Reading: Angels and Demons

by Jake Weatherill from Lewisham Library

 

Alright, so I have done quite few of these that look at the deeper meanings and messages behind the books, but honestly, sometimes I don't want to have to dig deeper into the subtext of a novel. Sometimes, I just like to switch off and enjoy a book. One of my favourite authors for this is Dan Brown, more specifically his Robert Langdon novels.

 

 

 

Entry for Apocryphal Gospels from the Oxford Companion to World Mythology in Oxford Reference Online

 

Like many people I first became aware of Dan Brown when he released The Da Vinci Code. I remember when it first came out the fact it was so controversial because it perpetuated the theory the Jesus Christ married Mary Magdelene and had a child whose bloodline wanders the earth today.

I decided to get on board the hype train and give it a read.

When I started reading it there were a few references to a previous adventure at the Vatican by our protagonist Robert Langdon.  I persevered through The Da Vinci Code, but was bugged by these seemingly random callbacks.  It wasn't until I got to the end and saw 'other works by the author' and a preview for Angel & Demons that I managed to put two and two together and realised I had in fact read a sequel.

 

 

 

I'd found The Da Vinci Code entertaining so thought 'what the hell!' and purchased Angel & Demons for a family holiday in Spain. I wasn't disappointed. We kick off in the thick of the action. A man flees an attacker in his home. The attacker however is unrelenting, and catches up to the man. The man's fate is sealed as the attacker goes to finish the deed. Close prologue.

 

 

 

Apocryphal Gospels in Access to Research

 

We meet Rodert Langdon, professor of symbology at Harvard University, who is awoken by a phone call from Maximillian Kohler, director of CERN. 

Kohler requires Langdon's skills to help him solve a murder.  Langdon is at first slightly perplexed until Kohler faxes him an image from the crime scene. An Ambigram of the word Illuminati burned into the flesh of Dr Leonardo Vetra, the man being attacked in the prologue.

From there it's really a fly by the seat of your pants kind of adventure. We get introduced to Vetra's adopted daughter Vittoria, who along with Kohler reveals that Leonardo's killer has stolen a canister of Anti-Matter, a substance with the capability to be as destructive as a nuclear bomb. 

 

 

 

 

With the canister located somewhere within Vatican City, seemingly orchestrated by The Illuminati, Langdon and Vittoria head to Rome to hunt down the canister before it can go boom.

To be honest, one of the best things about this book is that it is so fast paced. It plays into the the fact that Langdon and Vittoria are racing against the clock, it impresses on us the sense of urgency they face.

The short chapters also help avoid a feeling of fatigue for the reader, meaning that it's actually a very easy book to breeze your way through. 

It's one of the best examples of Brown's writing style, and ability to keep the reader engaged from start to finish.  It's also, in my opinion, the best book in The Robert Langdon series, the mind-blowing debut album so to speak.

 

Article from the Times Digital Archive

 

 

 

 

The others are fun, but nothing really tops the first novel.  So if reading this has seen you bitten by the Dan Brown bug you can find it on our E-Library here https://lewisham.overdrive.com/media/244060