It has been suggested that Dan Brown's latest novel steals the plot and vast swathes from the 2004 movie "National Treasure", starring Nicolas Cage and Diane Kruger. Brown, author of the bestselling The Da Vinci Code, just released the sequel, The Lost Symbol.
A movie commentator said "it's all there! It takes place in Washington. It involves Masonic symbolism! It takes place in several government buildings and in their unknown basements. It uses the same secret staircase we used in the Library of Congress.
"There are secret codes on ancient artifacts that lead to other secret codes. It involves the search for a buried treasure. It has them using the works of Ben Franklin to break a code. There's a long staircase seemingly into the unknown, with a treasure buried at the bottom. There's a man and a woman being chased by, and sometimes captured by, the bad guys.
"The book is a blatant rip off of the movie!"
When asked about the seeming and possible plagiarism, Brown responded by saying: "No, my main character is a little older and looks more like Tom Hanks than Nicolas Cage.
"Besides, their movie was a combination rip-off of my earlier books and the Indiana Jones movies, so there!"
