Dan Brown Inferno Book

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Lourdes Horace

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Aug 3, 2024, 5:53:59 PM8/3/24

to liadimamust

Tall and lissome, Dr. Brooks moved with the assertive gait of an athlete. Even in shapeless scrubs, she had a willowy elegance about her. Despite the absence of any makeup that Langdon could see, her complexion appeared unusually smooth, the only blemish a tiny beauty mark just above her lips. Her eyes, though a gentle brown, seemed unusually penetrating, as if they had witnessed a profundity of experience rarely encountered by a person her age. (11)

Before his death, Zobrist placed the plague in a water-soluble sac and suspended it over the plaque in an underwater room. He recorded the video (the weird one given to the Consortium) to tell the world what he had done and why. Zobrist believes that overpopulation is the greatest threat to world health because overcrowding leads to poverty, poverty leads to desperation, and desperation leads people to steal/kill for resources. This is the connection to Dante: Zobrist aims to turn the world from desperate sin to salvation. When the sac dissolves, an unknown virus will be released into the water and spread worldwide.

The final scenes were horribly convoluted, but here goes:
We learn that way back before the story began, Sienna contacted the Consortium to protect Zobrist. He developed the plague and the trail of clues for Sinskey because he wanted her to find Ground Zero after the virus was released. Eventually the Consortium contacted Zobrist, and when they searched his house, they realized he had created something contagious. When they found him, he ran and jumped to his death. When Sinskey learned he was dead, she pulled strings to access his safety-deposit box and find the projector that was meant for her. However, she got to it before the Consortium was going to deliver it, so the always-listen-to-the-client-Consortium freaked out and labored to get the projector back.

Then they simulated the hospital scene. (No joke.) His stitched-up head injury was a small laceration the Consortium made to simulate his being grazed by a bullet. When Vayentha stormed the hospital room, she was shooting blanks. The doctor shot in the opening scene had a squib under his clothes. By having Sienna save Langdon, they were able to pull him to their side and win his trust. The taxi was theirs too (with the back window set to blow out); the call to the U.S. consulate was made with a number Sienna gave him that really went to the Consortium so they could send Vayentha to his location. See how this all fits together?

Have been waiting for a good review of inferno. Like you, I moderately enjoyed TDVC and A&D, but Lost Symbol sucked so bad, I really was reluctant to waste time with another Dan Brown.
I might pick this up before a flight or a train journey, or possibly if I can borrow it off someone.

That was my biggest issue with the book as well. Overall I liked it (no doubt in my mind that it was better than The Lost Symbol, at least by my personal standards), but it did feel more contrived than previous books.