Checked out my brother's copy while we met up in Japan for a family trip, stuff is "Da Vinci" good and has less of an emphasis on the art history angle, at least in the beginning.

The novel quickly turns into a race against time in Rome to save four cardinals from dying on the heels of the Pope's passing. The same showdowy group behind the cardinal's kidnapping is also behind a massive plot to blow up Vatican City with new anti-matter technology stolen from the premier nuclear physics in the world, CERN in Switzerland

Langdon is paired with a hot fiery Italian scientist who's father's murder sparked the entire adventure, they quickly develop a romantic thing but that's downplayed by the whole risking of their lives in the face of a deadly enemy

Very similar to the Da Vinci Code (DVC) in many ways, we have
- a mysterious knowledgable enemy (who hides behind the moniker Janus)
- a man that carries the action of the enemy: here a Hashashim, in contact with his master only through the phone

I thought it was very on point to read this after Pope Jean Paul II passed since some of the Conclave procedures to elect a new pope and other Vatican history is well described by Brown here

Like many, I've come across Dan Brown through the DVC so this is fun to read about Langdon, Vittoria and their "adventures" in Italy which are mentioned in passing in the DVC

The book loses momentum as we race towards an action packed ending, I thought the way the mystery unravelled was a lot more itneresting

Some post near-cataclysmic event revelation don't really help and remind me how some of the DVC stuff in the conclusion was very far-fetched

Maybe this was not as good because I know less about Italian art

The end is real hokey the way the James Bond spy movies themselve conclude