Deception Point
by Dan Brown

A Book Review by Faith L. Bicknell-Brown © 2005

Wild Child Publishing.com © 2005

As I've grown older, my taste in reading material has metamorphosed into something I never dreamed possible. I used to be a die hard addict for only fantasy and science fiction, but not any more. A couple good friends of mine recently presented me with a subscription to a book-borrowing program. It has enabled me to discover a plethora of books that I wouldn't normally read because the libraries in my area are so limited in their material. A couple summers back, I bought a hardback novel at one of those Dollar Tree stores for a buck. It turned out to be an incredible novel, sparking a desire to read more fiction based on science, medicine and NASA. So, when I read the synopsis of Deception Point by Dan Brown, I borrowed it and devoured every single word.

As an editor and devoted freelance writer, I find reading published novels tough because I dissect them as I go along. It's an irritating habit that I can't seem to break, and it takes an incredibly well written novel to get me to forget that I'm an editor and writer so that I might enjoy a grand tale with entertaining characters. Yes, there are some annoying traits in author Dan Brown's work, but he crafts such a great story that I found myself blessed with a highly entertaining read that enveloped me every time I opened the book. The author uses a warped humor throughout the novel, which is right up my alley; I got some good laugh-out-loud chuckles! I also enjoyed the science pertinent to the plot.

Deception Point is based on NASA's failures versus its victories, which all centers around a fictitious presidential election and a NASA cover-up that costs several high profile people their lives; this sends others running for their lives as well. This is a fast-paced book with multiple characters and multiple points of view, so if you're one of those readers who can't devote long spans of time to a novel with minimal interruptions, you might have trouble keeping track of everything.

The main character, Rachel Sexton, is the daughter of Senator Sedgewick Sexton who is running for U.S. President. The Senator is a ruthless man with only one importance in his life: himself. He campaigns against NASA, stating that NASA funding should be used for public schooling and health care. He takes illegal money from private space companies to fund his candidacy in exchange for dismantling NASA so that space can be used for profit instead of just science and military plans. However, Rachel works for the intelligence department compiling reports and sending them to the White House. Her father finds this threatening to his campaign, fearing gossip will cost him votes. When the President requests that Rachel fly to the Artic Circle for her opinion of a 300-year-old meteorite entombed in 200 feet of solid ice, she soon finds herself in the midst of a NASA break through that will destroy her father's campaign, keep the current President in office, and prove to the world that she doesn't secretly support her father in his political endeavors.

However, Rachel's elation at the NASA discovery is short lived when one of the scientists called in to examine the meteorite is found dead inside the watery, icy shaft where the space rock was pulled free. Other clues obvious to the world of science send Rachel, her love interest and science celebrity Michael Tolland, and Corky Marlinson, an astrophysicist on a race for their lives as Delta Force assassins pursue them. Escaping one near mishap after another, Rachel and her friends try to warn the President about the truth of the meteorite and save his campaign. (I won't tell you the deception behind the meteorite either. It'll spoil the plot!) Meanwhile, Senator Sexton works frantically with his aide, Gabrielle Ashe, to dig up NASA dirt and construct foolproof lies to bury NASA and everyone involved with the organization. As for Gabrielle Ashe, she is a rising woman politician, working without pay for the Senator in hopes of establishing herself in a White House position and securing her career. However, she is betrayed by her candidate and later aids Rachel in exposing the Senator and all his lies.

This leads me to one of the big problems that I had with this novel, and that is the incredible amount of minor characters involved and how the author allows each one to tell the story from his or her point of view. This proved irritating, and often, I found some of these characters unnecessary. I felt that more background information could have been written about Rachel, Michael Tolland and Gabrielle Ashe, further rounding their personas since they were pertinent characters to the plot. The same goes for a couple of the villains who played important parts in the novel. A romance buds between Rachel and Michael, but it's written more as an afterthought when it could have been developed to help further their relationship as they fled the Artic Circle. Although Gabrielle's story is a good one too, I felt that it also could have been more well rounded.

I did learn about White House protocol and various government operations that I had no idea existed. Author Dan Brown should be commended for his research! His website www.danbrown.com devotes a section to his research, so I was quite pleased to find that most of what he writes is based on fact, and incredible facts at that! This novel has a wealth of White House trivia. One example is the eagle on the Oval Office's rug. During peaceful times the eagle faces toward the olive branch and turns to face the cluster of arrows during war times, plus the simple answer to how this is done. I discovered information on how elections function and things that presidential candidates can and can not do. There is data on government cover-ups and security procedures as well. However, one small thing that annoyed me was the amount of acronyms to keep track of as I read.

Dan Brown is not only a New York Times Best Selling author, but he also spent time serving as an English teacher at Phillips Exeter Academy. He crafts a great story, but the editor in me has to point out a few blunders. I find it interesting that an ex English teacher used so many points of view throughout Deception Point, which often proved confusing. Furthermore, I noticed an irritating habit of using alliteration. To me, alliteration spoils nicely flowing prose, but I noticed this most often when he wrote about Senator Sexton, who is also noted for liking how his name sounded when it was said aloud, so perhaps this particular alliteration usage was intentional? In addition, there are many clauses that should have been accompanied by a comma, but nowadays, I realize it depends on the publishing house's style.

Over all, I highly recommend Deception Point for a wonderful, faced-paced and engaging tale. Dan Brown is also the author of The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons and The Digital Fortress, all of which are now on my reading list. It takes a heck of a good writer to get me to search for their other books, so I don't think you'll be disappointed if you pick up a few of this author's novels.