Dan Brown: A success story even more implausible than his plots
Profile: With The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown created one of the greatest mysteries in history - what on earth was all the fuss about? It's not unimaginable that his follow-up will do it all again, says William Langley in The Telegraph, 25 Apr 2009

Dan Brown is no stranger to critical odium Pic: John Springs

Eight years ago, when Dan Brown completed The Da Vinci Code, he had the advantage of surprise. One of the surprises was that 80 million people would get past an opening paragraph that began:

"Renowned curator Jacques Saunière staggered through the vaulted archway of the museum's Grand Gallery. He lunged for the nearest painting he could see, a Caravaggio. Grabbing the gilded frame, the 76-year-old man heaved the masterpiece toward himself until it tore from the wall and Saunière collapsed backward in a heap beneath the canvas."

Critics dumped the requisite helpings of odium on Dan's prose, but the real surprise was that a 480-page novel largely fashioned from early Catholic obscurantism would cause such turmoil within the Church. This time, the Vatican is ready. Brown's long-awaited follow-up, The Lost Symbol, is to be released in September. Breaking the news last week, the 44-year-old author took care to give little away, but – as was perhaps to be expected with a book seen by the embattled publishing industry as its own global stimulus programme – details of the plot have leaked.

The novel is known to dwell on the religious roots of Freemasonry, and to once again feature Robert Langdon, the hero of The Da Vinci Code. It is Langdon who says things like: "I've got to get to a library… fast!" A tweed-favouring professor of symbology at Harvard University, he has an eidetic memory that allows him to digest ancient squiggles by the wall-load, and a fearless streak of iconoclasm which convinces him that the Catholic Church has been engaged in "the biggest cover-up of all time".

Even before last week's announcement, the Vatican was preparing extensive anti-Brown contingency measures.

Read the full piece at The Telegraph online.