Inferno - Dan Brown

With all the hype and promotions there is very little new to write about this book so let me just share a short synopsis and a few key points.

The novel is about an intellectual person who has gone rogue - a futurist and thinker who sees a hopeless scenario playing out because of the growth in population.  So the question, like that of the movie and graphic novel - Watchmen - is: Is it acceptable to sacrifice millions of people for the bettermen of the entire race?  It is the question that is faced in every war when faceless sacrifices are made because others have decided on a course of action.

Langdon is brought in because the evil genius just cannot help but leave cryptic clues based on Dante's Inferno all over Italy giving us a chance to explore the art and architecture as Langdon pursues the answers.  Along the way are shady characters, none of whom are particularly believable and the inevitable hair raising race against time.

But the ending is not what I would expect and I would be surprised if anyone can guess the ending without some clues or reviews that give away too much.  I would also add that for me the ending is a let down, but lets see how the rest of the readers react.

So in summary:

1. It is a fast and fun read
2. The research that Dan Brown has done is excellent
3. You can learn a lot about architecture, art, and history reading this novel
4. Please - suspend your sense of realism - there are too many points that are really hard to accept, but they are necessary to move the novel along.  The elaborate hoax that Langdon is subjected to is really hard to accept - but like I said just go along with it.  
5. If you have accepted Langdon - art historian as adventure hero you know that you are in the Indiana Jones arena and let it go at that. 
6. The pace is excellent and enjoyable.
7. And finally the most important point is the issue of over population has never been the central theme of a novel like this that I have read and it is a good theme.  It is a true threat, although the response to it is still hard to accept.  But the graphs that are in the novel are not fictitious and the population trends and growth deserve to have our attention and our concern.  It is great that Brown could incorporate so much into the novel that are essential facts.
8. I would give it 3 1/2 out of 5 as an overall rating, but make it a 5 as a pleasurable read.