Dan Brown's New Novel "Origin" (2017)

On December 21st, 2017 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon, will review Dan Brown's new novel "Origin" (2017). Other reviewers have called Origin either Brown's best or his worst novel. On a scale from one to ten we would give it an eight. As in all his thought provoking thrillers he follows the Dean-Koontz formula plotting for maximum suspense and action while keeping the big secret hidden as long as possible, thus managing to tantalize and entertain his readers as well as educating them into the essential mystery or problem central to the plot. In the Da Vinci code, it was the Holy Grail, in Inferno, it was the population explosion, in Origin it is the origin of life on earth and the destiny of the human race. Once again Brown creates a modern Frankenstein in the person of a billionaire inventor, computer programmer and futurist, Edmund Kirsch. Kirsch and his Android Igor "Winston" have decided to destroy religion by releasing a scientific documentary proving that there is and never was a divine creation and that humankind is rapidly evolving into a new species of cyborgs. (Much of this speculation has already been aired on documentary t.v. channels). Modern Spain is the venue for this drama and Brown treats us to his usual educational travelog. Before the world wide release of his production Kirsch is assassinated on stage (like Howard Beale) and this leaves Brown's hero Robert Langdon aided by the future queen of Spain and Kirsch's trusty A.I. "Winston" to find the secret Password to release the program. He does and they do -- but Langdon debunks Kirsch's premise that DNA evolved like amino acids in the primal soup of the earth's beginnings so God is saved. If you want to unravel the codes and untangle the twisted plot of this contemporary thriller tune in and we'll seek our Origin and our Destiny.