Angels and Demons, and The Da Vinci Code are much better. I mean how many times can you say, "it was right under my nose the whole time"? I will say the villian in Lost Symbol is deliciously evil. But, I would definitely not start with this one. I think you will lose a lot of appreciation for Robert Langdon (the main character). NOt a lot of character development. Almost as if Brown assumes all readers have read the first two books. Hope this helps.