Grade: A-/B+

Not everything is what it seems.

Who would want to kill Robert Langdon? The newest novel by Dan Brown, “Inferno” brings Langdon back, 1,000 miles away from home with no clue how he got there. Shot at and wanted by the American government, Langdon has no idea what’s going on until the very end.

“Inferno,” published four years after “The Lost Symbol,” has Langdon back and searching for clues to a potential pandemic of a deadly disease, all of which are tied back to medieval Italy, Dante’s “Inferno” and other works similar to “Inferno.” Langdon’s journey takes him from Florence Italy, to Venice, to finally Istanbul, where the novel is wrapped up, priming for another installment of Langdon sometime in the next couple of years.

“Inferno” was not as action packed as its predecessors. This time around, Langdon spent most of the novel running, while always eluding his captors. This time, he was able to avoid capture until the end. But in the grand scheme of things, Langdon not getting caught until the end was for the sake of the overall plot.

Previous novels were rich in information concerning the artifacts Langdon stumbled across throughout his travels. While Brown did provide some information, he wasn’t as giving as he has been before.

For those who have experienced Brown’s novels again, “Inferno” is a great comeback from “The Lost Symbol,” but doesn’t match the intense thriller that is “The Da Vinci Code.” Nevertheless, “Inferno” is a great start to any summer reading lists.

For those who have yet to experience Brown’s thrillers-meet-art-history novels, go ahead and go back to the beginning with “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels and Demons.” A novel like “Angels and Demons” will take some effort to read, but its a solid novel. Brown takes his sweet time between Langdon novels, so there is not much of a rush to read all four books before the next one comes out.