Writer Dan Brown gestures as he poses during a photocall for the movie "Angels & Demons" at Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome May 3, 2009. [Xinhua/Reuters]

Six years after "The Da Vinci Code", author Dan Brown's new book "The Lost Symbol" was released Tuesday with hot anticipation, media reports Wednesday.

Though the author admits he is under great pressure to sell well, the book received a positive reaction from critics and hit U.S. bookstores at midnight with an amazing large print run of 5 million copies and expectations the book can revive the publishing industry.

The story takes place over a 12-hour period in Washington, and again features the fictional, mystery-solving Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon.

"The Da Vinci Code" may have outraged the Vatican, but this new book is hailed by its latest subjects, the Freemasons. They believe "The Lost Symbol" is good fun, and even started a book club which will meet next week. A senior representative of the Freemasons in Australia called "The Lost Symbol" the work of a "terrific novelist."

(Xinhua/Agencies September 16, 2009)