Author Dan Brown is a friendly, normal guy — not the type you’d expect to have created the dark world of “The Da Vinci Code.” The book, published in 2003, has sold more than 80 million copies worldwide, and the 2006 movie starring Tom Hanks grossed over $758 million.

It also generated enormous controversy: Catholic Church leaders denounced its heretical slant and negative portrayal of Opus Dei, a conservative Roman Catholic group. Now, after six-and-a-half years, Brown’s newest novel, “The Lost Symbol,” comes out on Tuesday.

Brown, 45, still seems surprised that his book started such a frenzy. He grew up on the campus of a New England boarding school, where his father taught math; his mother was a musician. After failing to make it as a singer-songwriter, he decided to write fiction and had only modest success until “The Da Vinci Code,” his fourth novel. “The Lost Symbol” brings back Harvard University symbology professor Robert Langdon, this time prowling the corridors of power in Washington, D.C.

Read The Rest Of This Story In   PARADE MAGAZINE