Dan Brown's latest conspiracy thriller looks to be 'big, big'

Dan Brown's first novel since 2003's The Da Vinci Code is triggering more speculation than any book since the end of the Harry Potter series.

The Lost Symbol (Doubleday, $25.95) will be released Sept. 15 with a first printing of 5 million copies. That's the largest print run since the 12 million copies of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2007.

If Brown's last novel — which has sold more than 80 million copies — "was big, then the new one will be big, big," says Barnes and Noble's Sessalee Hensley, citing "pent-up demand."

She says 50 stores asked for advance copies: "I had to explain there aren't any."

Just the novel's cover, released by the publisher last month, has been enough to trigger Internet debates about the symbolism of images of the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument, seen through a keyhole on the book's spine. MORE