BREAKING NEWS: Dan Brown's New Book

Dan Brown's new novel is almost here, titled The Lost Symbol. It will be released sometime in September.
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/apr/20/dan-brown-the-lost-symbol

Dan Brown's suave symbologist Robert Langdon, star of the international phenomenon The Da Vinci Code, is set for a return to the literary stage in a new thriller this autumn.

The long-awaited novel – one of the most anticipated in recent publishing history - will be called The Lost Symbol, and will take place over a 12-hour period. No more details were given about its content, but persistent rumours have suggested it will be set in Washington DC and will focus on freemasonry. It will be published on 15 September with an initial print run of 6.5 million copies – the largest first printing in publisher Random House's history.

"This novel has been a strange and wonderful journey," said Brown. "Weaving five years of research into the story's 12-hour timeframe was an exhilarating challenge. Robert Langdon's life clearly moves a lot faster than mine."

Fans of Brown's rapid-paced, page-turning novels kept The Da Vinci Code at the top of bestseller charts around the world for over a year when it was published in 2003. Today, it is the UK's bestselling adult paperback novel of all time – ahead of Brown's other titles Angels & Demons, Deception Point and Digital Fortress, which take second, third and fourth place.

Announcing publication plans for The Lost Symbol today, Brown's US publisher Sonny Mehta described it as "a brilliant and compelling thriller" which was "well worth the wait".

"Dan Brown's prodigious talent for storytelling, infused with history, codes and intrigue, is on full display in this new book," he said. "This is a great day for readers and booksellers."

Brown's longterm US editor, Jason Kaufman, promised that, as ever, in The Lost Symbol "nothing ever is as it first appears". Brown scandalised Catholics in The Da Vinci Code by having Langdon discover that Jesus fathered a child with Mary Magdalene.

A film of The Da Vinci Code was released in 2006, starring Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon. It will be followed up on 15 May this year with the film of Angels and Demons.