Angels and Demons

By Dan Brown. (my edition) Publsihed by Corgi
Phew! I’m so glad I’ve finished this book! It’s one of those that just grips you completely and you can do nothing else until you’ve finished reading it! Obviously there’s going to be lots of comparisons to The Davinci Code in this review as that is the one most people have read. Well, this takes a little longer to pick up – the beginning of the book is full of information, but very slow for the plot to take off. But when it does take off, it really flies.
I have to admit, I was reluctant to read this book as I wasn’t a particular fan of the Dan Brown style, but my husband made me; especially in the light of the pope’s recent death. I found it very annoying at the beginning of the book especially with all the comments about Vittoria’s slender legs in her small white shorts! And get this: “Staring up at her from the floor, discarded like a piece of trash, was an eyeball. She would have recognised that shade of hazel anywhere.” Because I am sure that if you saw a bloody eyeball looking at you from the floor, the first thing you’d think about was the particular shade of hazel? There were several sentences like this I didn’t like, but when the suspense is gripping me by the time I was half way in, I didn’t let it bother me any more. Also, whether you read this one before or after The Davinci Code, don’t expect an original plot. They are essentially one in the same as far as the basic elements go.
The amount of research gone into this book certainly commands respect for Dan Brown, and this is definitely a book worth reading. It inspires you to want to visit Rome and do his tour of the churches, and it encourages you to think about the whole religion verses science debate, and really, it is quite a powerful novel.