From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Da Vinci Code comes the book that started it all—the first explosive adventure for world-renowned symbologist Robert Langdon.

World-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a cryptic symbol seared into the chest of a murdered physicist. What he discovers is unimaginable: a deadly vendetta against the Catholic Church by a centuriesold underground organization—the Illuminati. Desperate to save the Vatican from a powerful time bomb, Langdon joins forces in Rome with the beautiful and mysterious scientist Vittoria Vetra. Together they embark on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and the most secretive vault on earth…the longforgotten Illuminati lair. Angels & Demons is soon to be a major motion picture from Sony Pictures—starring Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, and Ayelet Zurer, and directed by Ron Howard.

""A breathless, real-time adventure. . . . Exciting, fast-paced, with an unusually high IQ."" -- San Francisco Chronicle