The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown's long-anticipated follow-up to The Da Vinci Code, went on sale today, with book sellers tipping the new novel to smash sales records.

The thriller, again featuring Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, hit the book shelves today with a UK first print run of a million copies.

Waterstone's marked the release by offering 200 signed copies of the book from 7am this morning at its flagship store on London's Piccadilly.

Although around 40 people queued to get their hands on the book, there was little evidence of a buying frenzy and many signed copies were still available several hours after the store opened.

Waterstone's spokesman Jon Howells was given an advance copy and stayed up all night to read it.

"Like all Dan Brown books, at its heart is a thriller - it's a chase and a race against time to solve a puzzle or series of puzzles," he said.

"It has a theme going through it and the theme is Freemasonry but that's not all the book is about.

"The Da Vinci Code was about asking the big question 'what is the Holy Grail?'

"That's a pretty big question but this book asks even bigger questions."

Mr Howells said the new novel would probably not convince those who criticised the Da Vinci Code for the quality of its prose, but said it was a gripping thriller nevertheless.

The Lost Symbol has already sparked a price war, with supermarket giant Asda slashing the £18.99 cover price to just £5.

Pre-orders of the novel have already made it the sixth biggest book of 2009 on Amazon.co.uk.

Shoppers in Waterstone's Piccadilly store seemed glad to have got hold of the new book.

Tony Williams, a chartered surveyor from Romford said he was a huge Dan Brown fan and may even read the book in one go.

"I wouldn't rule it out," he said.

"I've done it before. When it comes to reading I'm like an alcoholic to drink.

"I read the Da Vinci Code and really loved it. I read one or two things about this one so I'm really looking forward to reading it."

Derek Chan, from Hong Kong, said: "I've read all the Dan Brown books in order and I wanted to get the hardback version so my wife can read it to."