Angels and Demons

by Dan Brown

Overview

An ancient secret brotherhood.

A devastating new weapon of destruction.

An unthinkable target.

When world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol -- seared into the chest of a murdered physicist -- he discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati...the most powerful underground organization ever to walk the earth. The Illuminati has now surfaced to carry out the final phase of its legendary vendetta against its most hated enemy -- the Catholic Church.

Langdon's worst fears are confirmed on the eve of the Vatican's holy conclave, when a messenger of the Illuminati announces they have hidden an unstoppable time bomb at the very heart of Vatican City. With the countdown under way, Langdon jets to Rome to join forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to assist the Vatican in a desperate bid for survival.

Embarking on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra follow a 400-year-old trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome toward the long-forgotten Illuminati lair...a clandestine location that contains the only hope for Vatican salvation.

An explosive international thriller, Angels & Demons careens from enlightening epiphanies to dark truths as the battle between science and religion turns to war.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780743493468
Publisher:	Atria/Emily Bestler Books
Publication date:	05/23/2006
Series:	Robert Langdon Series , #1
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	496
Sales rank:	6,013
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Dan Brown is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Da Vinci Code, Digital Fortress, Deception Point, The Lost Symbol, Angels & Demons, and Inferno. He is a graduate of Amherst College and Phillips Exeter Academy, where he spent time as an English teacher before turning his efforts to writing full-time. He lives in New England with his wife. Visit his website at DanBrown.com.

Hometown:

New England

Date of Birth:

June 22, 1964

Place of Birth:

Exeter, New Hampshire

Education:

Phillips Exeter Academy 1982; B.A., Amherst College, 1986; University of Seville, Spain

Website:

http://www.danbrown.com

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

High atop the steps of the Pyramid of Giza a young woman laughed and called down to him. "Robert, hurry up! I knew I should have married a younger man!" Her smile was magic.

He struggled to keep up, but his legs felt like stone. "Wait," he begged. "Please..."

As he climbed, his vision began to blur. There was a thundering in his ears. I must reach her! But when he looked up again, the woman had disappeared. In her place stood an old man with rotting teeth. The man stared down, curling his lips into a lonely grimace. Then he let out a scream of anguish that resounded across the desert.

Robert Langdon awoke with a start from his nightmare. The phone beside his bed was ringing. Dazed, he picked up the receiver.

"Hello?"

"I'm looking for Robert Langdon," a man's voice said.

Langdon sat up in his empty bed and tried to clear his mind. "This...is Robert Langdon." He squinted at his digital clock. It was 5:18 A.M.

"I must see you immediately."

"Who is this?"

"My name is Maximilian Kohler. I'm a discrete particle physicist."

"A what?" Langdon could barely focus. "Are you sure you've got the right Langdon?"

"You're a professor of religious iconology at Harvard University. You've written three books on symbology and — "

"Do you know what time it is?"

"I apologize. I have something you need to see. I can't discuss it on the phone."

A knowing groan escaped Langdon's lips. This had happened before. One of the perils of writing books about religious symbology was the calls from religious zealots who wanted him to confirm their latest sign from God. Last month a stripper fromOklahoma had promised Langdon the best sex of his life if he would fly down and verify the authenticity of a cruciform that had magically appeared on her bed sheets. The Shroud of Tulsa, Langdon had called it.

"How did you get my number?" Langdon tried to be polite, despite the hour.

"On the Worldwide Web. The site for your book."

Langdon frowned. He was damn sure his book's site did not include his home phone number. The man was obviously lying.

"I need to see you," the caller insisted. "I'll pay you well."

Now Langdon was getting mad. "I'm sorry, but I really — "

"If you leave immediately, you can be here by — "

"I'm not going anywhere! It's five o'clock in the morning!" Langdon hung up and collapsed back in bed. He closed his eyes and tried to fall back asleep. It was no use. The dream was emblazoned in his mind. Reluctantly, he put on his robe and went downstairs.

Robert Langdon wandered barefoot through his deserted Massachusetts Victorian home and nursed his ritual insomnia remedy — a mug of steaming Nestlé's Quik. The April moon filtered through the bay windows and played on the oriental carpets. Langdon's colleagues often joked that his place looked more like an anthropology museum than a home. His shelves were packed with religious artifacts from around the world — an ekuaba from Ghana, a gold cross from Spain, a cycladic idol from the Aegean, and even a rare woven boccus from Borneo, a young warrior's symbol of perpetual youth.

As Langdon sat on his brass Maharishi's chest and savored the warmth of the chocolate, the bay window caught his reflection. The image was distorted and pale...like a ghost. An aging ghost, he thought, cruelly reminded that his youthful spirit was living in a mortal shell.

Although not overly handsome in a classical sense, the forty-five-year-old Langdon had what his female colleagues referred to as an "erudite" appeal — wisps of gray in his thick brown hair, probing blue eyes, an arrestingly deep voice, and the strong, carefree smile of a collegiate athlete. A varsity diver in prep school and college, Langdon still had the body of a swimmer, a toned, six-foot physique that he vigilantly maintained with fifty laps a day in the university pool.

Langdon's friends had always viewed him as a bit of an enigma — a man caught between centuries. On weekends he could be seen lounging on the quad in blue jeans, discussing computer graphics or religious history with students; other times he could be spotted in his Harris tweed and paisley vest, photographed in the pages of upscale art magazines at museum openings where he had been asked to lecture.

Although a tough teacher and strict disciplinarian, Langdon was the first to embrace what he hailed as the "lost art of good clean fun." He relished recreation with an infectious fanaticism that had earned him a fraternal acceptance among his students. His campus nickname — "The Dolphin" — was a reference both to his affable nature and his legendary ability to dive into a pool and outmaneuver the entire opposing squad in a water polo match.

As Langdon sat alone, absently gazing into the darkness, the silence of his home was shattered again, this time by the ring of his fax machine. Too exhausted to be annoyed, Langdon forced a tired chuckle.

God's people, he thought. Two thousand years of waiting for their Messiah, and they're still persistent as hell.

Wearily, he returned his empty mug to the kitchen and walked slowly to his oak-paneled study. The incoming fax lay in the tray. Sighing, he scooped up the paper and looked at it.

Instantly, a wave of nausea hit him.

The image on the page was that of a human corpse. The body had been stripped naked, and its head had been twisted, facing completely backward. On the victim's chest was a terrible burn. The man had been branded...imprinted with a single word. It was a word Langdon knew well. Very well. He stared at the ornate lettering in disbelief.

"Illuminati," he stammered, his heart pounding. It can't be...

In slow motion, afraid of what he was about to witness, Langdon rotated the fax 180 degrees. He looked at the word upside down.

Instantly, the breath went out of him. It was like he had been hit by a truck. Barely able to believe his eyes, he rotated the fax again, reading the brand right-side up and then upside down.

"Illuminati," he whispered.

Stunned, Langdon collapsed in a chair. He sat a moment in utter bewilderment. Gradually, his eyes were drawn to the blinking red light on his fax machine. Whoever had sent this fax was still on the line...waiting to talk. Langdon gazed at the blinking light a long time.

Then, trembling, he picked up the receiver.

Copyright © 2000 by Dan Brown

Table of Contents

TOC not available

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

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

Reading Group Guide

Angels & Demons
Dan Brown
QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION
1. What is your view of Robert Langdon? What motivates him to find out more about the circumstances of Leonardo Vetra's death? Is it merely academic interest? Aside from his scholarly knowledge, what else in Langdon's background helps him succeed during this adventure?
2. Discuss the other characters' motivations for their actions, both the "villains" and "heroes" in the story, including Vittoria, the Hassassin, the camerlengo, Cardinal Mortati, and Maximilian Kohler.
3. Angels & Demons is filled with examples of science versus religion, a debate that has raged for centuries. Is there room in the world for both science and religion? Is one likely to render the other obsolete? Would you rather live in a world without science...or in a world without religion?
4. Were you aware of the existence of CERN prior to reading this book? What is your opinion of the work they conduct, particularly in regard to antimatter technology?
5. Discuss Vittoria's role in the story. How does her knowledge as a scientist come into play? Leonardo Vetra was both a scientist and a priest. How did he reconcile these two seemingly disparate entities? In what ways did her father's beliefs influence Vittoria's own opinions of science and religion?
6. When he first meets Maximilian Kohler, Langdon tells him he is "undecided on miracles... . I study religious symbology — I'm an academic, not a priest" (21). Does Langdon change his view on miracles by the end of the book?
7. Had you heard of the Illuminati before reading Angels & Demons? The Illuminati is rumored by some to be active today. Do you believe this is true? What is the enduring fascination with conspiracy theories? Given what Dan Brown reveals about the history of the Illuminati, is their alleged vendetta against the Vatican justified?
8. Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca emerges as one of the most complex characters in the story. What was your opinion of the camerlengo when he is first introduced? How about by the end of the book?
9. What role do the media play in the events that unfold? How about Glick and Macri in particular? The media were not interested in covering the election of a new pope until there was tragedy involved. How much influence do the media have on what information is relayed to the public? Is it true, as Glick believes, that "viewers didn't want truth anymore; they wanted entertainment" (190)?
10. The novel takes place during a 24-hour period. How does this narrative structure heighten the suspense in the story? What red herrings does the author use to keep the reader guessing? Did you anticipate any of the events in the story?
11. What did you find to be most compelling about Angels & Demons — the action scenes, the characters, the setting, the history, or something else entirely?
12. Discuss the novel's ending. Do you think the Vatican (and Robert and Vittoria) made the right decision to keep the events that took place secret from the public?
13. In an interview on his website (www.danbrown.com), Dan Brown said that Angels & Demons "opens some Vatican closets most people don't even know exist." Did you learn anything about the Vatican, its practices, and its history that surprised you?
14. In the same interview Dan Brown goes on to say, "The final message of the novel, though, without a doubt, is a positive one." What do you see as the ultimate message of the book?
15. Have you visited Rome? If so, do you recall seeing the Illuminati symbolism that Dan Brown describes in the book, such as at the Piazza del Popolo and the Piazza Navona? If you have not been to Rome, has reading Angels & Demons inspired you to make a visit?
16. If you've read Robert Langdon's second adventure, The Da Vinci Code, compare the two books. What similarities do the stories share? How does the character of Rober Langdon change?

Introduction

Angels & Demons

Dan Brown

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

1. What is your view of Robert Langdon? What motivates him to find out more about the circumstances of Leonardo Vetra's death? Is it merely academic interest? Aside from his scholarly knowledge, what else in Langdon's background helps him succeed during this adventure?

2. Discuss the other characters' motivations for their actions, both the "villains" and "heroes" in the story, including Vittoria, the Hassassin, the camerlengo, Cardinal Mortati, and Maximilian Kohler.

3. Angels & Demons is filled with examples of science versus religion, a debate that has raged for centuries. Is there room in the world for both science and religion? Is one likely to render the other obsolete? Would you rather live in a world without science...or in a world without religion?

4. Were you aware of the existence of CERN prior to reading this book? What is your opinion of the work they conduct, particularly in regard to antimatter technology?

5. Discuss Vittoria's role in the story. How does her knowledge as a scientist come into play? Leonardo Vetra was both a scientist and a priest. How did he reconcile these two seemingly disparate entities? In what ways did her father's beliefs influence Vittoria's own opinions of science and religion?

6. When he first meets Maximilian Kohler, Langdon tells him he is "undecided on miracles... . I study religious symbology — I'm an academic, not a priest" (21). Does Langdon change his view on miracles by the end of the book?

7. Had you heard of the Illuminati before reading Angels & Demons? The Illuminati is rumored by some to be activetoday. Do you believe this is true? What is the enduring fascination with conspiracy theories? Given what Dan Brown reveals about the history of the Illuminati, is their alleged vendetta against the Vatican justified?

8. Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca emerges as one of the most complex characters in the story. What was your opinion of the camerlengo when he is first introduced? How about by the end of the book?

9. What role do the media play in the events that unfold? How about Glick and Macri in particular? The media were not interested in covering the election of a new pope until there was tragedy involved. How much influence do the media have on what information is relayed to the public? Is it true, as Glick believes, that "viewers didn't want truth anymore; they wanted entertainment" (190)?

10. The novel takes place during a 24-hour period. How does this narrative structure heighten the suspense in the story? What red herrings does the author use to keep the reader guessing? Did you anticipate any of the events in the story?

11. What did you find to be most compelling about Angels & Demons — the action scenes, the characters, the setting, the history, or something else entirely?

12. Discuss the novel's ending. Do you think the Vatican (and Robert and Vittoria) made the right decision to keep the events that took place secret from the public?

13. In an interview on his website (www.danbrown.com), Dan Brown said that Angels & Demons "opens some Vatican closets most people don't even know exist." Did you learn anything about the Vatican, its practices, and its history that surprised you?

14. In the same interview Dan Brown goes on to say, "The final message of the novel, though, without a doubt, is a positive one." What do you see as the ultimate message of the book?

15. Have you visited Rome? If so, do you recall seeing the Illuminati symbolism that Dan Brown describes in the book, such as at the Piazza del Popolo and the Piazza Navona? If you have not been to Rome, has reading Angels & Demons inspired you to make a visit?

16. If you've read Robert Langdon's second adventure, The Da Vinci Code, compare the two books. What similarities do the stories share? How does the character of Rober Langdon change?

Dan Brown is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Da Vinci Code and, previously, Digital Fortress, Deception Point, and Angels & Demons. He is a graduate of Amherst College and Phillips Exeter Academy, where he spent time as an English teacher before turning his efforts to writing full-time. He lives in New England with his wife. Visit the author's website at www.danbrown.com.

Editorial Reviews

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

San Francisco Chronicle

Pitting scientific terrorists against the cardinals of Vatican City, this well-plotted if over-the-top thriller is crammed with Vatican intrigue and high-tech drama. Robert Langdon, a Harvard specialist on religious symbolism, is called in by a Swiss research lab when Dr. Vetra, the scientist who discovered antimatter, is found murdered with the cryptic word "Illuminati" branded on his chest. These Iluminati were a group of Renaissance scientists, including Galileo, who met secretly in Rome to discuss new ideas in safety from papal threat; what the long-defunct association has to do with Dr. Vetra's death is far from clear. Vetra's daughter, Vittoria, makes a frightening discovery: a lethal amount of antimatter, sealed in a vacuum flask that will explode in six hours unless its batteries are recharged, is missing. Almost immediately, the Swiss Guard discover that the flask is hidden beneath Vatican City, where the conclave to elect a new pope has just begun. Vittoria and Langdon rush to recover the canister, but they aren't allowed into the Vatican until it is discovered that the four principal papal candidates are missing. The terrorists who are holding the cardinals call in regarding their pending murders, offering clues tied to ancient Illuminati meeting sites and runes. Meanwhile, it becomes clear that a sinister Vatican entity with messianic delusions is in league with the terrorists. Packing the novel with sinister figures worthy of a Medici, Brown (Digital Fortress) sets an explosive pace as Langdon and Vittoria race through a Michelin-perfect Rome to try to save the cardinals and find the antimatter before it explodes. Though its premises strain credulity, Brown's tale is laced with twists and shocks that keep the reader wired right up to the last revelation. (May) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Crammed with Vatican intrigue and hi-tech drama. Packing the novel with sinister figures worthy of a Medici, Brown sets an explosive pace through a Michelin-perfect Rome. Brown's tale is laced with twists and shocks that keep the reader wired right up to the last revelation.

Publishers Weekly

A reading experience you will never forget. Dan Brown has created another frantic paced thriller that rivals the best works of Clancy and Cussler.

Book Browser Reviews

Among the best books we have ever read. Angels & Demons is part thriller, part mystery, and all action. A highly entertaining, page-turning thriller.

Bookbrowse.com

Angels & Demons is as good as it gets. A pulse-pounding, edge-of-your-seat thriller. Angels & Demons is as compelling as Umberto Eco... as engaging as Tom Clancy... as fast-paced as Michael Crichton... and rivals the best Thomas Harris thriller. Angels & Demons earns Dan Brown a place among these literary peers.
—Syndicated Review

Joe Mauceri

Another near-future technothriller from the author of Digital Fortress (1998). Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon gets a call from Maximilian Kohler, director of CERN's Geneva particle-physics research complex. Physicist Leonardo Vetra has been murdered, and a quantity of dreadfully dangerous antimatter stolen; worse, Vetra was branded with a single word: Illuminati. Langdon's an expert on the history of the Illuminati, a medieval pro-science, anti-Catholic power group, often suspected of infiltrating mighty institutions but now considered extinct. The canister of antimatter soon turns up—in Rome, hidden somewhere in Vatican City, just as the church's cardinals are gathering to select a new pope. When the canister's batteries go dead—boom. As bad, someone's kidnapped the four top cardinals, and a message from the Illuminati states that one cardinal will be killed—with lots of Illuminati symbolism—every hour until the antimatter explodes. Langdon and Vetra's scientist daughter, Vittoria, must convince the late pope's chamberlain, now in charge of the Vatican until the new pope is elected, to help them unravel the mysteries of the Illuminati and, perhaps, save the cardinals from gruesome deaths. But they'll be going up against a wily and potent Illuminati assassin, causing plenty of thrilling cat-and-mouse maneuvers and life-or-death cliffhangers. And how come the powerful head of the Illuminati knows all the Vatican's secrets, and can enter and leave at will? Romance, religion, science, murder, mysticism, architecture, action. Go!

Kirkus Reviews

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

From the Publisher

This grand summer novel by the author of The Da Vinci Code introduces readers to famed symbologist Robert Langdon, who is attempting to stop the Illuminati, an ancient secret organization, from destroying Vatican City. VERDICT Filled with superb puzzles, a breakneck plot, and wondrous settings and descriptions of artwork, this fascinating story will feed thriller readers' appetites for riddles, conspiracies, and unlikely heroes.

Library Journal