The novel Angels & Demons, written by Dan Brown, is an absolute page-turner that constantly has the reader on the edge of their seat, wanting more. I chose this book because I read a different Dan Brown novel similar to this last year and couldn’t get enough of it. Angels & Demons is a murder mystery thriller that finds a way to connect the very polar scientific and religious worlds together. It follows the main character, Robert Langdon, as he entails on a one-day adventure throughout Vatican City and other areas in Europe.

The story begins with Robert Langdon receiving a call from Maximilian Kohler, who needs him to travel to CERN, a research facility, and help him with a murder case. The man murdered was a world-renowned physicist who had been working on making anti-matter, a new, extremely explosive, and expensive substance. The physicist had been branded with the Illuminati symbol on his chest, and his anti-matter substance had been stolen only 24 hours before it explodes. So, with the help of the physicist’s daughter, Vittoria, Langdon and her need to retrieve the substance before it explodes. They receive a tip that the anti-matter is in Vatican City, so they must find it. However, currently going on in Vatican City is the election of the new Pope. Therefore, with all the Cardinals in danger, Langdon and Vittoria must find the anti-matter before the timer runs out. While searching, they encounter another problem. The four preferred Cardinals elects are missing and are in danger of being killed.

Langdon and Vittoria find the anti-matter bomb, but still need to find the remaining Cardinals before they are murdered. With time running low, this book builds great suspense and is hard to put down. As the book uses 600 pages to detail the events of a single day, the plot of the story occurs at a quick pace but with great detail. The author does this by always having the characters move around to different locations, giving a feeling of rush. That is one of the key reasons why I love this book, there is no filler, and it is all action, making it very hard to put down. The book acts as a scavenger hunt that keeps the reader entertained by guessing the missing pieces. Readers will be sucked into the book by the author’s descriptive storytelling and overwhelmingly exciting plot twists.

I personally loved this book and everything it was, with all of the interconnecting pieces to this puzzle. I love reading how Langdon deciphers riddles and is able to find the true meaning behind symbols. In fact, if I could only give one reason why one should read this book, it would be to understand the brilliant mind of Robert Langdon. He is an extremely smart professor from Harvard who teaches the deep meaning of symbols. Langdon also has a photographic memory, making it very easy for him to remember things. ​​For example, Langdon is able to deduce that he needs to follow the “Path of Illumination” to find the lair of the Illuminati after only reading a poem.

My only concern for readers is that this book might be too similar to another Dan Brown book, The DaVinci Code. These books are in a series together with another Dan Brown novel, Inferno, which I have not read yet. Both Angels & Demons and The DaVinci Code follow Langdon on a scavenger-like chase with many twists and turns. Even with these similar books, I could never get enough, and I hope to read Inferno soon.

I highly recommend Angels & Demons, despite its many pages. This mystery makes me compelled to keep reading and look forward to reading similar books by the same author. Angels & Demons is a must-read for audiences who enjoy action and riddles. Any person that has the chance to learn about Robert Langdon and his mind should definitely take the opportunity.