INFERNO by Dan Brown

If you are a die hard fan of Dan Brown then you will find his latest book "Inferno" a thrilling ride. I for one had to remind myself, to finish reading the book and put up the review for those unsuspecting people, who will pay through their noses to buy it.

Though it is on the New York times best seller list, the book failed to impress me. The book starts off well where Robert Langdon, the famed professor of 'Symbology' from Harvard, wakes up in a hospital suffering from amnesia and has a metal cylinder in his possession, which contains clues to solving the mystery. Robert Langdon fist appeared in the Da Vinci code. He teams up with a young doctor Sienna Miller in a journey, which moves from Florence to Venice and then Istanbul.

Image Courtesy: Dan Brown official website

As with his other novels, the plot remains the same, where it is a race against time, to save the world from imminent doom. Langdon using his knowledge of symbols finds clues, which are based solely on Dante's famous poem "The divine comedy". The plot has a lot of twists and turns and takes us through palaces and churches, which is quite similar to Dan Brown's other books. 

In the process of making the book interesting the prose gets too pedantic, lengthy and hampers the plot.The urgency of finding the one thing, that can save the world, is lost when Brown wavers and goes into an in-depth description of the places in the course of Langdon's journey. The plot seems to lose its grip in many places and I had to coax myself to feel the thrill that Brown had tried to create in the book. I felt that Robert Langdon in this novel did not seem as sharp as in other books and he also misses vital clues. 

There are many important questions that the book raises, which are very relevant today. With the population of the world spiralling out of control, will nature rectify this imbalance? What is the answer to controlling the population, so that we don't exhaust all the world's resources, which can lead to our extinction.

I had really liked the book Da Vinci Code, since it exploded in the literary world with a fresh plot and characters, but that feeling of being a fan slowly evaporated after reading "Digital fortress". After reading his other books, I felt Dan Brown's writing has become repetitive and predictable. 

The saving grace of this book are the interesting facts about all the historic places that are described in the book, which makes you want to see those places. My desire to explore Italy was ignited only after reading the Da vinci code. Even then, fans of Dan Brown will love the book and will devour it with fervour and might even curse my review. 

I love a book that makes it unputdownable and reading it should not feel like a chore. The characters have to come alive in my mind and the plot should be strong enough to make it engrossing. It does not have to move fast but it should hold my interest.

My recommendation:

Only buy the book if you are a die hard fan of Dan Brown. Rest of you can save your hard earned Rs. 750 by borrowing it from a library or another fan.

I would give the book 3 out of 5 points just for the sheer effort Dan Brown has put in research work.