I know I'm a little late to the party on this one, but I couldn't put down Dan Brown's "Angels & Demons." (ISBN 9787416578741).

I needed something to read on a long flight and it was the longest book in my price range at Walmart.

Turns out, planes these days have little TVs in the seatback and you can watch pretty much whatever you want. A slew of movies was far more distracting than a book on my recent overnight flight, so A&D remained in my carry-on.

As luck would have it on the return trip we had a midnight to 8 a.m. layover. (You can't even find food in an airport in that timeframe!) So while my kids slept sprawled out on the chairs and my husband tried to watch a movie on a portable DVD player, I whipped out "Angels & Demons."

About 6 a.m, I put it down.

I had been transported.

Perhaps because I love a good mystery.

Perhaps because the idea of an academic thrust into the world of intrigue is so appealing.

Perhaps because we were returning from Rome and had just stood on Castle St. Angelo and looked to Saint Peter's Basilica.

Much faster paced than Brown's "The Da Vinci Code," "A&D" whips the reader up into a frenzied race against time. Will the cardinals be saved? Will St. Peter's be destroyed? Will Langdon get the girl?

How fast can I turn the pages to find out?

Only remaining question is, will the movie be as entertaining?

- Tricia Ambrose