Dan Brown's - Origin

I keep reading Dan Brown because I have enjoyed his books in the past, certainly once before, and almost twice. Inferno had me rolling my eyes, while Origin is back to his religious explorations and is far more what I've come to expect, although there are moments when I found myself more frustrated than thrilled.  To be fair, DB can tell a ripping yarn, but he employs so many delaying tactics, so many moments of narrative exposition that tell us exactly what someone is about to do, or worse, tells us what they're experiencing internally without bothering to paint the picture or show us their emotions through action.  Origin hooks you in with the promises of an answer to life's biggest questions. It's entertaining, although some of the convenient movement forward and out of stalemate within the plot stretch the imagination, but no worse than any other action thriller. I guess that's my biggest complaint here - am I reading this and seeing a movie because of those that have gone before, or is this written more to a screenplay's formula of short sharp scenes, where characters are able to move beyond emotional and physically exhausting moments with ease. It also feels like Origin has taken the DaVinci Code's template and re-created it. Robert Langdon is present when a crime is committed. A hidden revelation may harm religious doctrine, and a mysterious religious sect with assassins try to stop Langdon from solving the riddles and making the revelations public. Change the content, match the template, and another best seller comes off the production line. Enjoyable enough, with some worthy philosophical moments scattered amongst what feels like a guide book to art, history and religion.  This one gets a 3.5 on the ascent of man scale.