Product Description

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Da Vinci Code comes the explosive thriller that started it all.

An ancient secret brotherhood. A devastating new weapon of destruction. An unthinkable target. When world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to his first assignment to a Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol -- seared into the chest of a murdered physicist -- he discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati...the most powerful underground organization ever to walk the earth. The Illuminati has now surfaced to carry out the final phase of its legendary vendetta against its most hated enemy -- the Catholic Church.

Langdon's worst fears are confirmed on the eve of the Vatican's holy conclave, when a messenger of the Illuminati announces they have hidden an unstoppable time bomb at the very heart of Vatican City. With the countdown under way, Langdon jets to Rome to join forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to assist the Vatican in a desperate bid for survival.

Embarking on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra follow a 400-year-old trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome toward the long-forgotten Illuminati lair...a clandestine location that contains the only hope for Vatican salvation.

Critics have praised the exhilarating blend of relentless adventure, scholarly intrigue, and cutting wit found in Brown's remarkable thrillers featuring Robert Langdon. An explosive international suspense, Angels & Demons marks this hero's first adventure as it careens from enlightening epiphanies to dark truths as the battle between science and religion turns to war.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10447 in Books
• Published on: 2003-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 592 pages

Amazon.com Review
It takes guts to write a novel that combines an ancient secret brotherhood, the Swiss Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, a papal conclave, mysterious ambigrams, a plot against the Vatican, a mad scientist in a wheelchair, particles of antimatter, jets that can travel 15,000 miles per hour, crafty assassins, a beautiful Italian physicist, and a Harvard professor of religious iconology. It takes talent to make that novel anything but ridiculous. Kudos to Dan Brown (Digital Fortress) for achieving the nearly impossible. Angels & Demons is a no-holds-barred, pull-out-all-the-stops, breathless tangle of a thriller--think Katherine Neville's The Eight (but cleverer) or Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum (but more accessible).

Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is shocked to find proof that the legendary secret society, the Illuminati--dedicated since the time of Galileo to promoting the interests of science and condemning the blind faith of Catholicism--is alive, well, and murderously active. Brilliant physicist Leonardo Vetra has been murdered, his eyes plucked out, and the society's ancient symbol branded upon his chest. His final discovery, antimatter, the most powerful and dangerous energy source known to man, has disappeared--only to be hidden somewhere beneath Vatican City on the eve of the election of a new pope. Langdon and Vittoria, Vetra's daughter and colleague, embark on a frantic hunt through the streets, churches, and catacombs of Rome, following a 400-year-old trail to the lair of the Illuminati, to prevent the incineration of civilization.

Brown seems as much juggler as author--there are lots and lots of balls in the air in this novel, yet Brown manages to hurl the reader headlong into an almost surreal suspension of disbelief. While the reader might wish for a little more sardonic humor from Langdon, and a little less bombastic philosophizing on the eternal conflict between religion and science, these are less fatal flaws than niggling annoyances--readers should have no trouble skimming past them and immersing themselves in a heck of a good read. "Brain candy" it may be, but my! It's tasty. --Kelly Flynn

From Publishers Weekly
Pitting scientific terrorists against the cardinals of Vatican City, this well-plotted if over-the-top thriller is crammed with Vatican intrigue and high-tech drama. Robert Langdon, a Harvard specialist on religious symbolism, is called in by a Swiss research lab when Dr. Vetra, the scientist who discovered antimatter, is found murdered with the cryptic word "Illuminati" branded on his chest. These Iluminati were a group of Renaissance scientists, including Galileo, who met secretly in Rome to discuss new ideas in safety from papal threat; what the long-defunct association has to do with Dr. Vetra's death is far from clear. Vetra's daughter, Vittoria, makes a frightening discovery: a lethal amount of antimatter, sealed in a vacuum flask that will explode in six hours unless its batteries are recharged, is missing. Almost immediately, the Swiss Guard discover that the flask is hidden beneath Vatican City, where the conclave to elect a new pope has just begun. Vittoria and Langdon rush to recover the canister, but they aren't allowed into the Vatican until it is discovered that the four principal papal candidates are missing. The terrorists who are holding the cardinals call in regarding their pending murders, offering clues tied to ancient Illuminati meeting sites and runes. Meanwhile, it becomes clear that a sinister Vatican entity with messianic delusions is in league with the terrorists. Packing the novel with sinister figures worthy of a Medici, Brown (Digital Fortress) sets an explosive pace as Langdon and Vittoria race through a Michelin-perfect Rome to try to save the cardinals and find the antimatter before it explodes. Though its premises strain credulity, Brown's tale is laced with twists and shocks that keep the reader wired right up to the last revelation. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
Dale Brown New York Times bestselling author of Battle Born Angels & Demons is one hell of a book --I had a hard time putting it down and I didn't get any work done until I finished it. Congratulations to Dan Brown for crafting an intriguing, imaginative, and very suspenseful read.

Dale Brown

New York Times bestselling author of Battle Born

Angels & Demons is one hell of a book --I had a hard time putting it down and I didn't get any work done until I finished it. Congratulations to Dan Brown for crafting an intriguing, imaginative, and very suspenseful read.

Customer Reviews

Much better than The DaVinci Code
The story is better and faster paced than his second book (DaVinci), plus better locals. Front to back one of the best books I have ever read.

thrilling mystery
After reading The Da Vinci Code a few years back, I was intrigued by the character of Robert Langdon and decided to read his previous adventure, chronicled in Angels & Demons.

In this, Langdon's first race against time, someone is threatening the conclave of cardinals electing a new pope with a new technology, antimatter. This someone is also systematically murdering the four favorites for election, according to an ancient study of science. This someone claims to be a group long thought dead or mythical: The Illuminati. Langdon, a professor of symbology, is the only man who can figure out where the next murders are going to take place, tracing the assassin through Rome and Vatican City in a race against time before the Vatican City is blown sky high with a quarter gram of antimatter.

Reading Angels & Demons requires a massive suspension of disbelief. However, once that suspension is achieved, the story is gripping, the mystery twists and turns, and gets a huge "OMG no way!" reaction when all is finally revealed.

My one problem with the book, the reason it only got 4 stars instead of 5, was this: Brown is a lazy author. Yes, he researches certain things thoroughly: the art involved, the city his characters race through, etc. However, I found myself arguing with simple premeses - something rudimentary research could have solved. It's like Brown got so involved with his convoluted plot and impressive art and history name-dropping that he forgot the simple things. Forgot his basics, so to speak.

If you're looking for a good adventure story with history, art, and some pseudo-science thrown in, do read this book. If you're looking for realism? Stay away.

One final word: Angels and Demons, like The Da Vinci Code, is fiction. People tend to forget that. They are both works of fiction, poeple.. please, keep that in mind.

Bravo
Brilliantly conceived and masterfully woven. The research Brown performed to make it all come together was truly impressive. This is the best book I've read this year since NAKED BRUNETTE.