Inferno
(Robert Langdon Book 4)
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4.1 • 981 Ratings
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
THE #1 GLOBAL BESTSELLER
'A swirl of big ideas and non-stop action' New York Times
Florence: Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon awakes in a hospital bed with no recollection of where he is or how he got there. Nor can he explain the origin of the macabre object that is found hidden in his belongings.
A threat to his life will propel him and a young doctor, Sienna Brooks, into a breakneck chase across the city. Only Langdon's knowledge of the hidden passageways and ancient secrets that lie behind its historic facade can save them from the clutches of their unknown pursuers.
With only a few lines from Dante's Inferno to guide them, they must decipher a sequence of codes buried deep within some of the Renaissance's most celebrated artworks to find the answers to a puzzle which may, or may not, help them save the world from a terrifying threat . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The threat of world overpopulation is the latest assignment for Brown's art historian and accidental sleuth Robert Langdon. Awakening in a Florence hospital with no memory of the preceding 36 hours, Langdon and an attractive attending physician with an oversized intellect are immediately pursued by an ominous underground organization and the Italian police. Detailed tours of Florence, Venice, and Istanbul mean to establish setting, but instead bog down the story and border on showoffmanship. Relying on a deceased villain's trail of clues threaded through the text of Dante's The Divine Comedy, the duo attempt to unravel the events leading up to Langdon's amnesia and thwart a global genocide scheme. Suspension of disbelief is required as miraculous coincidences pile upon pure luck. Near the three-quarters point everything established gets upended and Brown, hoping to draw us in deeper, nearly drives us out. Though the prose is fast-paced and sharp, the burdensome dialogue only serves plot and back story, and is interspersed with unfortunate attempts at folksy humor. It's hard not to appreciate a present day mega-selling thriller that attempts a refresher course in Italian literature and European history. But the real mystery is in the book's denouement and how Brown can possibly bring his hero back for more.
Customer Reviews
Inferno
Better than the movie!
It might have been bareable...
It is a relatively promising read were it nor for the constant interruptions of the unnecessary descriptions of architecture, frescos, sculpture, walls, porta-loos, clothing, hair styles etc. It's literally like having a verbally diarrhetic tour guide banging on at you at every single step of a journey you can't make sense or reason you're actually on because they can't shut up.
Mr. Brown...YES! We understand where we are, who we're with and so on. We understand authors do research. It's not history dissertation we're reading...it's supposed to be a thriller. We do not need to know every last detail about what you dug up while you were writing this to necessitate having to dart back a page or two every five or so to remind ourselves what's actually happening in the story. This insistent detail completely ruins the reader's focus on what's actually going on.
I'm 200 pages in and can't actually be bothered to go on. If you're new to Dan Brown, I would advise reading Angels and Demons and stopping there. If pressed try Digital Fortress.
Very, very disappointing. I hope the bad guy wins and wipes Langdon out so we don't get suckered in to reading more of this tripe. It's apt that this book is based on a journey through Hell into Paradise. Reading it bares remarkable similarities. At the moment it is Hell. Putting it down will be sheer heaven.
Enjoy my $12.99 Mr. Brown. If I could get a refund I'd ask for one!
SPOILER
Side note - As a Brit, you're persistent obsession (those in the know will get the pun) with Harris Tweed, is the only accurate cultural observation in the book. You are correct. We are globally recognisable by the fact that we all wear Harris Tweed. Cradle to grave. My dog even has a tweed collar and lead.
Not as good as I hoped.
It was readable, towards the end, when Mr. Brown stopped using ?! After every thought or revelation on almost every page. Sorry Mr. Brown, I suspect the editors are scared of you otherwise we wouldn't have had to deal with all those ?!. Mr. Brown, constructive criticism is a good thing, embrace it.
Editors, he may bring the money in, but we pay to read a good book that has been edited properly. It won't be long before we all stop paying $12.99 for a poorly edited book. No matter how famous the author is.
Otherwise If you really want to read it, borrow it from the library.