Inferno–the latest installment in Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon series. As the name implies, its storyline revolves around Dante’s Inferno. With such success with prior novels, Angels and Demons and The DaVinci Code, Brown fans were a bit let down by The Lost Symbol. Luckily, that was not the case with Inferno.
Dan Brown is one of the best-selling authors in the world, which is surprising considering he just released only his sixth book. The majority of his novels center around the character of Robert Langdon, a bookish action hero that solves mysteries using ancient codes and symbols. After hearing Dan Brown speak at Lincoln Center recently, I got very excited to embark on his latest thriller. I was a bit skeptical at first, wondering how much of Dante’s Inferno would play into this new story and how it would meld with the life of Langdon. Although the plot references Dante’s Inferno, it is not an unbelievable, supernatural premise as one might assume. Instead, it brings together the history and symbology that Langdon excels at with a new element of science that this series has not yet seen. A great aspect of this novel is that it brings in real world issues and looks at them with a unique perspective–namely, overpopulation. I won’t say any more.
From page one, the book is a page-turner and the action is truly non-stop. Not wanting to give anything away, I will say that the ending is not something that you can foresee, thankfully, and depicts a much more realistic ‘threat’ than Brown’s previous works. Inferno was released at just the right time, making it a sure hit on summer beach read lists around the country.
