Inferno by Dan Brown

On a recent trip to California, I was complaining to Sierra about my inability to find good books to read. I explained my methods of getting recommendations, and she had one of her own: had I ever tried Dan Brown? No, I admitted. Is he a good writer? Interesting characters? She said she thought I would enjoy the diverse settings of his novels and how much one can learn about the cities and the history he shares as his stories unfold. When we got back to South Dakota, she lent me Inferno, which is where I began. It had to be good, right, with Tom Hanks on the cover?!

Well, I have to say, it was just okay. It was good reading at the end of every busy day we had on a bike riding and pickleball trip across Minnesota. I didn't need anything great, just a little read to get me ready to sleep. This was a little more action and suspense than I'm used to, but nothing too violent or disturbing. The story moved right along, with details of miraculous escapes and twists and turns that got a little redundant....all set amidst the beautiful museums, art, and buildings of Florence. So it probably would have been more meaningful to me if I had been there and enjoyed those things as Sierra had, and then it would have been a nice memory-connection. It did make me want to explore Florence, though...

And the characters....very shallow. Kind of interesting, but only on a surface level. The villains were villainous and the heroes heroic, along with a turncoat or two. Just ho-hum. But what really surprised me was the absolute terror Dan Brown tries to instill in the reader about overpopulation. That theme is very thick throughout the book, along with terrible statistics and immoral solutions. One immoral solution is the crux of this story. All of the dire predictions about the impending doom of our planet are presented as scientific facts...this blatant political subplot interfered with my enjoyment of the book. Actually, not that much, since my enjoyment level was pretty low anyway, but I was surprised at this author's attempt to propagate his views. Maybe I'm just unaware of how bad our situation is, but this story did nothing to convince me of its veracity. If I were on Amazon, I would give this two stars--one for the beautiful descriptions of Florence and its art, and one for the introduction to Dante's literary work.