Origin

by Dan Brown
461 pgs  (Robert Langdon series #5)

Dan Brown is an author that people tend to have strong feelings about. Either they really, really like him, or they really, really hate him. Those who don't like him say his books all follow the same formula, and that all he's done since the success of The Da Vinci Code is repeat himself over and over again. I don't disagree with their criticisms. But I can't help it, I really, really like his books.

Edmund Kirsch is a scientist, an atheist, and a futurist, who has garnered world-wide recognition over the course of his life for his perfect record to date for predicting technological advances years before they're achieved. He also happens to be a former student of Robert Langdon.

As the book begins, Kirsch is days away from revealing his latest scientific discovery to the world. And he believes that when he does, it will destroy the core of every religion on earth, along with every believer's faith in a divine creator. He believes he's finally found the answer to the two questions: "Where did we come from?" and "Where are we going?"

But his announcement is cut short by an assassin sent to keep his discovery secret. It's up to Langdon and Ambra Vidal, the museum's curator to figure out what it was Kirsch had discovered, and make it known to the world, hopefully before the same man who killed Kirsch is able to stop them too.

Like him or not, it's hard to dispute Dan Brown's popularity. Origin is a great example of why I think his popularity is well deserved.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆