Dan Brown Books

Dan Brown and his novels, nine #1 bestselling novels, have become a worldwide phenomenon. Brown's enthralling takes give a new and very realistic twist on common conspiracy theories that will have anyone questioning just what is real and what is fiction. The Da Vinci Code is one of the bestselling books of all time. Brown's novels have been published in 56 languages around the world with over 250 million copies in print. 

Dan Brown has been cited as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World" by TIME Magazine. In 2026, he was named "Global Icon" by Esquire Magazine in Spain and received the title of "Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters" by the French Government. Brown is said to have renewed interest in Leonardo da Vinci and early Christian history as well as a noticeable spike in tourism to Paris and Rome 

Many people may know Dan Brown because of the hit movie, The Da Vinci Code (2006 - directed by Ron Howard), starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou. However, this was not the first Robert Langdon novel! The movies were out of order in a way; the first Robert Langdon book in the series was actually Angels & Demons. This was eventually made into a movie (2009, directed by Ron Howard), again starring Tom Hanks, with a new leading lady, Ayelet Zurer and also Ewan McGregor as a supporting character. The next book in the series was called The Lost Symbols. The adaptation of this book went a different route. The Lost Symbols got a TV adaptation in 2021 (created by Jay Beattie and Dan Dworkin), starring Ashley Zukerman and Valorie Curry. Again, this book was skipped over, and the next book, Inferno (2016, directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks and Felicity Jones), got made into a movie first. The next two books in the Robert Langdon series are Origin (2017) and Secret of Secrets (2025). 

Angels & Demons (Robert Langdon Series - Book 1)

Angels & Demons is the first introduction to Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbology professor and religious history expert. His knowledge becomes essential when a top physicist, Father Leonardo Vetra, from CERN, is murdered and left with a brand seared onto his chest. 

Robert Langdon is called in by Maximilian Kohler, the director at CERN, to interpret the symbol and its religious implications. He is joined by Vittoria, Father Vetra's adopted daughter. Together, Vittoria and Robert race to find a stolen canister from Leonardo Vetra's lab, hidden somewhere in Vatican City, all while the College of Cardinals assemble in the Sistine Chapel. 

Published in May 2000, this novel put Dan Brown on the map.

The Da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon Series - Book 2)

While in Paris on business, Robert Langodn receives an urgent call to the Louvre. The elderly curator, Jacques Sauniere, has been murdered in the museum. His final act, as he bleeds out, is to leave a cryptic message and to pose in the style of Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man. 

Sophie Neveu is a police cryptographer and secretly Jacques Sauniere's estranged granddaughter. The photos of the crime scene came across her desk, and the addition of "P.S" was directly speaking to her, Princess Sophie. 

Together, Sophie and Robert team up to decipher the cryptic message, which leads them to Da Vinci's paintings throughout the museum. On the run from Police Captain Bezu Fache, Robert Langdon must figure out who killed Jacques Sauniere and what Sauniere died trying to tell him. 

The Lost Symbols (Robert Langdon Series - Book 3)

In the third book of the Robert Langdon Series, Robert is unceremoniously invited to the United States Capitol building by his mentor, Peter Solomon, head of the Smithsonian Institution. Peter is a good friend of Robert's, and so when his assistant makes the arrangements for a private jet to pick him up and bring him to the event to deliver a speech in recognition of his friend, Robert immediately says yes. 

Little does Robert know that he was not Peter Solomon's assistant; Peter Solomon doesn't know Robert is in Washington, D.C. In fact, Peter Solomon is missing. 

In the middle of the Capitol Rotunda sits a recreation of the Hand of Mysteries. Tattoos with symbols of sorts it is a clear message sent to Robert Langdon. He has a limited time to save his friend and must dive into what secrets Peter Solomon is privy to as a member of the Freemasons' Society. As a 33rd degree member, Peter Solomon has risen as high as a Mason can. Is this what has put his life in danger? Or has the loss of his son come back to haunt him? 

Inferno (Robert Langdon Series - Book #4)

The fourth instalment of the Robert Langdon Series starts a bit differently from all the other novels. Robert Landgon wakes up in a Florence hospital with no memory of how he got there and what happened to him the last few days. The only thing he remembers is a woman's voice saying "seek and find". 

As Robert recovers in the hospital, an assassin shows up trying to kill one of the doctors, Sienna Brooks, the doctor treating him. Together, they escape. On the run, Landgon finds an odd clinder in his jacket. Certain the U.S. consulate can help him, Robert offers up his location (or the building across the street from Dr Brooks' apartment) and is concerned to see the assassin Vayentha has tracked him there. Convinced the U.S. government wants him dead, Langdon opens the container and finds a small bone cylinder with a high-tech projector display. It is a modified version of the Map of Hell, which was based on Dante's Inferno. 

Things aren't as they seem as Robert Langdon and Dr Sienna Brooks piece together what this could all mean and who is trying to kill him. 

Origin (Robert Langdon Series - Book #5)

This book finds Robert Langdon at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, attending a special event hosted by Edmond Kirsch, one of Professor Langdon's former students.

Edmon Kirsch is a billionaire philanthropist and computer scientist. As well as being an atheist and fuurist. Edmon blames organised religion for his mother's death and devoted a large part of his life to ending the age of religion and ushering in the age of science. Edmon has created a very sophisticated AI program called Winston. Winston is programmed into the headsets given out to prominent guests at the museum event and has been trained to speak directly to each guest and guide them around the museum, engaging with them and everything it knows about them.

As Robert is led by Wintson around the museum, he meets up with Edmond. They speak for a few minutes, and Edmon confides in Robert that he is afraid he has put himself in danger because of his newfound discovery. These fears prove to be founded when Edmond Kirsch is assassinated before he can reveal his new discovery. What did he find? What was he planning to reveal? And who killed him to stop it?

Secrets of Secrets (Robert Langdon Series - Book #6)

Notorious bachelor, Robert Langdon, has found himself a girlfriend, noetic scientist and longtime friend, Katherine Solomon. When Katherine is invited to lecture on human consciousness, Robert joins her in Prague. Their vacation is calm, and quiet. They are enjoying each other's company and the beautiful streets of the Czech Republic.

Until the dream. 

After Katherine has an odd dream, things begin to turn ominous. On the Charles Bridge the next morning, returning to the hotel after a swim, Robert encounters a woman dressed exactly as Katherine described in her dream the night before. Concerned that the rest of Katherine's dream may come true, Robert sprints to the hotel and does everything he can to cause the hotel to evacuate. The threat turned out to be a false alarm, but it was enough to bring the attention of the UZSI police, specifically Captain Janacek. 

But Robert can't worry about that; he needs to find Katherine. Where is she? She wasn't in the hotel; she had already left to meet up with Brigita Gessner, a fellow scientist and the woman who had invited Katherine to speak at her event. They had met for drinks last night, and Brigita had invited Katherine to take a tour of her lab in Crucifix Bastion. The only problem, Katherine isn't there either. The only person at Crucifix Bastion is Grigita Gessner, and she is dead. 

Stand-Alone Novels

While the Robert Langdon Series is what Dan Brown is known for, he also has two (as of 2026), stand-alone novels. 

Digital Fortress

Susan Fletcher is the head cryptographer at the National Security Agency (NSA). She oversees a team of people responsible for a code-breaking supercomputer named TRANSLTR. When TRANSLTR encounters a new code, Digital Fortress, it runs into issues. Concerned by this, Commander Trevor Strathmore calls her in to investigate and crack it. 

Susan recognises the code; it was written by their former coworker, Ensei Tankado, who left after expressing his displeasure with the intrusive nature of TRANSLTR. Ensei makes his intentions clear; he plans to auction off the code's algorithm, and if he meets an untimely end, then he will give the algorithm away for free. It is like he is holding the NSA hostage. 

It is later learned that Ensei Tankado had already passed away from an apparent heart attack at age 32. This throws a wrench in the plans. To stop Digital Fortress from becoming a national security threat, Susan and Trevor must find the passcode and terminate the code for good. 

Published in 1998. This was Dan Brown's debut novel. 

Deception Point 

It is the eve of the presidential election. Incumbent Zachary Herney, a supporter of space research, is going up against Senator Sedgewick Sexton, who wishes to dissolve NASA. But his re-election dreams are not the only thing on President Herney's mind. 

A meteorite has been discovered on the Arctic's Milne Ice Shelf, and it contains fossils of creatures that seem to support the existence of extraterrestrial life. He has sent a team to the Arctic to investigate, among those, Rachel Sexton, a National Reconnaissance Office employee and the daughter of Senator Sedgewick Sexton.

The team is working hard to authenticate the fossils when they are ambushed by a Delta Force team that had been spying on them. 

Why are they being attacked, and who is behind it all?

Children's Book

Dan Brown may not be the first name that comes to mind when you think of children's books. But in 2020, he partnered with Susan Batori (Illustrator) and released a book titled Wild Symphony, a nod to his symphonic work of the same name. In 2022, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Weed Road Pictures turned this book into an animated musical. 

You can find out more here. 

Other Books

In 1994, a book called 187 Men to Avoid: A Survival Guide for the Romantically Frustrated Woman was published. This book, written by Danielle Brown, was a comedy book filled with one-line observations about men and sort of red flags to look for while trying to find Mr. Right. 

It was later revealed that Dan Brown authored the book and published it under a pen name. It was republished using the name Dan Brown as the author. This is the only book published under the name Danielle Brown. 

The Bald Book by Blythe Brown 

Blythe Brown is Dan Brown's former wife. She is the sole author and editor for The Bald Book, another comedy book. However, representatives of the publishing company state that Dan Brown was the primary writer. 

Reviews

You can find my reviews of Dan Brown's books below: 

The Robert Langdon Series: 

1. Angels & Demons - Coming Soon 

2. The Da Vinci Code - Coming Soon 

3. The Lost Symbols - Coming May 24th

4. Inferno - Coming Soon 

5. Origins - Coming Soon 

6. Secret of Secrets - Coming this Sunday (April 26th)

Stand Alones 

Digital Fortress - Coming Soon 

Deception Point - Coming Soon 

Socials 

You can find Dan Brown at the following: 

His website: The Official Website of Dan Brown

Instagram: Author Dan Brown

Facebook: Dan Brown

Twitter: Author Dan Brown

GoodReads: Dan Brown

You can sign up for Dan Brown's newsletter on his website or through the Penguin Random House page for Dan Brown. 

* Photo of Dan Brown taken by Ben Flythe, provided by Dan Brown's Press Kit via danbrown.com

* All covers (unless otherwise mentioned) were retrieved from Dan Brown's official website. All rights belong to the author and/or publisher. 

* The cover for 187 Men to Avoid was provided by GoodReads

* The cover for The Bald Book was provided by GoodReads

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