Inferno-Dan Brown's latest novel

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
I'm a huge Dan Brown fan and look forward to reading this one


Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown announced the title of his next novel, Inferno, in characteristically cryptic fashion, relying on thousands of fans to fill in a "social media photomosaic using Facebook and Twitter." (Watch the video announcement for Inferno below.) The new book, which is scheduled for release on May 14, 2013, is the fourth outing for Brown's signature protagonist Robert Langdon, who debuted in 2000's Angels & Demons and last appeared in 2009's The Lost Symbol. What can Brown's legions of fans expect from Inferno? A guide:

First — why Inferno?
"Although I studied Dante's Inferno in high school, it wasn't until recently, while researching in Florence, that I came to appreciate the enduring influence of Dante's work on the modern world," said Brown in a statement. "With this new novel, I am excited to take readers on a journey deep into this mysterious realm... a landscape of codes, symbols, and more than a few secret passageways."

Is there any other information on Inferno's plot?
Amazon's book description offers this info: "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."

What do critics think?
They're less than pleased. "If Dan Brown does for Dante what he did for Leonardo [Da Vinci], the general public will probably be delighted, while the scholarly community will probably tear out their hair," says Stephen Milner, the Serena professor of Italian at Manchester University, in an interview with The Independent. In the months after its release, The Da Vinci Code proved maddening for many religious scholars, who found it difficult to convince the novel's millions of fans that its dramatic "revelations" about Jesus Christ were truly fictional, and some fear that Brown's decision to tackle Dante's revered, Christianity-infused text could have a similar effect.

Will there be a movie adaptation of Inferno?
That probably depends on the success or failure of the upcoming film adaptation of 2009's The Lost Symbol, which was Dan Brown's previous Robert Langdon book. The Lost Symbol will reportedly enter pre-production in 2013, with Never Let Me Go's Mark Romanek as a possible director and Tom Hanks reprising the role of Robert Langdon for a third time. While Ron Howard's 2006 adaptation of The Da Vinci Code earned more than $750 million during its run at the box office, 2009 follow-up Angels & Demons earned just under $500 million — a solid gross, but a sign that the franchise may not have a long-term future at the box-office.

UPDATE: On Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2013, Inferno's cover was officially revealed. Dan Brown is notorious for embedding cryptic secrets in the covers of his books — what mysteries could Inferno's cover hide?
 

Bill Hart

Well-Known Member
May 11, 2012
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I'm a huge Dan Brown fan and look forward to reading this one


Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown announced the title of his next novel, Inferno, in characteristically cryptic fashion, relying on thousands of fans to fill in a "social media photomosaic using Facebook and Twitter." (Watch the video announcement for Inferno below.) The new book, which is scheduled for release on May 14, 2013, is the fourth outing for Brown's signature protagonist Robert Langdon, who debuted in 2000's Angels & Demons and last appeared in 2009's The Lost Symbol. What can Brown's legions of fans expect from Inferno? A guide:

First — why Inferno?
"Although I studied Dante's Inferno in high school, it wasn't until recently, while researching in Florence, that I came to appreciate the enduring influence of Dante's work on the modern world," said Brown in a statement. "With this new novel, I am excited to take readers on a journey deep into this mysterious realm... a landscape of codes, symbols, and more than a few secret passageways."

Is there any other information on Inferno's plot?
Amazon's book description offers this info: "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."

What do critics think?
They're less than pleased. "If Dan Brown does for Dante what he did for Leonardo [Da Vinci], the general public will probably be delighted, while the scholarly community will probably tear out their hair," says Stephen Milner, the Serena professor of Italian at Manchester University, in an interview with The Independent. In the months after its release, The Da Vinci Code proved maddening for many religious scholars, who found it difficult to convince the novel's millions of fans that its dramatic "revelations" about Jesus Christ were truly fictional, and some fear that Brown's decision to tackle Dante's revered, Christianity-infused text could have a similar effect.

Will there be a movie adaptation of Inferno?
That probably depends on the success or failure of the upcoming film adaptation of 2009's The Lost Symbol, which was Dan Brown's previous Robert Langdon book. The Lost Symbol will reportedly enter pre-production in 2013, with Never Let Me Go's Mark Romanek as a possible director and Tom Hanks reprising the role of Robert Langdon for a third time. While Ron Howard's 2006 adaptation of The Da Vinci Code earned more than $750 million during its run at the box office, 2009 follow-up Angels & Demons earned just under $500 million — a solid gross, but a sign that the franchise may not have a long-term future at the box-office.

UPDATE: On Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2013, Inferno's cover was officially revealed. Dan Brown is notorious for embedding cryptic secrets in the covers of his books — what mysteries could Inferno's cover hide?

You should know that there was a litigation in the UK over Dan Brown's authorship of the Da Vinci code and the judge was so taken with the whole theme of hidden symbols that he encrypted a message into his rather lengthy opinion ruling on the claims. It's been a while since I read the opinion, but it was an amusing sidelight in what is otherwise a prosaic process. I enjoyed the Da Vinci Code book, thought the movie was pretty boring and found Angels and Demons to be far less interesting, but I'm certainly willing to try another one of his books. I don't remember The Lost Symbol at all.
 

rbbert

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Dec 12, 2010
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Dan Brown's a little too much like Robert Ludlum for me. How many times can there be deep, widespread conspiracies that control the world surreptitiously for decades or centuries, only to be exposed and overturned by one man operating at a breakneck pace??
 

edorr

WBF Founding Member
May 10, 2010
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Dan Brown's a little too much like Robert Ludlum for me. How many times can there be deep, widespread conspiracies that control the world surreptitiously for decades or centuries, only to be exposed and overturned by one man operating at a breakneck pace??

How many times can James Bond save the world from evil powers? As many times as creators of fiction can come up with a marketable story.
 

Bill Hart

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May 11, 2012
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How many times can there be deep, widespread conspiracies that control the world surreptitiously for decades or centuries, only to be exposed and overturned by one man operating at a breakneck pace??
Rbbert: Happens all the time. How many times do you dismiss the possibility of spontaneous human combustion, only to see a news article about somebody that just goes up in flames? Or asteroids. People never think of them. Then, Whamm! One hits earth.
Me, I'm convinced there's something hidden in Area 51. But, only time will tell. :)
 

FrantzM

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Dan Brown's a little too much like Robert Ludlum for me. How many times can there be deep, widespread conspiracies that control the world surreptitiously for decades or centuries, only to be exposed and overturned by one man operating at a breakneck pace??

Hi
Discovered Dan Brown through Steve Williams here. I was visiting him and he had (forced? :D) me get the book at a nice bookstore, I remember the place as full of books and not a Barnes and Nobles or a Chain store, bunch of courteous people who knew a lot about books in general. I got to the plane and could not put the book down. The man can spin a yarn, no doubt. To me in any great piece of fiction, there must be something out of the ordinary. too prosaic and it becomes mundane, trivial, commonplace. I prefer the dream of something or someone special that had been waiting all these years to be born to unravel those mysteries .. I dig him .. Dan's liberty with historical facts however can be way too much and way too sketchy and presented too often with an air of authority . One should not take his works for those of an Historian.
 

JackD201

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Digital Fortress by Brown was pretty good.(non Langdon book)
 

rbbert

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I read and enjoyed all Dan Brown's novels up through the Da Vinci Code, but enough is enough ;)
 

mojave

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Oct 29, 2010
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Dan Brown's a little too much like Robert Ludlum for me. How many times can there be deep, widespread conspiracies that control the world surreptitiously for decades or centuries, only to be exposed and overturned by one man operating at a breakneck pace??
That is a great succinct comparison!
 

JackD201

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Nothing beats Jack Bauer. Okay, it was a TV series not a book but really, how many bad days could one guy have? LOL.
 

jadis

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LL21

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Dan Brown's a little too much like Robert Ludlum for me. How many times can there be deep, widespread conspiracies that control the world surreptitiously for decades or centuries, only to be exposed and overturned by one man operating at a breakneck pace??

I think at least 23 according to James Bond! ;)
 

jadis

Well-Known Member
Apr 28, 2010
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I liked Da Vinci Code best. I'm deeply into 'legends' like Holy Grail and things like that. And also 'secret societies'. Maybe I should join one. :D
 

rbbert

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I think at least 23 according to James Bond! ;)

In Ian's Fleming's novels, Bond battled some villains of very limited scope (American mobsters, SMERSH and its agents, Dr. No and Scaramouche) and one worldwide conspiracy (SPECTRE) of recent vintage and really the work of just one man (Blofeld). Not anything like Ludlum or Brown, IMO.
 

Bill Hart

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May 11, 2012
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Nothing beats Jack Bauer. Okay, it was a TV series not a book but really, how many bad days could one guy have? LOL.
Waterboarding and torture are so 2005.
I'm on one of the 'Patches' for a neighborhood in NY- saw an article a couple weeks ago about a guy that crawled out over the ice on a frozen lake to rescue his dog, who had fallen through. I recognized the name- it was one of my (former) law partners. I wrote him to say how impressed I was by his heroics. He explained that the dog is basically a moron but love for his animal drove him unthinkingly to the rescue. The dog, which is some crazy mix- like beagle and daschund? is named, wait for it....

Jack Bauer.

:) True story.
 

rbbert

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Dec 12, 2010
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Now rbbert without peeking can you tell us what those acronyms stand for

SMERSH

SPECTRE

I'll go look them up, but off the top of my head SMERSH is something like Society Spionam (IIRC, it's not completely an acronym) and SPECTRE something like Society _ _ _ Terrorism Revenge and Extortion?
 

rbbert

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Dec 12, 2010
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OK, it's "death to spies" (SMERt SHpionam) and SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion
 

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