Well!! This is a Dan Brown novel. What more do I need to say? The template is standard. It opens up with a chapter which places our Hero in some mysterious or intriguing situation. The alternate chapters introduces us to some villainous guy. The third chapter spells doom and the end of world. Wait a minute, we can still save the world if we can decode just one clue left by a dead person and there is just one person in the world who can do that. One clue leads to the next and of course, they all take us to couple of artifacts across few museums. While we are at the museum, how can we not talk about the museum, the road that leads to the museum, the city its in and the country too. A lot of trivia about everything in sight with the secret meaning of all the paintings. Its almost towards the end do we realize that the most influential good guy is actually a bad guy and the guy who we believed to be a bad guy is actually not so bad. The final chapters lead to some good action and the world is safe!!
This is the template in all of his books so far and I must say I am not bored of this yet. I have thoroughly enjoyed each of his book. On every page, I Google-out the mentioned work of art or the place mentioned and it is very much real. The best part is that he exploits only the facts to be a crucial part of the proceedings in his story. Dan Brown is a genius and no second opinion about it. He weaves a fictional story out of facts and this is no easy job. The trivia he provides of each place adds to the magic. He ties every loose-end and the code breaking is just mind-boggling, even if its repetitive.
This book goes a bit away from his template but only a little. I am very tempted to give away a single spoiler- this book has a very unconventional ending and very different from his previous books. That’s all I will say. Although it has all the usual painting,poems,statues with conspiracy theories, The core of the book is about the uncontrollable growth of Human population which I have written about in a separate blog.I had a few ‘I didn’t see that coming!’ and many ‘is that really true’ moments. It has everything that you are looking for in any Dan Brown book. I read some bad reviews, but if you complain that Harry and Ron are not solving any murder mystery or if Sherlock and Watson are not casting any spells, it’s just plain stupidity. If you are picking a novel in which the protagonist is a world-famous professor of iconology and symbology , Icons and Symbols is what you get! Deal with it!
Inferno is all about Dante’s journey through 9 layers of hell in excruciating details. The readers are made to walk along his journey through hell.’Inferno- A Novel’ is an absolute ‘must read’ if you are a Dan Brown fan. Go to hell!!
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