A mentally unstable individual who calls himself “the shade” runs from an unseen pursuer and concludes the chase by making a suicide jump from a bridge. A patient wakes up in a hospital with what is thought to be gunshot wound to the head and suffering from amnesia. The head of a covert organization attempts to contain a botched assignment. What do these three things have in common? They all occur within the opening pages of latest literary offering from Dan Brown which maintains an unrelenting urgency from beginning to end.
Inferno marks the fourth appearance of Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon who utilizes his academic fame and prowess to unravel codes left behind by a disturbed scientist who may have engineered his own version of the Black Death. Langdon is not alone in his pursuit as he is accompanied by Sienna Brooks, a troubled young woman who is equally resourceful and cunning. The key to thwarting the plan to cull the global population lies within the pages of The Inferno, a poem written by Danti Alighieri; in order to prevent the pending worldwide disaster the academic and his companion race through the streets and secret passage ways of Italy with the grand finale taking place in Turkey.
One cannot doubt the amount of research that the author conducted as each foreign setting is describe in precise detail as well as the artwork. In some ways the novels of Dan Brown could pass as entertaining history lessons as historical facts are woven into a present day adventure. The chapters are kept short and multiple perspectives are explored which keeps the reading experience brisk. As Robert Langdon begins to piece together the fragments of his memory Brown incorporates flashbacks allowing the readers to share in the journey of rediscovery with him. The religious element is not left untouched as the stance of the Catholic Church against birth control is broached. In other words, those who loved The Da Vinci Code will not be disappointed when reading Inferno as the two stories share the same creative DNA.
Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.