Deception Point

In the world of page-turning thrillers, Dan Brown holds a special place in the hearts of many of us. After his first book, Digital Fortress, almost passed me by, he wrote Angels and Demons, which was probably one of the half-dozen most exciting thrillers of last year. It is a pleasure to report that his new book lives up to his reputation as a writer whose research and talent make his stories exciting, believable, and just plain unputdownable.

The time is now and President Zachary Herney is facing a very tough re-election. His opponent, Senator Sedgwick Sexton, is a powerful man with powerful friends and a mission: to reduce NASA's spending and move space exploration into the private sector. He has numerous supporters, including many beyond the businesses who will profit from this because of the embarrassment of 1996, when the Clinton administration was informed by NASA that proof existed of life on other planets. That information turned out to be premature, if not incorrect. The embattled president is assured that a rare object buried deep in the Arctic ice will prove to have far-reaching implications on America's space program. The find, however, needs to be verified.

Enter Rachel Sexton, a gister for the National Reconnaissance Office. Gisters reduce complex reports into single-page briefs, and in this case the president needs that confirmation before he broadcasts to the nation, probably ensuring his re-election. It's tricky because Rachel is the daughter of his opponent. Rachel is thrilled to be on the team travelling to the Arctic Circle. She is a realist about her father's politics and has little respect for his stand on NASA, but Senator Sexton cannot help but have a problem with her involvement.

Adventure, romance, murder, skulduggery, and nail-biting tension ensue. By the end of Deception Point, the reader will be much better informed about how the space program works and how politicians react to new information. Bring on the next Dan Brown thriller! --Otto Penzler, Amazon.com

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brilliant .. just brilliant - Rated
another brilliant dan brown book, grabs you from the first page,excellent characters,fabulous plot I enjoyed the twists turns and it was so gripping I couldn't put it down an absolute must read...I highly recommend it.

Red hot action in sub zero Antarctica. - Rated
Deception Point

Dan Brown gives us his most action packed and fastest paced novel to date, at the same time retaining all the complexity of his plots and the continually shifting suspicions of the main characters.

However there are some flaws, too many very short two page chapters, cliff hangers at every switch of the action becoming a mannerism, and with four main strands of plot this is a little too much.

Having said that as always with Dan Brown his research is first class and we are drawn into some fascinating technology and in this case high tech weaponry of a particularly nasty Special Forces unit.

A really great page turning read, don't miss it.

Another pageturner - Rated
"Deception Point" is Brown's third novel, written between his two (so far) Robert Langdon books (Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code). Like all of his books, it's a quick read despite being over 500 pages.

The heroine is Rachel Sexton, daughter of a senator/presidential candidate. She's recruited by the president to help examine a meteorite found by NASA, which seems to contain proof of extraterrestrial life. Brown successfully mixes political intrigue, action and science into a page turning thriller. Brown is a teacher and he has the rare ability to educate and share information with his readers without slowing down the pace of his novels. If you can suspend your disbelief for some of the more fantastic sequences, "Deception Point" is a good pageturner.

A Good Book But A Bit Slow! - Rated
I didn't get into Deception Point as much as I did with Digital Fortress. The story seemed to take ages to get going. I liked the character development and Brown does write well despite the obvious twists that you just guess a mile off. Also I found the book far too long but at times it had me hooked. Overall I think 3 stars is a fair rating.

scientific-political page-turner - Rated
Having been initially reluctant to read this - despite having enjoyed Dan Brown's other three novels - because its setting of American presidential politics did not attract me, in the event I enjoyed it and would rate it as his second best, behind Angels and Demons but ahead of the Da Vinci Code and what I consider the weakest, Digital Fortress - which Deception Point most closely resembles. Many of the same elements are there - government agencies fighting each other, a female protagonist and a cute male academic, a father figure, etc etc, but despite being a bit far-fetched it is more compelling than Digital Fortress probably because the action takes place on a wider scale, and it's also better told than the Da Vinci Code, which has lots of explanatory dialogue of the sort budding authors are told NOT to use. The 'twist' is pretty obvious but not so unbelievable as in Digital Fortress, which has several things in it which are hard to swallow. I'd expect to read this again at some point, which is my main criterion for saying a book is good.