Dan Brown fails, yet wins. Review on Angels & Demons - Dan Brown

As soon as I started reading the book I felt like it was a perfect recipe for a movie. Not so surprising to hear that even this one, just like Da Vinci Code @ DVC, is going to be made into a movie. Looks like Dan Brown has an equation and fills various parameters every time to bring out a book. The ‘Angels and demons’ is not very different from the DVC. In fact I felt like reading another version of DVC. This book is also good, but there is one line of argument I cannot agree; that Angels and Demon is better than DVC (I have heard quite a few say that).

Before I start my arguments,

The story:

(You can skip this if you have already read the book)

It’s the clash of science Vs God; the Vatican church Vs Illuminati (age old network of people who adore science). A famous scientist of the CERN (from where internet is supposed to be born, basically it is a scientific institution) is murdered and the product of his research work is taken away. It is called the animatter and it can destroy an entire city, but was created with an intention to prove the existence of god scientifically, i.e with good intentions.

The head of CERN is the only person to know about this murder and he calls Robert Langdon the symbologist and Vittoria Vetra, the daughter of the murdered scientist. He entrusts them the responsibility to find the murderer and bring back the destruction material – the animatter and sends them to Vatican, where the animatter is supposedly placed.

There a series of murder happen at the Vatican. All people who die are cardinals, called prefereti , who have more chances to become the pope at a formal election. The camerlengo, who takes care of the activities in a pope’s absence, helps Langdon and Vittoria to find out the truth. The killer leaves clues at each murder. 4 hours still left until the animatter erupts. Does the animatter erupt? Does Langon and vittoria find out the culprit? What wins - science or god?

The Dan brown equation:

Start the story with a murder. Make the objective of the murder very neutral, like say here the animatter proves the existence of god scientifically. So any one, either the Illuminati or the Church, anyone could have murdered the scientist. Create a series of clues, where one leads to the next. Create a story based on the murder involving say 5-6 characters. Put them all together. You have a series of clues to keep track of, and you have a usual mystery story to follow and finally everything is revealed together that you get both confused and clear, but overawed for sure!!!

There is a dead body below the elephant sculpture in mahabalipuram. The tourist couple spots that and identifies him to be their guide during the previous trip. He is the only person who knows where that invaluable statue is. There is a group which would want to smuggle it and sell it. There is a group which would want to save that for historical importance. The couple remembers the gift the guide had given them during their previous trip. That is a clue leading to the statue. When they get there it is already taken away…. Rest in my novel using the Dan brown equation!!

The flaws I found:

(Do not read this if you haven’t read the book. I am revealing all the suspense here).

There are many untied loose ends in this effort of Dan Brown. There is good plot and the events take place at startling pace, but the motive for the basic murders around which the story revolves fails to have a reason. The following are few I thought were the weaklings:

• The camerlengo killed the pope and the scientist alright. But why would he want to kill the prefertti, the harmless people nowhere involved in anything? He is not a psycho for sure. He would want someone else to be the next pope. If he is serving god, why would he put the church in such an awkward position.

  
  




• Why would he want to bring in the name of an almost dead group - the illuminati? How does that empower the church? He in fact risks the church’s power by himself showing the world that there is one more power against god. This is something a diplomatic guy like the camerlengo would not do.

  
  




• The animatter burst in air!!! Both the fellows who were in the helicopter escape without dying. Even atom bomb which is said a lot less powerful should have killed them mid air. The logic is just a bit farfetched, though Dan brown tries desperately to justify this.

  
  




• Robert Langdon is not the hero. Unfortunately he becomes the clown! He runs here and there, he gets the clues, he reaches the places, yet doesn’t create an impact to what is happening. Remove Langdon off the scene, the story would still remain the same. You would not want to do this to your lead character.

  
  




• The hassasin is hired by the camerlengo (who calls himself Janus). He does not know that the dead scientist has a daughter. If it was kohler, who is Janus, then the hassassin would have known that for sure. There is a clue here to pick up. Dan Brown (not sure if it is deliberate) gives it away here.

  
  

Still …

One cannot take away the other credits for this book. It is just so fast and there is so much happening. The way Dan brown links the clues, as he always does, is not short of brilliance. The story to link the symbolisms was a tad better than DVC for sure. The book as such is not the best of Dan Brown.

Angels and demons - Good and Bad

-Vinayak

(Please do RRC)