Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Angels and Demons, like it’s sequel The Da Vinci Code, would seem to be an unlikely bestseller. A mix of academic detective story, gory thriller, science fiction and religious epiphany would not appear to be the most likely of combinations, but Dan Brown pulls off a literary miracle by adding the secret ingredient of Robert Langdon – the James Bond of Academe! This Harvard Professor, an expert in his chosen field of religious symbology, exudes the charisma and machismo of any self respecting international man of mystery, grappling with Hassassins, dodging death at every turn, pulling off the miraculous superhero escapes we would expect from 007 himself. Angels and Demons, like its sequel, could easily be dismissed as 600 pages of pure hokum, but there is in the ingenuity of the plot and the mingling of elements a resonance that gives the book a certain originality. Those who dismiss religion itself would do well to recognise the power that religious symbology and iconography have over everyday life, and the more secular may find themselves siding with the Illuminati anti-heroes of the book!
As a thriller, Angels and Demons is fast-paced and cinematically written – from the first page there is rarely a still moment, and dialogue is often on the move as this novel, whose entire 600 pages cover a time period of only 24 hours. With enough action scenes to fill a Hollywood movie, even the deciphering of an ancient religious symbol takes on a definite edge as the tension mounts and gives non scholarly readers a vicarious taste of the thrill of academic research and discovery in extremis!
The action of The Da Vinci Code occurs not long after the end of Angels and Demons, and like many I read The Da Vinci Code first. Now, however, I have the opportunity to re-read The Da Vinci Code with further insights, and eagerly await the release of The Da Vinci Code movie in May 2006!