A lot is expected from Dan Brown. Most of his fame came from the incredible uproar his “Da Vinci Code” created. Truth be told, never would I have unearthed the pleasure of reading his books had it not been for his scandalous writings of past. His books are known to start at seemingly mundane and everyday layouts. A single incident turns the entire story into a cascade of events that unravel mysterious plots and ill-doings that could potentially lay bare to the planet while maintaining a monotone from the main character (usually a Harvard Professor of symbology – Robert Langdon) of what we refused to listen to in history class whilst in school. His earlier book “The Lost Symbol” was a bit of a disappointment, leaving more to be desired.
With his latest, Brown promises “A trip to Hell and back”; what with its title being “Inferno
”, meaning Hell in Italian, is not much of a surprise. What does swipe the rug is that Brown manages to fulfill the silent promise the cover makes to the fateful reader. The plot of the story, as unimpressive it may be in comparison to his earlier works, manages to sting at your mind and ping guilt deep down within your bowel because unlike the other plots we find that this time, it actually applies to us!!
Brown takes you from country to country with Langdon enchanting us with tales of times long gone as the story turns from interesting, to sinister and ends up ‘setting fire’ to our imaginations. With Langdon suffering from Retrograde Amnesia, we find ourselves as confused and lost as our hero as we run from armed forces, looking for silver-haired women and committing felonies of theft and murder till we can take no more! We are dragged at break neck speed from the moment Langdon is fired at in the hospital he wakes in and is betrayed by his own Government. It satisfies all the preconceptions and notions a person holing the book for the first time will have. Trust us: you will not be let down.
An amazing read for first time “Brownians” and a treat to those seeking his works again. Revel in the history of the Mid-Western world and its people and expect a couple sleepless nights.
And THAT’s the bottom line.
This book was a let down. Anti Climatic and felt like I was reading about Inception or something akin to that via Nolan. Angel’s and Demons / Da Vinci Code were far better. This just ended and I was like seriously…that’s all? The retrograde was decent, rest was so apparent from the beginning, it was a dissapointing.