Recommended by Mark, Library Officer at Eye and Thorney Libraries.
If you like suspense and intrigue, mixed with religious twists, this is a must!
Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor of religious symbology, arrives at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, to attend a major lecture by Edmond Kirsch, a former student of his, a billionaire computer scientist, futurist, inventor, and entrepreneur. Kirsch promises in the build up to his lecture to answer the questions, “Where do we come from? Where are we going?”, with the unveiling of a discovery that “will change the face of science forever” Those answers, the reader is repeatedly told, will shatter the foundations of the world’s religions and human existence.
The evening suddenly erupts into chaos with Kirsch’s assassination and his yet undisclosed secret teeters on the edge of being lost forever.
As a result of this, Langdon realises his own life is now in danger. Consequently, Langdon goes on the run, accompanied by Ambra Vidal, the director of the Guggenheim Museum, who also worked with Kirsch to stage the event that evening. They flee to Barcelona on a mission to locate a cryptic password that will unlock the secret, all the while trying to stay one step ahead of those responsible for Kirsch’s death, who are out to make sure the secret is lost forever.
Religious twists throughout keep the reader thinking this could be real, not fiction and what Brown incorporates into the story well is the use of time constraints to keep the action moving. Everything is a race against time, keeping you on your toes and turning the pages!
As a huge fan of Dan Brown’s novels, particularly featuring Robert Langdon, I found ‘Origin’, the fifth instalment in the series, follows the same pattern as in previous books. The historical and religious aspects throughout makes it that more gripping, compelling and addictive, leaving you wanting to know what happens next.
Previous titles are:
‘The Da Vinci Code’
‘Angels and Demons’
‘The Lost Symbol’
‘Inferno’