Dan Brown - Origin

Dan Brown has a formula, and we can’t get enough of it:Dramatic event occursSinister forces are at workHero Robert Langdon must flee a crime scene as a suspect, taking a woman with him (always a different woman, always a close relationship never consummated)Langdon and woman race to different locales following cluesAll transpires in no more than forty-eight hoursConflict is resolved, and bad guys banishedEpilogue when additional ah-ha moments are disclosedOver this framework, Brown places his latest tome, Origin. Fans of Lisa in my Leaving Lisa will find a kindred spirit in the central character of Origin, an artificial intelligence named Winston. Just as Lisa guided Jason through the story of Leaving Lisa, Winston guides Langdon through this mystery.The setting for Origin is Spain, beginning in Bilbao at the Guggenheim Museum and ending in Barcelona in two creations of the architect Antoni Gaudí, the apartment building Casa Mila and the magnificent cathedral Sacrada Familia. These latter settings in Barcelona are of particular interest to me since I’ve been through each of them and Brown does a fine job of describing each.The essence of the story: Brown’s one-time student, Edmond Kirsch, has a tech fortune and a superior intellect which allows him to make a research ‘discovery’ that answers ‘where did we come from’ and ‘where are we going?’ He previews his discovery to three prominent clerics from the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths. Since his discovery disproves God as the creator, the reader is led to suspect foul play to silence Kirsch before he reveals his discovery to the world.Brown uses Catholic lore to make obscure sects more sinister than they are in the real world. Yet, Brown does a fair job in depicting the good and the evil of religion.  As I finished Origin, I realized that Brown’s exploration of religious philosophy while telling this adventure story, made the book more thought-provoking than I would expect from a Dan Brown book.   I began reading Origin and another recent release by a popular author at the same time, but Origin soon won me over. It was a page-turner; while the other book had to wait. It is what Brown does best and, if you are a fan, you’ll not be disappointed.