Robert Langdon Books In Order

Publication Order of Robert Langdon Books

The Robert Langdon series is a series of suspense, historical fiction, and mystery series written by the world famous American author named Dan Brown. This series is comprised of 5 books in total, of which 4 were released between the years 2000 and 2013. The fifth book in the suspense thriller series is expected to be published in the year 2017. Author Brown has created a fictional character named Professor Robert Langdon, who features in all the 5 five books. He is described as a professor at the Harvard University, who is related to the field of religious symbology and iconology. With the help of his vast experience in these fields, Robert Langdon studies the historical symbols. All the 4 novels of this series have been adapted into Hollywood movies, which have also been widely successful. The multiple Academy Award winning actor named Tom Hanks has portrayed the role of Robert Langdon in all the 4 films. The novels to be adapted from the series was The Da Vinci Code, which was actually published as the second book. Actor Tom Hanks then continued with his role of Professor Langdon in the second film titled Angles and Demons, which is based on the debut book of this series having the same name. The last time this character was seen in a movie is in the recently release film titled Inferno. The film series received wide acclaim just like the novel series and actor Tom Hanks was highly praised for his portrayal of the character of Professor Langdon.

Author Brown created the fictional character as his own alter ego. While developing the character, he used to think of Langdon as the man he always wished to be. Professor Langdon is described as being born in Exeter, New Hampshire on June 22, 1964, which is exactly same as that of author Brown. In fact, he is also depicted as having studied at the same school author Brown, the Phillips Exeter Academy. In the initial parts of the novel series, it is shown that Robert Langdon is a reputed scholar, whom author Brown named after a typography professor at the Drexel University, named John Langdon. John is famous for creating ambigrams. An illustration of his ambigrams were used by author Brown on the cover page of the first edition of the series’ debut novel. Additionally, all the other ambigrams that can be seen throughout the book were also created by John Langdon. Author Brown has mentioned John Langdon in the acknowledgements section of the book as one of the most gifted and ingenious artists alive, who used his brilliance to create those ambigrams for the book. In one of his interviews, author Brown has mentioned Joseph Campbell as the inspiration behind the creation of Langdon’s character. Robert Langdon is described as having a look similar to Harrison Ford when he wears his standard attire of Harris Tweed, turtleneck, cordovan loafers, and khakis. One of his accessories seen frequently in the series is the Mickey Mouse watch that was gifted to him by his parents. During his prep school, he was a diver and used to play water polo at the Princeton University. Professor Langdon is depicted as having a brilliant mind for solving problems. He is also known to have an eidetic memory. Swimming is his hobby and he swims 50 laps daily at the athletic facilities of Harvard as a form of his morning ritual. This ritual is also depicted in the adapted Hollywood film.

The first book written by novelist Dan Brown in the Robert Langdon series is titled as ‘Angels & Demons’. This book was released by the Pocket Books publication in the year 2000. The plot features the lead characters in the form of Robert Langdon, Leonardo Vetra, Vittoria Vetra, Maximillan Kohler, and Gunther Glick; and is set in Rome, Geneva, and Vatican City. The book’s starting sequence introduces Langdon as a popular symbologist from Harvard, who gets summoned by research facility of Switzerland for analyzing a mysterious symbol. The symbol was discovered from a murdered physicist’s chest. After studying the symbol, Langdon finds evidences hinting at the resurgence of one of the oldest secret brotherhoods called as the Illuminati. This organization is believed to be the most deadly underground organization on earth. It appears that the Illuminati, has surfaced for carrying out the final step of its vendetta against the Catholic Church, which is considered to be its most hated enemy. The worst fears of Langdon become a reality when an illuminati messenger announces that he has hidden a time bomb at the center of the Vatican City. As the time runs by, Professor Langdon travels to Rome and teams up with Vittoria Vetra. She is depicted as a mysterious and beautiful scientist from Italy. They try to help Vatican City survive the desperate times. Langdon and Vittoria follow the trail of 400 year old symbols by embarking on a difficult hunt through the dangerous catabombs, secretive vaults, sealed crypts on earth. They travel through Rome and reach a clandestine location that is expected to have the hope of salvation for Vatican City.

The series’ next book is titled as ‘The Da Vinci Code’, which was released in the year 2003 by the Anchor publication. Robert Langdon is once again featured as the main character along with Sophie Neveu. Author Brown has set the plot of this book in London, Paris, and Rosalin in the United Kingdom. In the beginning, author Brown has shown that Langdon gets a phone call when he is Paris. He is told that the Louvre’s elderly curator has been killed by someone inside the museum and his dead body is discovered with some baffling symbols. With the help of the gifted cryptologist from France named Sophie Neveu, Professor Langdon tries to solve the bizarre riddles. As they come across a trail of clues hidden in Leonardo Da Vinci’s works, both of them get stunned. The clues were visible to everyone, but were very ingeniously disguised by the famous painter. Further into the investigation, Langdon learns that the murdered curator was involved with a secret society called the Priory of Sion, which also members like Victor Hugo, Sir Isaac Newton, and Da Vinci. Later, it is found that the curator was given the task of guarding a historical secret. Now, Langdon and Sophie face the difficult task of deciphering puzzle and avoiding the adversaries keeping a watch on their moves, before the ancient, explosive truth gets lost forever.