Dan Brown is in a love-to-hate crowd I wish I were in, which includes Stephen King, Stephenie Meyer and J.K. Rowling, among others. I don't care to participate in the discussions that boil down to, yeah s/he sells millions, but s/he can't write. (I do enjoy it when one in this elite crowd criticizes another.)

(There has to be a) but...this is funny: a Dan Brown sequel generator. You select a bustling or history-soaked city and a scheming group (like the mafia, U.S. Postal Service, or Boy Scouts of America) and more quickly than lightning strikes on a dark and stormy night, you have a plot to a sequel.