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Overall Summary
Inferno is a mystery thriller by Dan Brown and the fourth book in the Robert Langdon series. It was number one on the New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover fiction and combined print &e-book fiction for eleven weeks of its release. The film adaptation came out in 2016.
Professor Robert Langdon wakes up in a hospital bed with a head wound and cannot remember anything. He was at Harvard, but now he realises he is in Florence. Sienna Brooks, one of his doctors, says he stumbled into emergency after being grazed by a bullet, which gave him a concussion. Vayentha, an assassin who had been following Robert Langdon since the beginning of the novel (and has been observing his actions through hidden cameras) breaks into the hospital and shoots one of her colleagues before trying to kill Robert as well; however she misses due to Sienna’s interference. In order to avoid getting caught by Vayentha and her fellow soldiers that were about to break down their door they escape from the apartment building via an elevator shaft where they meet up with Professor Sinskey who tells them that she has discovered more clues regarding what might be happening around them all while also explaining how it relates back to Dante’s Inferno.
Robert and Sienna head towards the Old City, where they believe they might find out more about the cylinder and its connection to Dante. However, they’re intercepted by Venice police and soldiers. They must sneak carefully through the city in order to avoid them. Robert and Sienna spent a significant amount of time in Venice before this event occurred, so now they have possession of Dante’s Death Mask with a mysterious riddle on it. Bertrand Zobrist is a billionaire geneticist who previously owned that mask at Florence’s Baptistery. Sienna explains that Zobrist advocated for a halt to humanity’s growth due to overpopulation issues; he was rumored to be working on an engineered disease as well using his genetic expertise. Jonathan Ferris shows up saying he is from the World Health Organization (WHO) and has come to help them escape the soldiers. He has a severe rash on his face but hides it from Robert and Sienna by covering himself with his jacket collar. The three follow the riddle across Venice but Ferris suddenly collapses unconscious due to internal bleeding caused by an infection. Sienna says he has been infected with Zobrist’s plague, which causes him great pain as well as internal bleeding.
Robert believes Ferris was infected because of their proximity while examining Dante’s Death Mask earlier at St Mark’s Basilica—the same place where Robert found out about this whole mess when he discovered what happened after reading about it online at home in New York City while watching TV one night just last week…
Robert is captured by a group of soldiers. Sierra escapes and finds Elizabeth Sinskey, the director-general of the WHO (World Health Organization). She explains that Zobrist committed suicide but was actually a brilliant geneticist who developed a plague that would kill off most of humanity. He left clues in his safety deposit box, which led to Florence and Robert’s capture. The Consortium protected the cylinder until its destruction on December 21st at 7:00am when it will release an airborne virus into the atmosphere.
The Consortium tries to find Sienna, but she goes into hiding. Robert solves the riddle and finds out where the bag is being kept, so he gets a private jet before anyone else can get it. He chases her until she gives up and tells him everything about the plague. Elizabeth decides to let Sienna help with answering questions from world leaders everywhere. She says goodbye to Robert as they part ways for now.
