Angels & Demons : A Novel

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Summary: New Light Shed On An Ancient Conflict
Review: Dan Brown has successfully created a book that has a good, fast paced story and a theme that can apply to just about anyone who reads this book. Brown identifies the conflict between religion and science, reveals the pros and cons for both sides, and ultimately proves that science cannot exist without religion and vice versa because they balance each other out. Brown also creates a compelling mystery/thriller novel that seamlessly blends fact with fiction with characters that are both intriguing and real. A must read for those looking for a good story with a deeper meaning.

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Summary: Can't Put It Down
Review: Neither my husband nor I could put this book down. If you aren't motivated to read momentarily, this book is the perfect cure. Having been educated in Europe many years ago, we found ourselves double checking some of the book's descriptions and references to historical landmarks, etc. as Dan Brown's descriptions are equisite. (Remember this book is classified as "fiction" by its author.) It's meant to be an interesting read and accomplishes that goal very well. We strongly recommend reading Angels and Demons first and then The Da Vinci Code.

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Summary: Must Read
Review: Angels and Demons introduces the character of Robert Langdon, professor of religious iconology and art history at Harvard University. As the novel begins, he's awakened in the middle of the night by a phone call from Maximilian Kohler, the director of CERN, the world's largest scientific research facility in Geneva, Switzerland. One of their top physicists had been murdered, with his chest branded with the word "Illuminati." Since Langdon is an expert on the ancient secret society known as the Illuminati, he's asked to help solve the murder.
The murder victim is Leonardo Vetra. Not only is he one of the world's leading physicists, he's a Catholic priest. He's a priest who has adopted a daughter, Vittoria, who is also a scientist at CERN. Vetra and his daughter were using the world's largest particle accelerator to create antimatter which has mysteriously disappeared and will explode in 24 hours.The canister is quickly found on a security camera in Vatican City, with its clock counting down the time until the batteries run out and the canister explodes. The security camera, however, is nowhere to be found, leaving the canister's whereabouts a mystery too. Langdon and Vittoria Petra are quickly sent off to Rome and Vatican City, to help find the canister and return it to CERN before it explodes at midnight.
Not only does the canister threaten to destroy Vatican City, but with the recent death of the Pope, the cardinals of the Catholic Church are all within the city for the conclave to choose the new pope. They are all about to be locked within the Sistine Chapel where, according to church law, they must remain until a new pope is chosen. They are awaiting the preferiti, the four cardinals from four different European countries who are the preferred candidates to become the new pope. While Langdon and Vittoria are trying to convince the captain of the Swiss Guard and the camerlengo, the Pope's chamberlain who leads the church until the new pope is named, that the antimatter bomb is real, a phone call is received from a man who claims to be from the Illuminati. He has the four cardinals, which he will murder one by one, and then allow the bomb to destroy Vatican City, which houses not only the church hierarchy, but also its possessions and wealth. He has no demands; his only wish is the destruction of the Catholic Church in retribution for the church's treatment of scientists and the Illuminati over the centuries.
In Angels and Demons Dan Brown told a masterful story that takes you to the underground corridors of a Swiss laboratory to the darkest churches of the Vatican. You will be unable to put the book down until the last page of the book. Dan tells a story full of mystery, revenge, betrayal, and courage.


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Summary: The little things he gets so wrong really bug me!
Review: This is my third Dan Brown book. I read Da Vinci Code when everyone else was reading it, then Digital Fortress, now Angels and Demons. I enjoy Brown's plot and like his characters (1-dimensional as some people might think they are). Each book has some deeply geekly aspect that very few people have any chance of questioning. I'm not an art historian so I can take a lot of Da Vinci Code at face value and not wince. I'm not a cryptographer so Digital Fortress's esoteric technology is fine. But in Digital Fortress, Brown calls a computer that must be a workstation a "terminal" and in Angels and Demons he refers to a cell phone having dial tone. Now I happen to think that dial tone would be a great way for cell phones to indicate that they have service but in my experience, none do that. Didn't anyone edit these books? Geez.