Deception point. That's a disappointment indeed. The editor of Dan Brown was surfing at the time on the success of The Da Vinci Code by proposing this novel already ghastly. Deception Point is a novel published in the United States before The Da Vinci Code.
Deception Point is a classic thriller based on discovering a meteorite in arctic ice near the point of impact of an alien life form. Spectacular advance of human knowledge or error, even deception ??? What Rachel Sexton discovers on site sent by the President of the United States is not necessarily announced to the population.
Brown is no longer esoteric with this novel but loves secrets, even conspiracy. This book, plan plan, and length prove it.

Enjoyed it a lot. It is kind of book you can read even if you are half asleep. Thats not essentially a bad thing for a book. Particularly this one. A good thriller novel. A good page turner.

Well it is indeed a formulaic book. The characters act the way author wants to, according to the requirements of plot for a particular instances. There is of course lack in psychological depth and congruence. The language is deliberately simple and intentionally avoid using big words and phrases. Some stupid and childish humor, and sometimes good one.

But it has good plot and seriously unexpected turns and twists. It is an intelligent book. The book works for me. It offers what it claimed, good plot and hooked me until I finished it. It is good script for a movie. If it is made into a movie then it would be an entertaining thriller....

And if I wanted a profound book I would have read Dostoevsky instead. I knew what I would get and got it.


(Note: I got the book from a sale for 25 rupees viz equal to 30 US cents!! So cant complaint even if it would have been a scrappy one.)

Still one of my all-time favorite books. It's fun to reread it every couple of years. This was my first time listening to the audiobook. It was well done.

Dan Brown is never going to win any literary awards that's for sure. Mixed metaphors abound ("a searing pain sliced into her head..." etc), the use of the word "ephemeral" where I'm pretty sure he means "ethereal", and the explanation of how due to a childhood accident where our main character fell into a frozen lake, she now suffers from "hydrophobia". As there's no further reference to her foaming at the mouth, I can only assume he means "aquaphobia". The list goes on.

And yet, it doesn't matter.

Deception Point isn't about literary prowess, it's about plot, pacing and frantic page-turning. And it has all that in spades. Reading Deception Point is like watching a season of 24. Sure, it's hardly realistic - in fact it's cliched and silly most of the time - but admit it: you're having a great time and you don't want it to end. And you can't go to sleep until you just find out what happens next...

There seem to be a lot of Dan Brown haters out there judging by a quick glance at the reviews. But frankly, if you don't like it you don't have to read it. It seems odd that the people who claim to hate his books never seem to have any trouble finishing them. I love lobster and Filet Mignon. But I also love a Domino's Pizza. This is a Domino's Pizza. It never pretends to be anything else. And it's a bloody good one.

Ok I have read 4 of the 5 Dan Brown books and I have come up with a user friendly recipe that anyone can use to create their own pulp fiction Dan Brown creation.
Add 1 strong, intelligent, attractive career woman.
Add 1 semi-strong, (but not as strong as the woman) man, that is semi-sucessful in his chosen career path (but not as successful as the woman) attractive, sensitive and totally not threatened by the strong intelligent woman.
Mix these two well but don't over mix because they will spend most of the book kinda liking each other, but not in a way that de-tracts from the main storyline even though its obvious that at the end they will end up in each other arms/beds, but not in a shades of grey kind of way.
Add 2 strong older, successful authoritative men, that are firm but fair and take the strong intelligent woman seriously, mentor here but are protective because they:
a. secretly love her or b. see her as a daughter replacement.
Add a sprinkling of other characters that move the storyline along, add some comic value but you don't really have to invest much time or thought into.
Add a large helping of historical/scientific facts that are inaccurate (or that sound pretty accurate to the non-educated reader) or have stolen from an already written, less reader friendly, non-fiction book that not many people know about or have read.
Add a splash of professional killer/killers hunting down the main characters, but are obviously not professional enough to kill them off.
Mix all ingredients together and select a couple of back drops that are slightly exotic and may help the tourism industry in this particular location.
Cook ingredients for 400-600 pages with short chapters that move back and forth between scenes, ensuring the low attention span reader does not get too bored.
Finally serve with a 'twist' that the evil person hunting them down/causing the drama is one of the old trusted guys that the strong woman trusted and is totally shocked and devastated but leaves no lasting or significant psychological impacts or male trust issues.
Voila; you now have a big chunk of Dan Brown magic!

After I read The DaVinci Code, which I liked, and Angels and Demons, which I loved I put the other Dan Brown books on my wish list. I was recently sent this one as part of a bookring and decided to read it.

Rachel Sexton works for the National Reconnaissance Office as an intelligence officer. She is also the daughter of a Senator currently running for President. Her father's main offensive, and a very popular one, against the incumbent President is to attack the huge amount of NASA funding. Rachel is barely on speaking terms with her father, believing him to be totally corrupt, but is still worried she is being used by the President when he asks her to verify an amazing find by NASA, a find which will settle the arguments about NASA funding for ever. Reluctantly agreeing to view the find Rachel is whisked off to the North Pole. What she finds once she gets there takes her breath away. However, she quickly learns that nothing is what it seems, and, with two civilian scientists, is soon fleeing for her life. Stranded on an ice berg they are rescued in the nick of time by a nuclear submarine, but once back in the US their attempts to expose the plot show them that they can trust absolutely no one...

I ended up enjoying it but found that it lacked the fast pacing that the previous books had (especially Angels and Demons). Only the last third of the book equals them in the action department. Till then things happen but there's no sense of urgency wether in finding the clues or running away from the killers. The plot was nicely done, the find was surprising but I suppose one of the reasons I enjoyed the other books was because they dealt with historical people and monuments. Here it's meteorites and ocean life I don't find that as interesting. It's really me and not the book but sometimes a thriller is so nicely written that can sell me any subject, that was not the case here. Rachel and Tolland were really nice characters and as is usual in the Dan Brown books they give in to their attraction in the end.

Grade: C+, entertaining but forgettable.

3.5

As someone who tried and failed (miserably I might add) to read Brown's other books, I was a bit skeptical about reading this one. First, it was 736 pages long and I really hate to start big reads and give up on them. I feel like I would disappoint myself. Second, it had a mix of reviews and quite a few of them gave it one star and flagged it as boring and cliche as hell (some even said Brown's characters are all the same which makes it quite boring). And third, Brown's stories never really appealed to me so this was one of those random finds that I was debating on whether to chuck it in trash or give it a go.

I gave it a go and found it quite interesting. From all the technologies and small facts (not sure if they are 100% true but they seem plausible) about our government and NASA, it kept up my attention. The characters were a bit on the stale side but I forced myself not to mind it too much ( a lot of the times dull characters are one of the biggest reasons I give up on books). I felt a bit disappointed by the big finish at the end concerning the _______ since I thought it will be a historic find but whatever. The whole political side was at times boring but I was hoping Brown will end it just as I hoped he will and for the most part, he did.

Nothing much more for me to say except that these 700+ pages went by pretty fast as a lot of the chapters were few pages long. I probably won't read anything else by Brown for now but I will give Dan Simmons a try. GR friends, if you got any suggestions on which of his books to give it a go, let me know in the comments section. Grass-ias.

Como é que me tinha escapado o registo deste livro por estas bandas?! :P

Quatro anos depois, não é que me lembre de muita coisa, mas sei que gostei e que me entretive bastante a ler este livro que me emprestaram. Houve um volte-face previsível, mas quem lê um livro de Dan Brown já sabe que faz parte da fórmula descobrirem que os que pareciam bons afinal são maus.

أنا أعتبر دان براون كاتب عبقري له قدرة مذهلة
في خلق الإثارة والتشويق والتي غالباً ماتكون في
ظل مؤامرات ومطاردات بين أطراف كثيرة، أسلوب
السرد مشوق ووصفي للغاية ، كذلك طريقة الإنتقال
من مشهد لآخر تصويرية جداً ، والذي يجعل روايات
براون سينمائية من الدرجة الأولى، بالنسبة لي قراءة
روايات براون أشبه بمشاهدة فيلم سينمائي .. كذلك
يتميز باضافة معلومات هائلة ورهيبة في المحتوى.
اختلفت حقيقة الخديعة عن شفرة دافنشي وملائكة
وشياطين من حيث المحتوي الديني و فكرة الرموز
جاءت هذه المرة سياسية الطابع وذات خيال علمي
تحكي عن الإنتخابات الأمريكية الرئاسية ومشاريع
وكالة ناسا الفضائية ووجود أكبر مؤامرة وخديعة
على مر التاريخ الأمريكي ،، الرواية بها تفاصيل أكثر
مما يجب ماجعلني أشعر بالملل في بعض الأجزاء
وأثر نوعاً ما في مواصلة قرائتها
...
أعتقد انها لم تكن بروعة " شفرة دافنشي"
و" ملائكة وشياطين
وأعتقد أنني افتقدت روبرت لانغدون هذه المرة
...

DECEPTION POINT – VG
Brown, Dan – 2nd book, Stand Alone

Struggling to rebound from a series of embarrassing blunders that have jeopardized its political life at the start of this lively thriller, NASA makes an astounding discovery: there is a meteor embedded deep within the arctic ice. And it isn't just any meteor. Inside the huge rock, which crashed to earth in 1716, are fossils of giant insects proof of extraterrestrial life. Yet, given NASA's slipping reputation, the question arises: Is the meteor real or a fake? That uncertainty dogs NASA and its supporters in Brown's latest page-flipper, a finely polished amalgam of action and intrigue. Trying to determine the truth are intelligence agent Rachel Sexton and popular oceanographer Michael Tolland, both among the first to suspect something is amiss when the meteor is pulled from the ice. Their doubts quickly make them the targets of a mysterious death squad controlled by someone or something that doesn't want the public to hear the meteor may be a fraud. Together, Sexton and Tolland scramble across arctic glaciers, take refuge on ice floes, are rescued by a nuclear submarine, then find themselves trapped aboard a small research vessel off the coast of New Jersey. All the while, the nation's capital is buzzing as to whether NASA has engaged in deception. Or is NASA just a dupe for aerospace companies that have long wanted a bigger share of space contracts?

A rip-roaring action thriller by the author of The Da Vinci Code. This is a stand-alone focused on a Presidential election, NASA and a remarkable discovery. Another non-stop ride.

مبارزه سیاسی، دروغ، تهمت و قتل برای رسیدن به قدرت.
مردم نیاز دارن که به مسئولین اعتماد کنن. این اعتماد کسب کردنیه. اگر رسوایی چند سیاست مدار مشخص بشه، جو اعتماد از بین میره و مردم نسبت به همه شون بی اعتماد می شن.
رئیس جمهور با اخلاق تلاش می کنه که تبلیغات منفی درمورد رقیب انتخاباتی ش (سناتور سکستون) نکنه. با وجود این که از رسوایی اخلاقی و کارهای غیرقانونی اون خبر داره، اما به اطرافیانش اجازه نمیده که رسواش کنن. چون معتقده که اعتماد مردم به فضای حکومتی مخدوش میشه. با این حال صفخات آخر داستان به صورت خیلی نرم که خواننده اصلا حواسش نیست این اتفاق میفته.

Deception Point is one of the earlier Dan Brown novels, but I'd never read it before. I am impatient at waiting for the next one to release, so I figured I'd go back to the two I missed... and while this definitely was a bit over my head when it comes to science and space knowledge, it delivered immensely in terms of suspense, thrills, and shock. I was so angry and anxious throughout most of it, all in a positive way, because of the conflicts and constant stop/start to switch storylines.

A senator's daughter is unhappy with her father; he's running for president and trying to muzzle her. She works for an agency that supports the current president. She's unwilling to quit and come work for her father to help his campaign, which is dangerously close to getting enough votes to win the upcoming election. And that's just a side plot! NASA discovers a meteor with interesting data. Someone is murdered in the Arctic wilderness in the opening scene. A young woman is sleeping with a politician and hoping to further her career. How does it all connect? Oh boy... in many ways.

First, the anger... perhaps it's current election times that prompted my reaction, but it definitely hit a nerve. I needed the senator to get his comeuppance. Does he? Ah, perhaps yet not in the way I expected. The short chapters truly made this a book I couldn't put down... 530 pages, I thought I'd read 175 each day and be done over the weekend. Nope... All in one sitting. Yeah, I just kept turning and turning and turning. I admit, I skipped a few paragraphs when it got overly scientific. I won't understand it, and those are the areas I wish Brown skimmed a bit on... but then his negative reviewers would complain, so I totally get it.

His storytelling ability is one of the best, and I am immediately engaged. I loved the Arctic setting, the DC connections, and the questions it makes me ponder. Characters were good, not extremely memorable, but he's always been more of a plot guy with the supervillain being the one you remember. This had a slightly different style, and you can tell he was cutting his teeth on the classic suspense thriller where it's an international drama and constant sub-plot advancement. Definitely worth a read, and I intend to grab Digital Fortress next so I can say I've read them all so far.