Inferno by Dan Brown

Something must be wrong with me.  I've read many positive book reviews of Inferno, and I've had friends tell me they just couldn't put it down.  Even the New York Times seemed to think it was a fun read.  And since it takes place in Florence and Venice (two of my favs), I should adore it.  Years ago, I remember liking The DiVinci Code.  And you'd think that since this book is basically the same plot that I would like it too.  But there is something about the way it is written that just turned me off. I felt as if the author took a travel guide from Florence and Venice, chose a couple of key historical landmarks and artifacts, and then created a far-fetched storyline while he spewed dates and miscellaneous facts to the reader about these things.  For example, as our hero is being chased by people he thinks want to kill him, he jumps into a water taxi in Venice and tells the driver to take him to St. Marks Square ASAP.  Yet as he moves down the Grand Canal, he acknowledges many of the landmarks along the way giving dates, architectural details and owners names, etc.  This totally breaks from the plot and seems to just be copied right from Frommers.  Maybe he knew that there would be "Inferno Tours" in Florence and Venice, so he wanted to give the tour guides landmarks they could include in the itinerary.  And here's a spoiler - nearly everyone you think is a good guy in the book turns out to be a bad guy and vice versa.  One key character starts out good, then bad, then good again.  Crazy.  I'm glad it's over.  -June