59 pages • 1-hour read
The Secret of Secrets
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Chapter 111-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide features depictions of death, graphic violence, emotional abuse, and physical abuse.
Chapter 111 Summary
Solomon wants to explore the death lab, but Langdon insists they need to try to escape. Finch enters and shoots a warning shot. Knowing they are trapped, Langdon tries to cooperate. Meanwhile, the Golem overhears the interaction and considers trying to kill Finch.
Chapter 112 Summary
Knowing that he cannot escort Langdon and Solomon out on his own, Finch stalls to wait for backup. He explains that the goal of Threshold is to develop a team of psychic superspies suspended in the moment of death, whose consciousnesses can be sent out to spy for military purposes.
Chapter 113 Summary
CIA Director Judd recalls how the much-maligned project Stargate—which successfully trained American soldiers in remote viewing—was quietly renamed Threshold. When public opinion turned against the project, CIA officials claimed the project was shut down while secretly continuing.
Chapter 114 Summary
Solomon is thrilled to learn that her theories about nonlocal consciousness are viable but horrified to learn that the technologies have been weaponized so quickly. As Langdon urges Finch to let them go, they are interrupted by the Golem.
Chapter 115 Summary
The Golem introduces himself as Vesna’s protector, then falls into a seizure. As Finch steps forward with the wand to mock him, the Golem shoots him with a stun gun. He gives Langdon and Solomon Finch’s activated key card and urges them to run. The Golem does not reveal his real name to Finch. He locks him in one of the death pods as alarm sirens wail.
Chapter 116 Summary
As Langdon and Solomon are trying to escape, they find two workers fleeing the facility and follow them. The workers close the escape route moments before they reach it. Finch dies in the facility explosion, which instantly freezes the air in Folimanka Park.
Chapter 117 Summary
Langdon and Solomon survive the blast, but Solomon loses her bag with the evidence about Threshold. Langdon vows to find Vesna to honor the sacrifice of the man who saved them and called himself Vesna’s protector. CIA Director Judd explains to Nagel that her detainment is for her safety, saying that Finch is not to be trusted. He claims that In-Q-Tel was not involved with Threshold.
Chapter 118 Summary
The Golem survives the explosion and begins the slow journey out of the facility so that he can release Vesna from where she is locked away. Langdon and Solomon escape, but are immediately stopped by Army guards. Nagel’s Marine guard, Kerble, intercepts the pair and insists they come with him, explaining that Nagel has been detailed by the CIA.
Chapter 119 Summary
Kerble decides not to tell Langdon and Solomon about the pouch Nagel gave him, which he gave to Daněk. Langdon convinces Kerble to take them to Vesna’s apartment to obtain a tool to help find her. The Golem arrives at the elevator up to Gessner Labs.
Chapter 120 Summary
Kerble leaves Langdon and Solomon at Vesna’s apartment. Langdon theorizes that there is a hiding space in Vesna’s apartment and discovers a second apartment above it. Solomon guesses that Dmitri Sysevich is the Golem and is hiding above. The apartment is empty and lit by black lights.
Chapter 121 Summary
Alone in the Gessner labs, the Golem erases the aleph figure from the word carved into his face, transforming the word truth into the word death. As he does, he feels his consciousness shift away from his body. He takes a shower, rinsing the clay away.
Chapter 122 Summary
While searching the darkened apartment, Langdon finds a used bald cap with something inside that shifts his perspective. He runs back down to Vesna’s apartment and realizes that the door is too secure to permit paper, meaning that the Golem’s note bluffing about Solomon came from inside the apartment.
Chapter 123 Summary
It is revealed that the Golem is Vesna’s alternate identity, which sprang into being while she was being abused in the Russian mental institution. The Golem took over Vesna’s body in moments of pain or crisis, leading her to place the note misleading Langdon about Solomon. Even when Vesna was in control, the Golem was always also watching. Vesna has no memories of her abuse and is not aware of the Golem.
Chapter 124 Summary
Langdon calls Nagel via Kerble and arranges to meet her at the Dripstone Wall, a tourist attraction near the American embassy. Meanwhile, Pavel is put on three-month leave from his UZSI post, though he knows he won’t return. He is distraught that the embassy has shut down the investigation into Janáček’s death.
Chapter 125 Summary
Nagel leads Langdon and Solomon through a hidden door at the Dripstone Wall into a private hotel, where they can speak in a soundproof spa. Nagel reveals the existence of the Gessner torture video and suggests that the torturer is Dmitri Sysevich. Langdon and Solomon share their theory.
Chapter 126 Summary
Nagel struggles to accept the truth that the Golem and Vesna are the same person. Her guilt is doubled, as she now feels responsibility for Vesna’s death too. She decides to go to Daněk’s apartment to retrieve the USB with the Gessner tape. Kerble volunteers to take Langdon and Solomon back to their hotel.
Chapter 127 Summary
The day’s discoveries cause Langdon to reassess his feelings about death. On arrival at the Four Seasons, Langdon calls Faukman to assure him that he and Solomon are safe. Solomon puts on lingerie in hopes of having sex with Langdon, but finds him asleep in bed.
Chapter 128 Summary
Kerble visits Daněk and asks her to return to her job at the embassy, explaining that her firing and the ambassador’s detainment were misunderstandings. He takes back the envelope with the USB. Meanwhile, Nagel’s attempts to manage the explosion at Folimanka Park are interrupted by a visitor: Sasha Vesna.
Chapter 129 Summary
Vesna explains that Harris told her to come to the embassy if she ever felt unsafe. Unsure whether Vesna or another identity is present, Nagel quickly fabricates a lie in order to detain Vesna. She calls Kerble with a new plan.
Chapter 130 Summary
In New York, Faukman is relieved by the news that Langdon and Solomon are safe, but disappointed to have lost any possibility of publishing Solomon’s manuscript.
Chapter 131 Summary
Langdon wakes from dreams of flying over Prague to an urgent phone call stating that the ambassador needs to speak to him. Meanwhile, the Golem refuses to let Vesna return to her body and see herself in handcuffs. He hopes that Nagel will take his hints and grant him asylum.
Chapter 132 Summary
Nagel reveals to Langdon and Solomon that CIA investigators are on their way to Prague to investigate the explosion, and that the CIA has photographic evidence tying them to the explosion. She pushes back against Solomon’s criticisms of the CIA, insisting that Director Judd did what was necessary to protect America.
Chapter 133 Summary
Nagel suggests that Vesna be returned to the CIA, where doctors aware of her surgeries and condition can care for her. She promises Langdon that she will personally oversee Vesna’s care, using the Gessner tape as leverage against Director Judd.
Chapter 134 Summary
Langdon accepts Nagel’s promise to watch over Threshold personally to ensure Vesna’s safety. Before discussing the plan with Vesna, Langdon asks her whether another identity is present. A deep voice confirms that the real Vesna is still suppressed.
Chapter 135 Summary
While Langdon speaks to Vesna, Katherine argues to Nagel that the source of interpersonal and international conflict is fear of death, which drives antisocial behavior. She argues that a revolution in our understanding of death might lead to a more peaceful society.
Chapter 136 Summary
When Vesna regains consciousness handcuffed in the back of a car, she hears a soft voice inside her telling her that everything will be okay. She accepts the ambassador’s explanations about asylum and thanks her for her help before departing for America, escorted by Kerble. Nagel gives Kerble a copy of the Gessner tape to deliver to Judd, hinting at the password.
Chapter 137 Summary
Langdon feels uneasy about a piece of unfinished business he has to resolve before leaving Prague. Not wanting to tell Solomon about it, he convinces her to walk to nearby Prague Castle and wait for him to meet her there.
Chapter 138 Summary
Kerble quickly decodes Nagel’s hints about the passcode to the USB Nagel gave him, but he decides not to watch it and violate Nagel’s trust. The Golem awakes inside Vesna, relieved that she is safe. He plans to one day leave her entirely and return to the universe.
Chapter 139 Summary
Langdon returns with Solomon’s book manuscript, revealing that he only burned the bibliography and hid the rest in a secret bookcase at the Klementinum Library. Solomon is overjoyed and tells Langdon she loves him for the first time.
Epilogue Summary
Langdon suggests The Secret of Secrets as the title of Solomon’s book, drawing inspiration from a phrase she used the prior day.
Chapter 111-Epilogue Analysis
In the final section of Secret of Secrets, as Langdon and Solomon grapple with the implications of Threshold, the novel explores The Ethics of National Security through the behavior of characters like Ambassador Nagel and Q Director Everett Finch. Although Nagel actively works to protect Langdon and Solomon from Finch, she shares his belief that “national security is a world where results are valued over methodology” (630) and that the needs of the nation can justify ethically questionable projects like Threshold. The fact that both the novel’s villain and an important supporting character—both of whom worked at the CIA—share this ideology suggests that it is widespread in the national security community.
Nagel’s arguments justifying projects like Threshold are based in her belief that the United States faces imminent threats from a wide array of enemies. The novel attributes this belief to Nagel’s career in the CIA, where she learned that “the plans being formulated against the U.S. are very real and potentially catastrophic” (565). She argues that the United States faces a host of “enemies who, if given the opportunity, would erase our nation from the face of the earth” (629). Nagel justifies Threshold by explaining that the army of psychic spies developed in the project are necessary to “help our country survive the coming storm” (565). The apocalyptic language in these passages reflects Nagel’s belief that the United States is in a constant state of threat, justifying any means they can employ to ensure their continued existence.
Although she acknowledges Finch’s flaws, Nagel’s arguments about national security position her alongside him and in opposition to Langdon and Solomon. Nagel attempts to justify Finch’s behavior by explaining that his ruthlessness in running Threshold was fueled by a commitment to advance cutting-edge technology. When Langdon and Solomon question the ethics of the project, Nagel argues that the professors are able to enjoy the “luxury” of their academic research because of the nation’s intelligence agencies. She compares “the allure of pure science” (629) in Solomon’s research to “the application of that science [which] protects people like us from enemies” (629). These comparisons create a stark dichotomy between academics like Langdon and Solomon and national security experts like Nagel and Finch, depicting the former as naïve and the latter as realistic. However, the national security apparatus relies on researchers like Solomon to do the legwork on the technology they coopt and subsequently suppress. Nagel’s view that national security enables academic research is one-sided in that it ignores the necessity of theorizing and laboratory research—or “pure science”—in generating the concepts the technology and medical fields apply.
The novel emphasizes Nagel’s one-sided view of science by her repeated points about the United States’s bombing of Hiroshima during World War II. This highlights the theme of The Dangers and Limits of Technology. She describes the bombing of Hiroshima as “a persuasive example of the ends justifying the means” (565), arguing that “outside of ethical or political argument, it was true that the United States’ being first to have the bomb had ended a devastating war and cemented the U.S. as a superpower for the next half century” (565). She repeats this argument later while justifying Threshold to Langdon and Solomon, challenging them to “Imagine if Russia alone had the bomb. Or Germany. Or the Japanese” (630). Significantly, Solomon agrees with Nagel: “the argument, Katherine had to admit, was a fair one” (630). Although Langdon challenges Nagel’s arguments, the fact that Solomon—a character with no connection to the CIA—accepts this line of thinking suggests that it may not be exclusive to members of the national security community. Nagel fails to acknowledge that the concepts leading to the atomic bomb’s creation were developed decades before World War II in theoretical physics laboratories across Europe and California. The government’s weaponization of those theories was the result, not the origin, of research into nuclear energy. In the end, the novel leaves readers to decide whether they agree with Langdon or Solomon and Nagel on this issue, signaling that this debate and others will continue in the series’ installments that follow.
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