For a person who is a staunch Louis L’Amour fan and who proudly professes that he reads only Western and that too Louis L’Amour and SUDDEN...to say that I loved this book is...well...guess that says it all!
Although Dan Brown’s THE DA VINCI CODE gained more popularity, I found this one more exciting. While, like The Da Vinci Code, this plot also revolves around the church, you dont need to be a christian to understand.
Most of the reviews have capsulated the story for you in their review...let me try it in my style...
The story revolves around a canister of ’Antimatter’ that is ingeniously taken out of a high security research center by a person/group calling themselves the ILLUMINATI - the enlightened ones. As the story progresses, we find out that this group originated in the early days of the church when scientists were persecuted by the church for leading people ’’astray’’...by pointing out to truths which the church did not wholly agree with. The scientists kept bringing people to the ’light’, while the church pointed out that this ’light’ was actually darkness and evil. The scientists were therefore shunned by the church and people in general. In retaliation, the scientists formed an elite group called the Illuminati, whose primary goal was to wreak vengeance on the church. This canister of Antimatter is said to be THE singlemost powerful and extremely dangerous weapon on earth - more powerful than several nuclear weapons put together! And this canister is placed somewhere in the Vatican (where the Pope resides!).
The story takes you first from outside of Rome to the heart of the Vatican, and even into the Holy Pope’s toilet! :) And picking up pieces of the trail and finding out where this canister is, and who the Illuminati are, is a symbologist - Robert Langdon (the same guy who features in The Da Vinci Code) and Vittoria Vetra (the beautiful daughter of the scientist who created the antimatter).
How they pick up this trail, and the ambigrams (check out this word in Google Images) that the Illuminati leave behind after every kill all help build the suspense and the intrigue around this story.
Read the book to find out more!
A note of warning to the christian...Read this as a piece of fiction, and dont get carried away by the seeming facts mentioned in it. Have been visiting a few sites which point out that a whole lot of ’facts’ in this book are far from it...and can be misleading. But read as a piece of fiction that does not play tricks with your faith...its a grrrreat book!!! Take it from me! ;)