Angels & Demons

Dan Brown

9/16/2006

Robert Langdon is an art historian and symbologist as well as an instructor at Harvard. He is woken one night by a telephone call from Maximilian Kohler, the director of Switzerland's Conseil Europeen pour la Recherche Nucleaire (CERN) and within a few hours finds himself in Switzerland. One of Kohler's preeminent scientists was grusomely murdered. Kohler hopes Langdon can help decipher the strange message left behind and discover who had killed physicist Leonardo Vetra.

Langdon is surprised to see the symbology of the brotherhood of the Illuminati, an old, presumably vanished, radical group of scientists that opposed the ruling of the Catholic Church to quash the study of science after Galileo had to renounce his studies of the heavens. When Vetra's daughter Vittoria returns to CERN, he and Kohler are aghast to discover that dangerous antimatter was stolen. Vittoria Vetra explained the danger of the missing antimatter. Soon she and Langdon are on their way to the Vatican City.

The Swiss Guard, the police force of Vatican City, have four missing cardinals and a video of an unknown container that they are warned will destroy the city. It is the time of Conclave and all the cardinals are gathered to elect a new Pope. The four missing cardinals are the primary candidates for Pope. They have received a warning from the Illuminati. They aren't sure whether to take the threat seriously until Langdon and Vetra come on the scene and are accepted into the Vatican.

Dan Brown wrote this book before The DaVinci Code. Robert Langdon is first introduced in this novel, Angels & Demons. While reading this I was reminded of one of the main reasons I liked The DaVinci Code. Brown presents the amazing symbology meanings and the wonderful ancient European art and history. The description of the storage cellars of the Vatican and the contents are amazing. Brown also pulls in scientific facts and possibilities that contribute the to believability of the novel.

This is a fast-paced, riveting suspense novel. Brown keeps the reader guessing until the end. Between the real and realistic background and an excellent suspense novel, Angels & Demons is easily on par with The DaVinci Code. If you like good suspense novels, whether you've read The DaVinci Code or not, you'll be glad you chose Angels & Demons.

Yes, the Catholic Church is attacked in this novel. Yet in the end, religion and faith in God are upheld.

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Notice: Explicit violence