Goodreads Choice Awards Book Club discussion

Mystery & Thriller Winner



Book Summary
In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces . . . Dante’s Inferno.

Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust . . . before the world is irrevocably altered.

So who's still reading the series?

How do you rate this book against the others in the series?

Do you think this should have won the Mystery & Thriller category? If not, which book do you think should have won?
https://www.goodreads.com/choiceaward...

It was just ok. The DiVinci Code was, by far, the best and a very exciting, enjoyable read. I just started reading "Gone Girl". I cannot say that it should have won, yet, but it's a good story.

I'm planning to read this one even though I didn't reread the rest of the series. I remember enjoying the first one I read a lot, but all the others after that fell short for me. So, I'm hoping this one will interest me more as I've heard good things about it.

I absolutely loved The Cuckoo's Calling (and The Silkworm) .. so to me that clearly should have won (without having read Inferno).

I'll come back once I've actually read it .. won't start it for a while though.

Cuckoo's Calling was my choice also Janina (not that I've read this book, but I couldn't even get past the first book)

I've read all his books in this series. Angels & Demons was my favorite, followed closely by DaVinci Code.

I did enjoy this one. I rank it third in the series, after The Da Vinci Code. I agree that Angels & Demons was the best.

My SO and I listened to the audio book while traveling, and I have to admit that at first I was making fun of the book. I was mocking the danger Landon found himself in yet again. Once I had more context, I actually was okay with it.

(view spoiler)[I really liked the concepts presented in the book. Over population is a very real problem and one of many about which no one wants to give serious consideration. It opened a lot of discussion on this topic between myself and my SO.

I also really liked the fact that they did not stop the machinations of the bad guy. Who saw that coming? Wow. He really did it. Of course, the result was not quite as disastrous as it first appeared. (hide spoiler)]


I voted for The Cuckoo's Calling as the top book of this category. I confess that had not read many, since I am not up to date on most the books that are part of a series and I am pretty Type A about reading in order. But, I did think it was worthy of a nomination.

I'd love to read the series but cannot afford them

Have you tried your local library? I got the most recent book via library loan.

no

heh, well it is a good suggestion Gale so maybe you ought to look into it :)

I saw posts about the cost of many books. Your local library carries many new novels, both digital versions as well as hard copies. I've been downloading from libraries for years.

Cathy wrote: "I've read all his books in this series. Angels & Demons was my favorite, followed closely by DaVinci Code."

I would agree with you, Cathy.

WARNING - SPOILERS NOW ALLOWED



Book discussion questions:
(Questions found on litlovers - http://www.litlovers.com/)

1. Before reading Dan Brown's thriller, how familiar, if at all, were you with the The Divine Comedy and its "Inferno" Cantica? Have you come away with a better understanding of the work? What are the ways in which the author uses Dante's great classic as a framework for his thriller?

2. Robert Langdon and Sienna Brooks race to save the world from a crazed scientist who plans to unleash his solution to the world's overpopulation. To what extent, if any, do you (secretly) agree with the Bertrand Zobrist in his desire, if not his methods, to control overpopulation?

How do you feel about this statement by Brooks:

As a species, humans were like the rabbits that were introduced on certain Pacific islands and allowed to reproduce unchecked to the point that they decimated their ecosystem and finally went extinct.

To what extent is overpopulation a real-life global problem? You might do a bit of research on overpopulation and look at some of the countervailing predictions, suggesting that the global population will actually begin to collapse after 2050.

3. Talk about the real possibility of a worldwide epidemic. How plausible is the threat as portrayed Brown's book?

4. Talk about Transhumanism. What is it, and does it pose a boon—or a threat—to the future of humanity?

5. At the end of the book WHO Director Elizabeth Sinskey says, "We’re on the verge of new technologies that we can’t yet even imagine.” Those technologies come with dangers but also with hope.

Sienna Brooks adds this about Transhumanism...

One of its fundamental tenets is that we as humans have a moral obligation to participate in our evolutionary process...to use our technologies to advance the species, to create better humans—healthier, stronger, with higher-functioning brains. Everything will soon be possible.

She then says...

If we don’t embrace [these tools], then we are as undeserving of life as the caveman who freezes to death because he’s afraid to start a fire.

What do you think?

6. Have you traveled to any of the three sites of the novel: Florence, Venice, or Istanbul? If so, how accurate is Brown's depiction of these cities? If you haven't been to Italy or Turkey, does the author bring the cities to life? Are they places you would like to visit?

7. Is this book a page-turner? Did you find yourself unable to put it down? If so, what makes it enthralling? If you didn't find Inferno an engaging read, what put you off the book?

8. Brown uses a 4-part pattern for the episodes in his book: 1) Langdon is presented with a clue he must interpret, 2) he has a "eureka" moment, 3) he is pursued by villains who make a sudden appearance, and 4) he escapes after a hair-raising chase. Try going through the book to identify the pattern in various episodes.

9. What about the book's ending? Do you find it predictable ... surprising ... shocking ... frightening ... satisfying?

10. Have you read other Dan Brown thrillers? If so, how does this compare?

Wow, Lynn. I am going to have to put some thought into this.

I read this book a few weeks ago. I loved Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons but while I was reading this one I kept thinking "been there done that". Dan Brown just uses the same formula over and over again - Robert Langdon, a mystery, a beautiful woman, being chased by bad guys.

Although I thought the novel was fast-paced and he is an OK writer, I am kinda over this formula and I am guessing it will be the last book of his that I read.

It wasn't my kind of book. I simply don't like Dan Brown's writing and he annoys me with his ongoing teachings about this and that and over and over again. It made me feel like I was forced back into middle school having to suffer through a particularly boring lesson ... not the topics, but the way they were presented.

And since I know quite a bit about virology or genetics, there were just too many errors and insanities to make it thrilling. I couldn't take anything serious that was happening after the "Oooo shocking" revelation that the bad guys were actually the good guys/WHO. And the whole story about the virus, its spread and all the other nonsense just was completely hilarious. I really don't get why people try to write books about topics that they clearly don't understand at all. Why not write a SciFi novel set in an alternate universe .. then you can write whatever you want .. even an airborne virus that can be detected by PCR without a primer encountering no innate defenses or unaffected individuals and entering germ cells able to incorporate in a precise chromosome location, but getting expressed selectively and thus leading to sterility yet without natural selection working on all of this (aka making the world flat again and creating fear of dropping over the edge).

Great comments Janina - spot on.

I read the book last summer with a group I was in at the time. I enjoyed it, but I knew less about virology then than I reluctantly do now thanks to the latest scare. I "went along for the ride" on the motorcycle and had a good time.

This is where I started to get disenchanted with the series. It just feels like the same old same old.

Kathy ,
I'm with you - same old , same old. As I read it, I could just picture Tom Hanks running through the streets . I'd watch a movie of it , though .

I remember liking The Da Vinci Code when it came out, and I've liked each book less. I agree with other comments that it seemed like the same story was being told again. I don't think I will read any more of them.

Yes, Da vinci code was different and exciting .. I read angels & demons after that which was also not bad but it seems every Dan Brown book i have read after that gets a little more boring. And except for a few interesting titbits about Dante's divine comedy and florence, Inferno has nothing new to offer. I still like his style , but he really has to come with a good storyline not treat it like it's some tried and tested formula.

I have read all the book in this series at some point but I haven’t re-read them now. I would say that this is my second favorite book in the series just because of the palaces they visit are (at least on the page) so interesting. I didn't like angels and demons as much as this book or DaVinci's Code.
I have not been to any of the cities mentioned in the book but the way the art and places are described I want to visit those cities. I have already put them on my list of places I want to visit someday :)

Eventhou Brown has the same basic formula in every book I still enjoyed this book because the cases are never a like and the bad guys are always different.

When I started to read this book I had heard of Dante’s Inferno and The Divine Comedy, I had the basic knowledge, what you learn in school ;) I feel I now have a better understanding of the work but I still can’t say I know much. I have no knowledge of virology so I can’t comment on any problems in the “facts”. I was not bothered with the “teaching” style of writing like some others in here but I guess it I down to that I don’t have basic knowledge in these things so I’m just glad to learn something new :D

In recent years there have been a couple of global “health scares” in the bird flu and swine flu (I don’t know if that is the official name but that is what it was called in Finland ) so I guess it is possible that we would have a global epidemic but I can’t see it spreading like it is portrayed in the book but who knows…

I find the Robert Langdon books pretty entertaining. I always like the strict time-crunch aspect. :)