Given the risks and the dangers of a region-wide conflict, one would hope that the great powers -- particularly the United States and Russia -- would assume their historic responsibility and reach an understanding that begins the process of putting an end to the deadly struggle in Syria that has killed more than 70, 000 Syrians, according to the latest United Nations estimate, and caused a humanitarian disaster.

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Caught up in a struggle to prevent a deadly virus from spreading around the globe, he wakes up in a daze in an Italian hospital at the start of the novel and spends the rest of the book trying to regain his bearings.

WSJ: Dan Brown returns to Europe for 'Inferno'