Dan Brown's new book unfolds in Florence, Venice and Istanbul. If you like conspiracy theories, fast paced chases, terrorist plots romantic locations and symbolism, you will not be disappointed. The hero and the heroine are being chased at a frantic pace and are, at the same time trying to solve a riddle using Dante Alighieri's literary work “Inferno” and a modified version of the “painting” by Botticelli known as the “Map of Hell” which is hidden in a cylinder with a biohazard symbol. In the real world it is not a painting but an engraving, but this is a detail which dos not disturb the plot, which is, after all, pure fiction.
The evil plot involves modern biotechnology, disease outbreak, bioterrorism, release of infectious agents and the hell of infection, plague and mass death. The watchdog to save us all from hell is the female chief of the World Health Organization in Geneva with the help of outbreak specialists from the European Centers for Disease Control in Stockholm, equipped with an armed SWAT team who ride motorbikes and engage in James Bond like chases with full support from the local authorities. There is always a WHO owned Hercules plane waiting at the nearest airport to whisk away the infectious disease experts. This dramatization of the WHO and ECDC teams impressed me enormously. If only real life were so exciting! I can assure the readers that everyday life for a public health, infectious disease expert is less flashy and travels are zealously performed in economy class.
Fortunately bioterrorism is very rare, and a standing, armed “rapid deployment force” is not needed by ECDC or the WHO. Indeed the biological weapon of mass destruction is far from reality even with today's possibilities to genetically engineer microorganisms. Engineering microorganisms are difficult and time consuming and not something a clever individual scientist or group of scientists possibly can perform.
I wonder why the terrorist scientist decided to tie his terrorist act to a riddle buried in the invented painting depicting Dante's Inferno? Would it not have been a better guarantee of success just to release the substance? It is also absolutely impossible that anything, no matter how contagious, can infect the global population in a week. But Dan Brown is writing a novel and he has poetic licence. I am much more scared of nature. We know for sure that new viruses will be introduced into humans at regular intervals. Just look at HIV which came from the chimpanzees and SARS which perhaps came from bats and then disappeared not to be seen in the last 10 years. The new Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus is the latest example of a new virus previously unknown to humans suddenly appearing. This new virus has animal reservoirs and bats and camels may be implicated but the situation is still uncertain. These stories are still unfolding and are as exiting as “Inferno” or any fiction, but yet without an ending.
I recommend this thriller. It is exciting and fast. The Italian locations are beautiful and very historic and the classical references and symbols are fascinating. The final exciting scenes play out at the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul with a twist at the end that I won't reveal. This book is an ideal traveling companion for public health officials on long economy flights to infectious disease meetings. You can sit back and imagine that you are an infectious disease specialist with ECDC or the WHO flying in a Hercules jet going to war on infection.