# Inferno (Brown novel)
**Inferno** is a 2013 thriller novel by [Dan Brown](https://www.edgepedia.org/dan-brown) and the fourth book in his [Robert Langdon](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-langdon) series, following the Harvard professor of symbology through Florence, Venice, and Istanbul as he decodes clues drawn from Dante's *Inferno* to avert the release of a dangerous pathogen.[1](https://danbrown.com/books/novels/inferno/) • [2](https://danbrown.com/books/resources/inferno-teachers-guide/) It followed *The Da Vinci Code*, *Angels & Demons*, and *The Lost Symbol*, and carries a copyright date of 2013.[1](https://danbrown.com/books/novels/inferno/) • [3](https://cdn.oujdalibrary.com/books/757/757-inferno-a-novel-%28www.tawcer.com%29.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Author and series | Dan Brown; fourth Robert Langdon novel, after *The Da Vinci Code*, *Angels & Demons*, and *The Lost Symbol*[1](https://danbrown.com/books/novels/inferno/) |
| Publication | Copyright 2013; Penguin Random House paperback of 576 pages published May 6, 2014[3](https://cdn.oujdalibrary.com/books/757/757-inferno-a-novel-%28www.tawcer.com%29.pdf) • [4](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/227777/inferno-by-dan-brown/) |
| Setting | Florence, Venice, and Istanbul[2](https://danbrown.com/books/resources/inferno-teachers-guide/) |
| Central premise | Langdon, recovering from a gunshot head wound and short-term amnesia in a Florence hospital, must decode a mystery tied to Dante's *Inferno* and a virus that could alter the course of human civilization[5](https://danbrown.com/books/resources/inferno-readers-guide/) |
| Social theme | Overpopulation, described by Brown's own reader's guide as a pressing problem woven into the narrative[5](https://danbrown.com/books/resources/inferno-readers-guide/) |
| Early sales | More than one million copies in North America in its first week; four million hardcover and digital editions in English-language territories during the reporting period[6](https://global.penguinrandomhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/HJ_engl.pdf) |
| Adaptation | Adapted as a feature film, listed on Brown's official film and television page[7](https://danbrown.com/film-tv/) |
## Plot premise
The novel opens with a prologue in which a figure pursued through Florence climbs the bell tower of the Badia Fiorentina and throws himself from it to escape interrogation about something he has hidden.[8](https://ijllnet.com/journals/Vol_2_No_2_June_2015/4.pdf) The story then begins with Robert Langdon waking from a terrifying nightmare in a hospital in Florence, Italy, with no memory of how he arrived. He is told he has been shot and suffered a slight head wound resulting in short-term amnesia.[5](https://danbrown.com/books/resources/inferno-readers-guide/) When a leather-clad assassin storms the hospital, Langdon flees with Dr. Sienna Brooks, and the two are drawn into a plot centered on Dante's *Inferno* while pursued by the assassin and the police.[5](https://danbrown.com/books/resources/inferno-readers-guide/)
The threat at the center of the story is a virus with the power to alter the course of human civilization, or possibly end it.[5](https://danbrown.com/books/resources/inferno-readers-guide/) The antagonist is the eugenicist Bertrand Zobrist; Langdon and Sienna Brooks follow clues he left behind through Florence.[9](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/review-inferno-by-dan-brown-8640760.html) • [2](https://danbrown.com/books/resources/inferno-teachers-guide/)
## Dante and the clue structure
The novel's clues are lifted, and in places twisted, from Dante's *Divine Comedy*: the story begins with a projected image of [Sandro Botticelli](https://www.edgepedia.org/sandro-botticelli)'s map of Dante's *Inferno*, and the clues direct Langdon to works of art and architectural monuments in Florence, Venice, and Istanbul.[10](https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/BaroliniDanBrown.pdf) Dante's death mask serves as a device to drive the plot, a point Brown's teacher's guide highlights for classroom discussion.[2](https://danbrown.com/books/resources/inferno-teachers-guide/) The title itself refers to the underworld as described in [Dante Alighieri](https://www.edgepedia.org/dante-alighieri)'s epic poem *The Divine Comedy*, which portrays hell as an elaborately structured realm populated by entities known as "shades," bodiless souls trapped between life and death; the novel's prologue narrator calls himself the Shade.[1](https://danbrown.com/books/novels/inferno/)
The book carries a FACT page stating that all artwork, literature, science, and historical references in the novel are real, and that "The Consortium" is a private organization with offices in seven countries whose name has been changed for considerations of security and privacy.[1](https://danbrown.com/books/novels/inferno/) Reviewers questioned this framing: the Dante scholar Teodolinda Barolini, writing on Columbia University's Digital Dante project, noted clues "lifted (and twisted)" from the *Divine Comedy*, and a Guardian review criticized Brown for claiming that what it called pseudo-science and muddled art history are "real."[10](https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/BaroliniDanBrown.pdf) • [11](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/may/19/dan-brown-inferno-review) The Christian Research Journal observed that, unlike Brown's geographical blunders regarding the streets of Paris in *The Da Vinci Code*, he does keep the Duomo in Florence, St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, and [Hagia Sophia](https://www.edgepedia.org/hagia-sophia) in Istanbul correctly placed.[12](https://www.equip.org/articles/inferno-the-incineration-of-integrity-a-review-of-inferno-by-dan-brown/)
## Themes and genre
Brown's reader's guide identifies overpopulation as the pressing social issue woven into the narrative, adding what the guide calls a deeper moral and ethical dimension to the book.[5](https://danbrown.com/books/resources/inferno-readers-guide/) The teacher's guide classifies the book across several related genres: mystery, adventure, conspiracy fiction, and thriller, and suggests its use in curricular areas including history, art history, math, science, and English Language Arts.[2](https://danbrown.com/books/resources/inferno-teachers-guide/)
## Publication and sales
Inferno was published in 2013 and was predicted in advance coverage to become the biggest selling book of that year.[13](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/may/14/dan-brown-inferno-first-look1) According to an interim report from [Penguin Random House](https://www.edgepedia.org/penguin-random-house), the book sold over a million copies in its opening week across North America, and combined hardcover and digital sales in English-language markets reached four million within the reporting period, making it the group's top performer during that time.[6](https://global.penguinrandomhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/HJ_engl.pdf) The novel has been published in multiple languages around the world.[1](https://danbrown.com/books/novels/inferno/)
## Critical reception
Reception was mixed. The New York Times's Janet Maslin called it "a book-length scavenger hunt" that Brown creates energetically, and The Washington Post described a diverting thriller stocked with puzzles, a beautiful female companion, and hints of secret conspiratorial agendas.[1](https://danbrown.com/books/novels/inferno/) The Los Angeles Times review was titled "Dan Brown's 'Inferno' has heat but no warmth," describing the 14th-century Italian epic as a lens through which to read Langdon's quest to find a destructive virus before it can infect the world.[14](https://www.latimes.com/books/la-xpm-2013-may-18-la-et-jc-dan-brown-20130518-story.html) The Independent called the novel "clunky but clever," noting that the esoteric lore of the Florentine Renaissance plays a smaller role than predicted, and that Dante's vision of hell drives the intrigue less in its original form than through Botticelli's series of illustrative drawings, customized to carry vital clues.[15](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/review-inferno-dan-brown-s-danteinspired-novel-is-clunky-but-clever-and-will-undoubtedly-heat-up-pundits-8614444.html) The same reviewer wrote that, continuing to turn the pages "almost against my will," he wondered whether Brown's crimes against English prose might actually be a brilliant literary masterstroke.[9](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/review-inferno-by-dan-brown-8640760.html)
## Adaptation
The novel was adapted as a feature film; Brown's official site maintains an Inferno film page among his screen adaptations, alongside the [Ron Howard](https://www.edgepedia.org/ron-howard)-directed *The Da Vinci Code*.[7](https://danbrown.com/film-tv/)
## References
1. [Inferno, Dan Brown Official Website](https://danbrown.com/books/novels/inferno/)
2. [Inferno Teacher's Guide, Dan Brown Official Website](https://danbrown.com/books/resources/inferno-teachers-guide/)
3. [Inferno: A Novel, copyright page (2013)](https://cdn.oujdalibrary.com/books/757/757-inferno-a-novel-%28www.tawcer.com%29.pdf)
4. [Inferno by Dan Brown, Penguin Random House](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/227777/inferno-by-dan-brown/)
5. [Inferno Reader's Guide, Dan Brown Official Website](https://danbrown.com/books/resources/inferno-readers-guide/)
6. [Penguin Random House interim report (2013)](https://global.penguinrandomhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/HJ_engl.pdf)
7. [Film/TV, Dan Brown Official Website](https://danbrown.com/film-tv/)
8. [International Journal of Language and Linguistics, Vol. 2 No. 2 (June 2015)](https://ijllnet.com/journals/Vol_2_No_2_June_2015/4.pdf)
9. [Review: Inferno, By Dan Brown, The Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/review-inferno-by-dan-brown-8640760.html)
10. [Teodolinda Barolini, on Dan Brown's Inferno, Digital Dante, Columbia University](https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/BaroliniDanBrown.pdf)
11. [Inferno by Dan Brown – review, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/may/19/dan-brown-inferno-review)
12. [Inferno: The Incineration of Integrity, Christian Research Institute](https://www.equip.org/articles/inferno-the-incineration-of-integrity-a-review-of-inferno-by-dan-brown/)
13. [Dan Brown's Inferno: a secret I had to hide from all prying eyes, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/may/14/dan-brown-inferno-first-look1)
14. [Dan Brown's 'Inferno' has heat but no warmth, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/books/la-xpm-2013-may-18-la-et-jc-dan-brown-20130518-story.html)
15. [Review: Inferno – Dan Brown's Dante-inspired novel is clunky but clever, The Independent](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/review-inferno-dan-brown-s-danteinspired-novel-is-clunky-but-clever-and-will-undoubtedly-heat-up-pundits-8614444.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Creative written works and worlds › Prose fiction › Standalone novels › Crime, mystery, thriller, and suspense standalone novels › Spy, political, and techno-thrillers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license