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- Mass Market Paperback: 24 pages ; Dimensions (in
inches): 1.07 x 6.78 x 4.16
- Publisher: Pocket Books; (June 26, 2001)
- ISBN: 0671027360
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Book Description
An ancient secret brotherhood.
A devastating new weapon of destruction.
An unthinkable target.
ANGELS & DEMONS
World-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss
research facility to analyze a cryptic symbol seared into the chest of a murdered
physicist.
What he discovers is unimaginable: a deadly vendetta against the Catholic
Church by a centuries-old underground organization -- the Illuminati. Desperate
to save the Vatican from a powerful time bomb, Langdon joins forces in Rome
with the beautiful and mysterious scientist Vittoria Vetra.
Together they embark on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous
catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and the most secretive vault on earth...the
long-forgotten Illuminati lair.
It
takes guts to write a novel that combines an ancient secret brotherhood, the
Swiss Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, a papal conclave,
mysterious ambigrams, a plot against the Vatican, a mad scientist in a wheelchair,
particles of antimatter, jets that can travel 15,000 miles per hour, crafty
assassins, a beautiful Italian physicist, and a Harvard professor of religious
iconology.
It
takes talent to make that novel anything but ridiculous. Kudos to Dan Brown
(Digital
Fortress) for achieving the nearly impossible. Angels & Demons is
a no-holds-barred, pull-out-all-the-stops, breathless tangle of a thriller--think
Katherine Neville's The Eight (but cleverer) or Umberto Eco's Foucault's
Pendulum (but more accessible).
Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is shocked to
find proof that the legendary secret society, the Illuminati--dedicated since
the time of Galileo to promoting the interests of science and condemning the
blind faith of Catholicism--is alive, well, and murderously active.
Brilliant physicist Leonardo Vetra has been murdered,
his eyes plucked out, and the society's ancient symbol branded upon his chest.
His final discovery, antimatter, the most powerful and dangerous energy source
known to man, has disappeared--only to be hidden somewhere beneath Vatican
City on the eve of the election of a new pope.
Langdon and Vittoria, Vetra's daughter and colleague,
embark on a frantic hunt through the streets, churches, and catacombs of Rome,
following a 400-year-old trail to the lair of the Illuminati, to prevent the
incineration of civilization.
Brown seems as much juggler as author--there are
lots and lots of balls in the air in this novel, yet Brown manages to
hurl the reader headlong into an almost surreal suspension of disbelief.
While the reader might wish for a little more sardonic
humor from Langdon, and a little less bombastic philosophizing on the eternal
conflict between religion and science, these are less fatal flaws than niggling
annoyances--readers should have no trouble skimming past them and immersing
themselves in a heck of a good read. "Brain candy" it may be, but my! It's
tasty. --Kelly Flynn
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