Angels and Demons

by Dan Brown

        After reading Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code I was thrilled to learn that he had turned it into a series featuring the main character Robert Langdon in each of them. I am always skeptical about sequels - I have been let down by them many times before. However, Angels and Demons, in my opinion, surpassed The Da Vinci Code in thrills, puzzles, adventures, and character development.
        In the middle of the night, Robert Langdon is summoned to Swiss research facility (CERN) where a murder has just taken place.  The body of the murdered physicist, Leonardo Vetra, has been branded in his chest with a cryptic symbol.  He and his daughter Victoria Vetra had been working on a scientific breakthrough.  Not only has this prominent physicist been murdered, but his protected laboratory has been broken into and an essential piece of his research is missing.  This piece of their research is called "antimatter" and can hold wonderful new insights into scientific research.  Or it could be used as a weapon of mass destruction, since it acts like a bomb when it is not in a stable environment.  Given some evidence at the crime scene, it is thought that the ancient underground brotherhood, the Illuminati, are behind the murder and the stolen antimatter.  Throughout history the Illuminati were known to be enemies of the Catholic Church.  While the evidence leans towards the Illuminati as the perpetrator, Langdon is not convinced as there has been no attack against the church.  However, on the eve of holy conclave a representative of the Illuminati says the antimatter is hidden somewhere in the Vatican and will explode once its battery source runs out.  Langdon immediately fears for the lives of the cardinals that are involved in holy conclave.  Langdon flies to Rome in order to join Victoria Vetra in the search for the father's killer and to help save the Vatican. This amazing chase for the truth unearths many facts about history, dozens of puzzles, and pages of fast paced adventure.
        This book was a fantastic sequel to the Da Vinci Code - in fact I liked it even better.  The thrills in this book never stopped and the way it intertwined with history was fascinating.  Dan Brown again makes the landscape in Rome so real that I felt I was back there traveling.  I was lucky enough to read the Special Collectors Edition that shows the buildings, art, and objects of history he is describing in the book.  If you can, I would recommend this version as it was truly a great way to immerse yourself in this book.  My only criticism of this book involved the overly drawn out ending.  I would have been satisfied had it ended 50 pages earlier, but it did not severely alter my opinion of this book.  I could not put this book down!

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Up Next: The Lost Symbol