In Rome, the college of cardinals assembles to elect a new pope. Yet somewhere within the walls of the Vatican, an unstoppable bomb of terrifying power relentlessly counts down to oblivion. While the minutes tick away, Langdon joins forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to decipher the labyrinthine trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome to the long-forgotten Illuminati lair – a secret refuge wherein lies the only hope for the Vatican. But, with each revelation comes another twist, another turn in the plot, which leaves Langdom and Vetra reeling and at the mercy of a seemingly invisible enemy… ANGELS & DEMONS is a breathtakingly brilliant thriller which catapults the reader through the antiquity of Rome, through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals and even the most secret vault on earth. As the prequel to Dan Brown’s worldwide bestseller, The Da Vinci Code, it has the distinction of introducing his readers to Harvard symbologist, Robert Langdon.