The Lost Symbol

What was lost will be found...

Washington DC: Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned at the last minute to deliver an evening lecture in the Capitol Building. Within moments of his arrival, however, a disturbing object, gruesomely encoded with five symbols - is discovered at the epicenter of the rotunda. It is, he recognizes, an ancient invitation, meant to beckon its recipients towards a long-lost world of hidden esoteric wisdom.

When Langdon's revered mentor, Peter Solomon - philanthropist and prominent mason - is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes that his only hope of saving his friend's life is to accept this mysterious summons and follow wherever it leads him.

Langdon finds himself quickly swept behind the facade of America's most powerful city into the unseen chambers, temples and tunnels which exist there. All that was familiar is transformed into a shadowy, clandestine world of a artfully concealed past in which Masonic secrets and never-before-seen revelations seem to be leading him to a single impossible and inconceivable truth.

A brilliantly composed tapestry of veiled histories, arcane icons and enigmatic codes, The Lost Symbol is an intelligent lightning-paced thriller that offers surprises at every turn. For, as Robert Langdon will discover, there is nothing more extraordinary or shocking than the secret which hides in plain sight...

Six years in the writing, "The Lost Symbol" is Dan Brown's extraordinary sequel to his internationally bestselling Robert Langdon thrillers, "Angels & Demons" and "The Da Vinci Code". Set over a breathtaking 12 hour time span, the book's narrative takes the reader on an exhilarating journey through a masterful and unexpected landscape as Professor of Symbology, Robert Langdon, is once again called into action.

Born on June 22, 1964, Dan Brown was raised in Exeter, New Hampshire, U.S.A. His father was a Mathematics teacher who also wrote several texts books. As a child Dan Brown spent many hours solving mysteries, puzzles, anagrams and crosswords and too part in elaborate treasure hunts that his father devised for him and his siblings. Brown’s parents were singer/musicians who were very active in the local Episcopalian church, also acting as its choirmasters. Christianity and cryptography remain recurring themes in Dan Brown’s novels.

Before launching on a career as a writer Dan Brown dabbled in a musical career and even moved to Hollywood to try his luck as a singer, songwriter and pianist. In 1994, Brown released a CD titled Angels & Demons. After an average success as a musician, he moved back to New Hampshire and worked as a school teacher.

While on a holiday Dan Brown happened to read Sydney Sheldon’s The Doomsday Conspiracy  and became inspired to write a similar thriller and started work on The Digital Fortress.  He enjoyed writing so much that he quit his teaching job and became a full time writer and went on to write Angels and Demons and The Deception Point. The latter of which was the first to feature the lead character, Harvard symbology expert Robert Langdon. While the success of these two books was moderate, it was Dan Brown’s third novel The Da Vinci Code that rose to the New York Times Bestsellers list within the week of its release. With this book there was no looking back for Dan Brown. The sale for his previous two books also spiked after the success of The Da Vinci Code. Both The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons were also made into films that did fairly at the box office.

Dan Brown’s latest book The Lost Symbol was released in September 2009.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3541342.stm

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2004/05/08/thriller_instinct/