Book review- Inferno

There are a few things that characterize a Dan Brown novel:

* Shady government and private organisations

* A cutting-edge technology in the hands of rogue elements

* The protagonist on the run, forced to solve puzzles to reach the next level of puzzle solving, ad infinitum, finally to reach the showdown.    

* A strong female character, accompanying/helping the protagonist in his quest.

* Amazing locales so descriptive that you can paint them in your mind's eye to see them in all glory.

* Characters whose allegiances/motivations are nebulous

Inferno has everything and more. It has a typical Brown stamp to it. Non-stop action from the word go. Detractors complain about his laboriously verbose style of descriptive writing where the focus is not so much in telling a story as it is about painting a picture before the reader's eyes with words as the palette; a stunning locale as the canvas. Irrespective of criticisms, I am a admirer of his engaging, entertaining style. If you expect a true-to-traditions literary work, then Brown is not the guy for you. But if you want to have a good time, told a story with all twists, turns, drama and suspense then you have the right person. Inferno is such a page-turner.

This time Florence is Brown's muse and Dante Alighieri, the Italian bard, his inspiration. After completing the novel, I felt the Dante connection to be loose and contrived. But that doesn't take away from the novel's allure of story-telling. Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon finds himself with a gunshot wound in his skull, waking up groggily in a Florence hospital. He is diagnosed with anterograde amnesia, unable to recount the happenings of the last two days. An assassin is out to kill him and reaches the hospital. His doctor, a mysterious blond named Sienna Brooks aids his escape and the two vault off on a breathtaking run through Florence, away from the assassin and another set of pursuers, a shady private militia called SRS. Langdon is haunted by visions, eerie images of death and a woman goading him on "To seek and find". The vision is his only clue and he sets off an a quest to piece together the last two days of his life with Sienna in tow.

Brown's genius and penchant for trivia is evident; we get a guided tour of the city of Florence captured in all its artistic and architectural splendor, through Langdon's sharp eye. The Renaissance masters, we get to see them all- Brunelleschi, Vasari, Michelangelo. We get to see Florence's architectural masterpieces- Ponte Vecchi, the Boboli Garden and more. The visual treat through the medium of words is sometimes overwhelming. Yet, the pair of Langdon and Sienna tear through the city at lightning speed through hidden passages, doorways, solving puzzles and thinking on their feet to evade an army of military and police on their heels. The poet Dante is the leitmotif in Inferno. His monumental work, the Divine Comedy, the compass that Langdon resorts to, to retrace his way. The Divine Comedy is one of Europe's most celebrated epic poems. Dante describes his journey through Hell, Purgatory and finally Paradise. In a sense, the poem is  a metaphor for "Inferno". Unlike the Lost Symbol where the events took place over a night, here the events unfurl over one full day and night. Who is the assassin? Why is the military chasing Langdon? Who is the woman in the vision, What does "seek and find" mean? What happened on the days that Langdon missed? Brown answers all these in his inimitable style. The female characters in this work are in vintage Brown style, strong, independent, well-fleshed out. As in all his novels, we are introduced to new technology/concepts. We learn of the Faraday projector, blood squibs, SPD glasses, Transhumanism, genetic engineering, and many more.

It will be a spoiler to reveal any further. But suffice to say there are a lot of unexpected twists and turns, nail-biting moments. It is un-putdownable.