I’m currently reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown — the book that follows The Da Vinci Code. I probably wouldn’t have bothered, except that The Lost Symbol is set in Washington, D.C. I’m a sucker for thrillers set here.

Early on, I noticed a mistake. On page 13, the hero is driving across Memorial Bridge, on his way into D.C.:

He put down his notes and gazed out at the calm waters of the Potomac passing beneath him. . . . Langdon gazed left, across the Tidal Basin, toward the gracefully rounded silhouette of the Jefferson Memorial.

Actually, if you gaze left while crossing the Memorial Bridge, you see the Kennedy Center. To see the Tidal Basin and the Jefferson Memorial, you have to gaze right.

No wonder the “lost symbol” is lost.