Dan Brown, Angels & Demons (Pocket Books, in paperback June 2001)
By Corey LaBranche

The Catholic Church - one of the world’s most powerful and wealthy religions, historically dedicated to the eradication of scientific progress.

The Illuminati - a centuries-old secret brotherhood committed to the advancement of science, forced underground long ago by the rise of the Catholic Church.

The two collide in the action-thriller Angels & Demons.

Harvard professor of religious iconology Robert Langdon journeys to the CERN research facility in Switzerland to assist the investigation into the mysterious death of physicist Leonardo Vetra. The only clue, a symbol burned into the victim’s flesh, suggests the resurrection of an ancient brotherhood known as the Illuminati.

Along with Vetra’s murder, another shocking event occurs at the facility - the theft of several grams of Vetra’s last creation, antimatter. Upon its contact with physical matter, a few grams of antimatter will produce an explosion with the destructive power many times that of a kiloton of TNT.

The Illuminati declares its ultimate goal: to exact revenge for past persecution by its age-old enemy, the Catholic Church. The method of destruction: plant the stolen antimatter deep in the heart of Vatican City during the election of a new Pope - the Papal Conclave, an event at which the most powerful representatives of the Catholic Church will be in attendance.

As Vatican City’s Swiss Guard desperately search the city for the antimatter, Langdon and Vetra’s daughter, Vittoria, travel to Rome to decipher the markers of a 400-year-old trail leading to the hidden lair of the Illuminati. Following the clues through abandoned churches, ancient Roman ruins, and mysterious catacombs, Langdon and Vittoria attempt to stop the brutal murders of four kidnapped cardinals while seeking the Illuminati hideout.

Angels & Demons is a thrilling read, worthy of becoming a big-budget blockbuster film. The novel contains no filler material - each and every paragraph advances or strengthens the storyline. And just when the reader believes the plot has fully developed, the author throws a series of totally unexpected curves, resulting in a surprising but satisfying climax.

Mr. Brown has performed the near-impossible feat of using several unrelated concepts - a secret society, the creation of antimatter, and mysteries of the Catholic Church - to devise a fantastic and engrossing plot. One of the most interesting points is the factual nature of the locations and concepts in the novel. The legendary Illuminati were real and are rumored to exist even today, allegedly infiltrating modern-day governments and seizing control of international banking to form one global government, the so-called ‘New World Order’. CERN is an actual scientific facility where antimatter has been created for possible use as an alternate energy source. After extensive travel and research, Mr. Brown authentically reproduces the layout, subterranean catacombs, architecture, and artwork of Rome and Vatican City.

The author’s descriptive technique is vivid, yet does not bog the reader down in overly-descriptive passages. Description is masterfully interwoven with action and dialogue to a degree to which the reader is virtually unaware of it. The reader is given enough detail to visualize the settings and scenery without interfering with the brisk pace of the story.

The bulk of the novel takes place within a span of 24 hours - the countdown of the antimatter canister’s power source - and the author fills every hour with excitement, intrigue, and suspense. Especially thrilling is Langdon and Vittoria’s pursuit of the Illuminati across the Roman cityscape.

The story touches on the centuries-old debate of science vs. religion. Although this conflict is what sparks the action of the novel, the author doesn’t bother attempting to settle such unforgiving disputes. Nor should he, since this is not the proper forum for it. What he does provide is an explanation of both viewpoints as each relates to the storyline. The author’s purpose is not to preach to the reader, but to narrate a stimulating and pleasurable tale, and he certainly succeeds in that regard.

I enjoyed this book to such a degree thatI sent Dan Brown a short message via e-mail to tell him so. He replied the next day with a thank you note, and a mention that he is currently working on a sequel to Angels & Demons. The book will follow Robert Langdon on an adventure set in Paris and London. You can bet I'll be waiting for it!

Seldom is a novel so outstanding that I truly can’t put it down, but Angels & Demons is that good. I highly recommend it.