Inferno (Robert Langdon #4) by Dan Brown

From Goodreads

In his international blockbusters The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, and The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown masterfully fused history, art, codes, and symbols. In this riveting new thriller, Brown returns to his element and has crafted his highest-stakes novel to date.

In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces . . . Dante’s Inferno.

Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust . . . before the world is irrevocably altered. 

My thoughts

I gave this an 8/10 or 4 stars.  This was my local Library Reading Group's July read. Sadly, I had to miss the meeting and think this would have made quite a good reading group discussion.

The story contained within the pages of this book is woven around a poem by Dante Aligheri of which I knew vey little and have taken this from Wikipedia.

'Inferno (pronounced [inˈfɛrno]; Italian for "Hell") is the first part of Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso. The Inferno tells the journey of Dante through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as nine circles of suffering located within the Earth; it is the "realm...of those who have rejected spiritual values by yielding to bestial appetites or violence, or by perverting their human intellect to fraud or malice against their fellowmen."[1] As an allegory, the Divine Comedy represents the journey of the soul toward God, with the Inferno describing the recognition and rejection of sin.'

Dan Brown takes parts of the poem and weaves a roller coaster of a ride around it.  Robert Langdon takes the lead, he is employed to do a job as is usual. We the reader have no idea who are the goodies and the baddies, but as the story progresses we are fed the information to make us realise who is in which camp.

At the heart of the book there is a very thought provoking message, Id love to talk about it in my review but I don't want to give away any spoilers and I feel that it would do so.

I really enjoyed the story and I feel that the Robert Langdon series has been a very enjoyable one and I'm glad that I've been a part of his journey along the years. 

Whilst, Dan Brown's books are very formulaic they're all still worth a read in my opinion and he has many fans who wait avidly for his books.