A year later, Dantes is confined in the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles. Another bomb threat has been received and, although Dantes cannot alone be responsible for the threat since he is incarcerated, elements in the note suggest that he may be involved.

Dr. Sylvia Strange, a forensic psychologist from New Mexico, has been invited to administer psychological tests to Dantes primarily because she is the only person with whom he will agree to cooperate. She arrives to interview Dantes, but he is not agreeable to answer any test questions, and, in fact, gives some rather strange responses to comments and questions Sylvia makes. Upon conclusion of her session, Sylvia announces that she believes Dantes is not responsible for the threat that has been received targeting Los Angeles infrastructure. She does, however, believe that Dantes has the knowledge to lead them to the person who sent the note.

Making Sylvia’s job harder (or easier, depending on the perspective) is Edmond Sweetheart, an expert on international terrorists, but a renegade in his methodology. Sweetheart is treating the perpetrator’s capture as a personal vendetta, for the child killed at the Getty Museum was his nephew for whom he had a particular fondness. Sweetheart can be a great help to Sylvia in tracking their suspect, but he has nothing but disdain for Dantes, a man whom, Sylvia believes, is, in essence, a victim himself.

Dantes’ Inferno is a complex novel that can be enjoyed on several levels. Obviously, the book is the story of a race to track down the bomber who is terrorizing Los Angeles. Beyond that, is a tale which traces a novel written by John Freeman Dantes called Dantes’ Inferno, which parallels the literary classic written by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri, entitled the Inferno, the most famous book of his three part Commedia. Dantes’ Inferno (by John Dantes) is essentially the story of Dantes’ love for the city of Los Angeles, and his despair at what the present powers that be wish to do with it. How this book relates to the work of the long dead Italian poet requires the mind of someone more literate than I, but I have no doubt that Ms. Lovett’s references are precise and correct.

In addition, Ms. Lovett’s novel can be appreciated as a fascinating character study. John Dantes with all his demons, Edmond Sweetheart’s single minded determination to see his brand of justice be served, the psychology of the real perpetrator of the recent bombings, who calls himself simply M, and, indeed, Sylvia herself are all discussed in enough detail to give the reader insight into the workings of some complex, albeit somewhat twisted, minds. These are definitely characters with some major personality flaws, but for whom one can feel some sympathy or at least pity.

Dantes’ Inferno is obviously not a light beach read, or a novel that can be swallowed with one gulp. It is best appreciated by readers with a well-grounded literary background who will certainly enjoy all facets of the book. Despite my literary shortcomings, I felt decidedly better educated by the time I finished the final paragraph.

--Andy Plonka