Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)

Suppose I am writing a thriller. What should be my choice for the profession of the hero? A professor? A real, practising, middle-aged Harvard professor; not an ex-CIA agent passing time as a professor? What about the heroine? A physicist? What kind of a story is this turning to be? Both the main characters are nerds. What else can I do to completely ruin my story? Create some wild, senseless conspiracy theory about church and make priests as villains? Yes, I have achieved the perfect recipe for a disastrous novel.

BUT there is a way out, you know! The novel I can be writing can be Angels and Demons. And I can be Dan Brown!

Angels and Demons takes you into the world of ancient societies and symbols, into the rather bloody past of the Catholic Church. It is very difficult to resist a well-yarned conspiracy theory and Angels and Demons comes out at the top. Dan Brown’s protagonist, Robert Langdon, the rather-charming Harvard symbologist, who became more famous in the later work, Da Vinci Code, makes his first appearance in Angels and Demons and leaves you wanting more of him. Angels and Demons is not as sensational as Da Vinci code, relying less on sensationalising big names like Leonardo Da Vinci and more on the actual conspiracy theory and the involvement of the characters in it.

Angels and Demons is a beautiful symphony of diving into the past to explain a theory and then relating it to the current-day happenings in the narrative. The story moves at a fast pace, the facts and the theory are presented interspersed with exciting happenings and the book never becomes too theoretical. I won’t say anything about the plot, just go read the book.

In the end, I must mention the ambigrams in the book are simply amazing. Too good! Dan Brown must hand over half of his royalties to his artist for creating those beautiful pictures. And those of you, who don’t know what an ambigram is, read the recommendation below.

Recommendation – Go for it! In all probability, you may like it better than Da Vinci Code.

Rating – YYY
Rating Guide – Y is good. More hearts means better.