I blame JK Rowling. Her Harry Potter publishers Bloomsbury kicked off the trend of "releasing" book covers to eager fans months ahead of publication of the book itself, and now Transworld is following suit with the latest Dan Brown thriller, The Lost Symbol.
Apparently, "for the first time, fans worldwide will discover the setting for the action and key themes from the forthcoming thriller" which is published on 15 September with a global English language print run of 6.5m copies.
Following what the never knowingly underplayed Transworld publicity department describes as "pandemic speculation" of "epic proportions", Dan Brown thrillingly reveals that writing the novel "has been a strange and wonderful journey".
As the cover features a picture of Capitol Hill, Washington DC, and a large key,it is probably safe to assume that the action will take place in the United States and will revolve around, ooh, the unlocking of some kind of state secrets? The US version of the cover also features a blob of red sealing wax. A bit of sleuthing reveals that the key is in the shape of the Masonic square and compasses and the blob has the imprint of the 33 degree mason - the highest degree in Masonry.
However, a little more sleuthing reveals that, actually, a Guardian profile of Dan Brown in August 2004 let slip that "his next book, billed as a sequel to The Da Vinci Code, is set in Washington and tackles the Freemasons".
All a cunning conspiracy? Based on the pictures, can you discern any other startling revelations of the secrets of Dan Brown's plot?
