Angels & Demons by Dan Brown wasn’t as good as the first book, The Da Vinci Code, but, still an amazing book. There aren’t as many twists in the plot, but the action in this story is much more suspenseful than The Da Vinci Code. I would definitely recommend this book because of its action-packed plot.

In Angels & Demons, a European scientist needs Langdon’s help, finding a secret society called the Illuminati, a group of scientists who want to achieve enlightenment and are also enemies of the church. The Illuminati steals an object known as antimatter, a bomb that can level a whole city. The discoverer of the antimatter is Leonardo Vetra, another European scientist, and his adopted daughter, Vittoria Vetra. The Illuminati send a bomb threat to Vatican City, at the same time as the voting for a new Pope. They also kidnap the four cardinals that are candidates for the Pope’s position. Robert and Vittoria go on a quest around Rome, visiting churches where the assassin will supposedly kill one of the cardinals, one for each of the four elements: earth, wind, fire, and water. They also take on a quest to find where the antimatter is hidden before the new Pope has only a hole in the ground to reside over.

Before watching the movie, I would recommend reading Angels & Demons first. There are a lot of scenes in the book that were altered or completely taken out in the movie. For example, the movie opens with Vittoria at the research lab, but in the novel she is actually out on an expedition first and comes back when she hears about her father’s death. There are also allegorical allusions in this book, like churches the pair visit.

Angels & Demons is a very good action spectacular to read. There is a little more action in this book, but works twists into the plot.