Inferno. That seems an apt title for Dan Brown’s latest, and sure to be mega-selling, Robert Langdon thriller. As in big, crashing, burning, disastrous failure…

Let’s just imagine I’m more clever at computer stuff and that I’m drawing some flames over this crappy timewaster, ok?

The plot of Inferno simply doesn’t have the clever twists, pacing, or intrigue of Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code, or even my personal Dan Brown fave, Deception Point. This is more like the lackluster “who cares” of The Lost Symbol. Population crisis, plagues, and Dante Alighieri? That sounds amazing. Except what we actually get are pages and pages of descriptions of European architecture, double-crossing sidekicks, unnecessary repetition and predictability, and convenient amnesia. I didn’t expect great literature, but MAN, I didn’t expect this dud either. This should have at least been a FUN read.

All in all, Inferno could have been good, given the author’s vast resources and ability to cull out interesting factoids about real places, but that simply never happens. Bleh. Over it. Although I may actually have to pick up The Divine Comedy for a Inferno WORTH a reread soon…