Angels & Demons. Dan Brown. Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. New York, New York. 2000.

Book Review by Tracey
Even I (totally behind-the-times Tracey) have not escaped the media sensation author Dan Brown has caused, most notably with his book The Da Vinci Code . Yet, I was not very interested in reading it as I perceived it to be a religious book. I accidentally acquired Mr. Brown's Angels & Demons during the Christmas shopping season. My son informed me that it would make a nice gift for his girlfriend, then discovered that she already had it! Well you can imagine what happened next. Since the book was sitting there on my counter waiting to be returned, my curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to find out what all the Dan Brown hoopla was all about!

Angels & Demons is a well-written thriller. Thrillers are not my genre of choice, but I enjoy one now and then as a refreshing change from the endless romances that I am naturally drawn toward. I am also a lazy reader, so it was great that although this book had a lot of action and detail, it didn't confuse me. I am not very familiar with any of the factions, landmarks, or lore seemingly well researched by Mr. Brown, yet everything flowed very smoothly for me despite all of the twists and turns in the story. I am usually pretty good at what will happen next in a story, but there were several surprises that kept me guessing. Actually, the only other thrill I could have wished for was that the characters had seemed more emotional. (Here's that romance thing coming in again.) Yes, the characters are nicely detailed, and yes, Mr. Brown describes a lot of emotion through his characters, but the characters didn't make me FEEL emotion. Still, I very much enjoyed the book. I think anyone who enjoys the battle between good and evil, with a lot of serious action will appreciate Mr. Brown's work, Angels & Demons.