- Fiction
- Murder Mystery
- Symbology
The fourth installment in the Robert Langdon series sees our favorite professor waking up in Florence with no memory of how he got there and a bullet wound on his head.
In his jacket pocket, he finds a strange object, and soon, a mystery surrounding Dante’s Inferno begins to unfold—hence the title of the novel. This book is a race against time, where Langdon and his companion, Sienna Brooks—the nurse who cared for him—must decipher clues to prevent a potential plague, or perhaps something even more sinister.
Sienna is a complex new character in the series, a young nurse with a troubled past. She’s relatable to many young women who grew up feeling isolated, whether due to illness, personality, or simply being different from their peers. Her connection to Langdon is swift, and she adds a layer of intrigue to the story.
As always, Dan Brown’s writing is suspenseful and gripping, keeping you on the edge of your seat, eager to find out what happens next. This particular story leans more heavily on action than puzzles compared to the previous books, but it remains just as mesmerizing.
The novel strongly revolves around the ethics of human impact on the planet, making you reflect on the fine line between progress and destruction. The themes hit hard, resonating deeply in a world where these concerns are all too real.
Brown’s meticulous research, striving for accuracy, is evident once again and helps make the novel immersive and memorable.
The only slight letdown for me was the shift toward more action and fewer puzzles. While there are still plenty of enigmas to solve, this installment didn’t quite give me the same feeling as The Da Vinci Code, which remains my favorite.
It’s hard not to picture the film adaptation while reading Inferno. I try to avoid comparing books to their films, but it was almost inevitable here. That said, the novel’s different ending from the film was a welcome surprise, leaving me on a cliffhanger and making this one of my favorite endings in the series. It also reminded me that these are, after all, works of fiction—despite how real they feel at times.
I’m excited to dive into the next and final installment of the Langdon series (at least for now—I hope Brown writes more). With no film or TV adaptation yet, it’s a standalone story, which will allow me to judge it on its own merits.
I’d still recommend this series to anyone who loves action, history, art, murder mysteries, or Indiana Jones-style puzzles and adventure.
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