Just completed reading the third Dan Brown's book ... and I don't think I will take up another book of his; reason simply being I know how the flow of the story is going to be.
The book starts off with a sensational and gory murder ( is it sensational 'coz its gory or is it gory to make it sensational ? ) of a famous X. Robert Langdon, the hero, is summoned to the scene of crime - wonder how they track him within hours of the murder. Mind you , he is not a detective or a cop or even remotely connected to any investigating agency , just a Prof of Symbology. Anyway ... he is called for and he promptly arrives.
And in two out of three cases , the murder victim has an intelligent , not-exactly-beautiful-but-attractive daughter , who I can assume without difficulty to be the heroine of the story.
Then comes the tricky part - the bits and pieces of the puzzle , the chunks that make the big picture ... big picture of not just the motive , but of religion, cults, secret groups and yes, a truckload of symbols. There are substories in every other chapter of the background of the background of the cult/religion, but if you are not interested in the details feel free to skip them.
One thing leads to another, hero and heroine put the pieces together , travel in all modes of transport known to man, solve the mystery in record time and head back home ... well , again in two out of three cases. I felt sad for the lead pair in 'Digital Fortress' for they hardly get to share any screentime , or pagetime together.
While in 'Angels and Demons' I was a little surprised with the twist in the end, in 'Digital Fortress' and 'DaVinci code' I couldn't wait to nail the oh-so-obvious mastermind and be done with it. Dan Brown though does know to wax eloquently about the academic nuances of every symbol he introduces to us , he doesnot fare so well in explaining emotions. For one, why is Langdon mostly in a confused state of mind . Even when he knows his stuff, he seems so unsure.
There isn't much place or importance for the subtler and gentler aspects of humor or romance, just a mad rush from one thrill to another and yet another while you slog through the voluminous book with dying hopes of reaching a satisfying end. But a fulfilling end is what you don't get ...
If ever Dan Brown gets to read this, he may sue me for my comments , but until then you can read a few books of his and add to my observations ;-)
