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Inferno
Robert Langdon #4

by Dan Brown

genre: thriller
Dan Brown’s best novel so far! Inferno had more twists than Deception Point. Just when you think you’ve figured out what’s going on, gravity reverses and dumps you on your head. Not only is Inferno well crafted and filled with suspense, it’s thought provoking and deals with one of today’s world concerns.

Synopsis

Inferno by Dan BrownA groundbreaking scientist is out to save the world. Some call him Monster, for he is not trying to cure cancer or end world hunger; he is trying to save the human race from itself. He describes humanity as a rapidly multiplying parasite that will inevitably overwhelm its environment. When world leaders refuse to work with him to combat overpopulation, he takes things into his own hands.

Robert Langdon becomes wrapped up in a complicated race against time to stop a mad scientist from irrevocably changing the world.

Review

Has anyone else noticed several recent novels deal with over population? Matched (pub 2010), Ready Player One (pub 2011), Viral (pub 2012), and now Inferno (pub 2013). While not a major plot point in the first three, it is a little disconcerting to see so many authors picking up on it and how none of the solutions are particularly positive.

None of them explored it as much as Inferno.

What if you were told that if you flipped a switch, you would kill half the world’s population? What if you were told that if you didn’t flip that switch right now, the human race would be extinct in the next hundred years. Would you flip it then?

I’ll admit, I wouldn’t flip the switch. I don’t have it in me to kill people, even anonymously. I also can’t accept the premise that there’s nothing else that could be done to save the human race. What if I killed a team of people who could have figured out an alternative? But I digress.

There were several “I should have seen that coming,” moments, followed by “never would have seen that coming,” and one “HA! I called it.” Admittedly, I only caught it about… 5 sentences before the reveal, but that’s not the point. šŸ˜‰

A knowledge of Dante’s Divine Comedy is beneficial, especially the Inferno canto, but you’ll be able to follow along fine if you’ve never read it.

I can’t praise Inferno enough. Another Dan Brown masterpiece.

You might like this book if:

  • You’re willing to stick with it. The first part of the novel was a little confusing and hard to get through. The rest of the book more than made up for it though.
  • You liked the other Robert Langdon novels. I’ve read Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, and Inferno is told in the same historical puzzle adventure quest style.

You might not like this book if:

  • This is a work of fiction. (Duh, it’s a novel). Even if a book is based on true events, you have to understand the writer is going to take some liberties, which is why I ignored the 10 False Statements and Over Simplifications in Inferno, however, if you’re a snob about having historically accurate fiction, this isn’t for you.

5 out of 5 stars.
-Eliabeth Hawthorne