Inferno: when THE END is unproductive

I am sorry to disappoint you. But please blame Dan Brown for the same.

I am talking of his new offering: Inferno, a novel based on Dante’s works, artifacts with mysteries;  throw in a Biomedical weapon, a deadly virus to set off the hero Langdon saddled with a short-term amnesia as he stumbles though the besieged Florence city ( Alas! This hero has not seen Ghajini, so he is not as smart as Aamir Khan!) aided by a bald lady  Doctor on a wild goose chase,  all the while ducking from Military Police..

Confusing enough? But wait.. The assured  thrills are there, and so are the clever  twists at the end of each Chapter through which the author takes us on a nail-biting and often puzzling chase covering Italy and Turkey with the couple ducking from bullets, à la Jason Bourne cum James Bond.

Without revealing more as spoilers, I will answer your questions…

Was it Good?:  ..haa….hmm..Yeah, but….sort of…

What was not Good?:  When the end becomes impotent and unproductive, you come away unsatisfied.. Like what was this entire futile chase about?

Now to decipher the last two italicized words above (Sorry, Dan Brown, you are getting to me), you will have to read the book to ‘the end’.

There was a minor controversy on this book, recently regarding the description of the Philippine capital Manila as ‘Gates of hell’ and such unkind words…Yes, that is how these ‘Western Cultured’ authors still think of developing Asian Cities… Much like some still talk of India as the’ land of snake charmers’ in this day and age…

Alistair Maclean wrote The Satan Bug in 1961…I will rate it higher than this mishmash of History, literature, architecture and bio- terror any day.. Yes, despite that day and age…
This story looks like inspired from Mission Impossible-II

Come to think Bio-medical thrillers themselves, Robin Cook certainly does a much better job.

I feel Brown should stick to his territory of Museums and symbols. Next time around.

My fav Dan Brown book still is Angels and Demons closely followed by the Digital Fortress.

As to Inferno: Rating is 2.75/5 ( that is just for the thrills, not the plot!)