Author: Dan Brown

Publisher: Doubleday Publishing, 2017, 461 pages

Author Dan Brown had written three books prior to his global best-seller in 2003, The DaVinci Code. I bought that book and instantly became a fan, not just of him but the genre which is a fiction-thriller using real-world places and history as the setting and background for the current story. I had only really read fantasy books, so when I discovered authors like Brown, I thought this technique was genius.

This is the fifth book featuring the protagonist Robert Langdon, who is a professor of symbolism at Harvard University. His eidetic memory comes in handy once again as he uses paintings, ancient poems and symbols and cryptic texts to solve the mystery and perhaps even save the world.

Brown has a pretty good pattern for his novels, and this one falls right in step. The story takes place over a small window of just a few hours that starts (albeit in chapter 21) with the assassination of a friend about to present an incredible revelation that will have devastating effects in the religious and scientific communities of the world during a live broadcast. Robert sets out on a path to finish his friend’s presentation and avoid getting killed in the process.

However, knowing Brown’s pattern as well as I do by now, I decided to make a list of things to expect in this adventure before I began reading. Here’s what I found.

Robert meets a woman:

The hero can’t go alone; not without the assistance of a beautiful woman, anyway. Her name is Ambra Vidal, and not only is she the director of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, but she’s also the new fiancée to the prince of Spain, who’s on the cusp of taking the throne from his ailing father; lucky for Robert because he’ll need some bonus help only a future queen has access to.

Robert is chased by security or police:

Yep, gotta get the police and security involved. Not just any police, but The Guardia Real, the King’s royal elite guards, have been dispatched to protect, then hunt, then protect Robert and Ambra.

Robert is the only one who knows how to stop the bad guy:

Robert is the only one smart enough to unravel all the mysterious symbols and hidden messages in cryptic texts, and to understand the mind of the people he’s tracking.

Claustrophobia:

For added drama, Robert is claustrophobic, relating to an incident from his youth. So, it only makes sense to add some drama by being put in elevators and narrow stairwells, all while being chased by bad guys or police.

Robert gets kidnapped:

I was surprised here. Normally, Robert is caught at some point and has to escape. That didn’t really happen, but he is accused of kidnapping the future queen. Does that count?

Robert joins forces with the police:

He ends up working with The Guardia Real agents after they’ve been told by the royal estate that he didn’t really kidnap the future queen. Good thing, because it’s always a good idea to have people around to take a bullet for you so you can be the hero.

In all seriousness, I really enjoyed this book. Brown does a great job of creating a vivid world and keeping the story moving forward. There are a couple of times toward the end that I felt the story stalled so we can learn some background of a painting or character’s past or historical information that, for some reason, wasn’t explained earlier, but they didn’t distract too much from the pacing.

This story was much more memorable than Brown’s previous two books, Inferno, a story of a madman’s quest to reduce the global population by a third, and The Lost Key, which I can only remember involved the Masons.

This book wasn’t overly technical, which made for a smooth read, and the pacing is quick, which makes this a great page turner. The last 20 chapters really kept me engaged, and I found myself reading faster so I could finish before my Amazon Fire’s battery died. I didn’t want to stop for a couple of hours to recharge. It was a close call at nine percent, but I made it!

If you’re a fan of Dan Brown, you won’t be disappointed with Origin. And if you’re looking for other authors in this genre, take a look at Steve Berry.