A devastating new weapon of mass destruction.

An unthinkable target.

Brilliant physicist Leonardo Vetra has been found murdered, his flesh seared with a single cryptic word: Illuminati, the symbol of a legendary secret society. The scientist's final discovery, antimatter, is the most volatile energy source known to man and has the potential to incinerate civilization -- and with his death it has vanished.

On the eve of the Vatican's holy conclave, world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to Rome; a messenger of an ancient brotherhood has hidden the stolen antimatter in the heart of the Vatican City. Langdon joins forces with Vetra's daughter, Vittoria, and embarks on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts and dangerous catacombs to assist the Vatican in a desperate bid for survival. With all humanity at stake, they must follow a 400-year-old trail to unravel the secrets of the Illuminati.