the bad.  One fun thing about this book is that I visited several of the places he describes during my two trips to Washington DC last year.  Another interesting element was that the "big scandalous truth" that is revealed through the course of the adventure, is something my religion believes as part of their core doctrine. I think it was supposed to be shocking to readers, but, to me, not so much.  I read this aloud with my husband and he seemed to enjoy it too, though it took a couple of months for us to get through it since we were only reading a chapter or two each evening. (2009, 509 p)