Dan Brown. Is he a brilliant author who gave us food for thought in the ‘Da Vinci Code’? Or is he just another snake oil salesman? This was the question that flashed through my mind as I read the ‘prequel’ to the ‘ Code’, ‘Angels and Demons’.
Author: Dan Brown
The protagonist in this book, Robert Langdon has this uncanny ability to be woken out of sleep to help a good looking, intellectual damsel in distress and of course, to unearth some revelation. (Why doesn’t anyone else have his luck and get to play ‘hero’?) This time it is about ‘antimatter’ that some crazies have got and threaten to blow up Vatican City.
It was weird that he does not have a sense of Déjà vu when he is woken up from sleep in ‘the Code’. And once again (or before?), in this book, he must uncover a set of puzzles laid out by a Renaissance person to make sense of it all. This time this Renaissance person is Galileo. Who will set the puzzle in Dan’s next book? Michael Angelo, Raphael or Harvey? Then, once again the suppression of the ‘truth, is blamed on the church. This time the ‘truth’ involves Science itself.
A scientist of CERN has discovered antimatter, a substance so combustible even its contact with air could be devastating. Big surprise, the scientist is murdered and the substance is stolen by a group of supposed fanatics who for generations have despised the Vatican’s sanctimonious preference of Religion to Science. To recover the antimatter, Langdon and his cohort, the dead scientist’s daughter, Vittoria Vetra must rush to Vatican City and play a game of hide and seek with a killer to save the future of Christianity itself. Langdon must use his knowledge of ancient symbols and Vetra must use her immense scientific knowledge to uncover a set of cryptic clues laid out by the great Galileo and redeem the antimatter.
Sure enough ‘Angels and Demons’ has the usual clichés, the scientist in a wheelchair, the strong religious leader and, of course, the hired assassin. He presents several monologues by strong-minded people on the age-old controversy of Science vs. Religion. This aspect of the book was very reminiscent of the Ayn Rand’s style of presenting her philosophy in ‘Atlas Shrugged’.
I must admit that Dan does he research well. He states as fact that CERN, has in fact created Antimatter. What did I like about this book? Well, besides Madonna’s last name, that I liked the ending of this book, compared to the Bollywood style ‘family reunion’ ending of the ‘Code’. The last few chapters of the book have a few too many twists and turns, whose timing (not the twists themselves) become so predictable.
The book also sheds light on the Swiss Guard in the Vatican, and describes in good detail, the elaborate system used by the Conclave in electing a new Pope. Note that this book was written before the death of Pope John Paul and the election of Pope Benedict XVI. All in all, Angels and Demons is readable and moderately entertaining. As with the ‘ Da Vinci Code’, this book’s plot needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Bay Area Bloke 