NEW CODE TO CRACK WITH DAN BROWN

In 'Secret of Secrets,' the 'Da Vinci' novelist imagines how consciousness research could unite or weaponize humanity

- MARC WEINGARTEN

DAN BROWN at his home in Rye Beach, N.H. "I needed to find that pivot point that made it relevant to everyone," he says of his book's theme. "And I discovered that we have a model of consciousness that's outdated."

Writing is hard. Writing books is harder. So as a mere plebeian author interviewing Dan Brown for the first time, I needed to know: After you've sold 200 million books, does it get any easier?

"It's the same process. It's identical," Brown says on a video call from his home library in New Hampshire. "Your characters don't care how many books you've sold; you're still facing the blank page. What becomes more challenging is you put an enormous amount of pressure on yourself and say, 'Listen, there's a certain number of people who trust me.' If you can get somebody to spend 10 hours with your words, you better deliver."

It's safe to say that Brown has repeatedly delivered. A master of the brainy, twisty thriller, Brown's 2003 novel, "The Da Vinci Code," is one of the bestselling books of all time, with 85 million copies moved, and was adapted into a box office hit starring Tom Hanks. His seven novels move with kinetic energy, his plots are intricate puzzles shrouded in religious iconography, ancient cryptography and other obscure arcana. Reading a Brown novel is both a thrill ride and an immersion in real-world facts.

Author T.J. Newman was on a family vacation in Mexico when "The Da Vinci Code" was published. "I didn't go to the beach. I didn't go to the pool. I stayed in the hotel room and read," she told The Times in an email.