"Inferno" by Dan Brown

I had read Brown's "Da Vinci Code" - a phenomenon in publishing world and a true big, fat, massive best-seller many years ago when I lived in Amsterdam and noticed that almost every guest visiting my hotel carried this title along with the luggage. It spurred my curiosity back than and thrilled me very much, thought now of course I realise it was inspired by "Holly Blood, Holly Grail" and besides, even if Da Vinci really hid all sorts of secrets and codes in his art, this was done centuries after the facts. But the book made Dan Brown - already a successful writer up to that point - a true superstar and started a literary fashion that became quite ubiquitous. I still recall the feeling of saturation when facing the entire wall of a bookshop somewhere in Mauritius, full of books about Biblical "secrets", "plots" and "hidden knowledge" - Judas, Magdalene and everybody else became subjects of new thrillers & it all became a bit too predictable, really a herd following Dan Brown example, a true stampede trying to cash in.

Dan Brown became a victim of his own success in a way, because from now on he is destined to follow with novels in similar style. I am not sure is it really his intention or does he simply follows call of Mammon and publishers wave millions in front of him, as they want him to continue writing thrillers where Robert Langdon runs around with his Mickey Mouse wrist watch and breathlessly discovers more plots, helicopters above his head and streets of ancient capitols of Europe around him. Kind of new, always unwilling and unwitting James Bond. Sadly, it became predictable and thunder can't strike twice with the same intensity - "Da Vinci Code" was once-in-a-lifetime breakthrough that caught massive attention amongst readers everywhere, but now we know what to expect and it does feel a bit tired and worn out.

To be honest, I kind of feel bad for Dan Brown - I like the picture on the book covers, he really looks like a honest, nice guy so its hard to be too critical towards him - I can just imagine millions around the world criticising him for being Dan Brown and not coming up with anything as spectacular as previously. Well, he is a writer of thrillers and he is doing very well in the world he has created - but the sad truth is his novels are kind of very predictable by now, we all know what to expect from the first to the last page. It works as escapism.

His latest (fourth) Robert Langdon thriller "Inferno" was left hanging around the ship (I guess someone just finished the book and left it on the table for another curious reader) and this was invitation enough for me - like a Magpie focused on something shiny, I simply can't help when I see the book around. So I dived in it, fully aware this probably won't be as earth-shaking as "Da Vinci Code" and yes, I was right. Same old story about Robert Langdon running around, except that this time I felt slightly annoyed with descriptions of locations - Brown really gets carried away with his infatuation of art & history - nothing wrong with detailed descriptions of Florence, Venice and Istanbul but I had seen them all (and I take it for granted I guess) and it does stop the action & rhythm of the story while he goes on about all sorts of encyclopedic information who built this and who painted that. It took me few days to finish the novel - its not bad by any means, it is a entertaining romp trough European art history but since its judged by "Da Vinci Code" it pales in comparison. At the end I kind of couldn't wait to finish and had a feeling of treading the same waters a bit too long. It will be another block-buster movie with Tom Hanks very soon, for the people who don't read books.