Monday 4 November 2013

Dan Brown, Deception Point - A satisfying read

I have never read a book by Dan Brown before, I watched the Da Vinci Code and wasn't too fussed on it, so that put me off a bit until now. I have been going through books at a fast pace recently, and the synopsis on the back of this book intrigued me: 

"When a new NASA satellite detects evidence of and astonishingly rare object buried deep in the Arctic ice, the floundering space agency proclaims a much needed victory.....a victory that has profound implications for US space policy and the impending presidential election. 

With the Oval Office in the balance, the President dispatches White House Intelligence analyst Rachel Sexton to the Arctic to verify the authenticity of the find. Accompanied by a team of experts, including the charismatic academic Michael Tolland, Rachel uncovers the unthinkable - evidence of scientific trickery - a bold deception that threatens to plunge the world into controversy. 

But before Rachel can make her findings known, she realises, perhaps too late, that such knowledge puts her and Tolland in deadly jeopardy. Fleeing for their lives in an environment as desolate as it is lethal, they possess only one hope for survival: to find out who is behind this masterful ploy. The truth, they will learn, is the most shocking deception of all...." 

From the first page of this book i was hooked - the prologue describes a scene where the Geologist Dr Brophy is forced at gunpoint to transmit a mysterious message while he was navigating the harsh terrain of the Tundra. The author creates such vivid visualisation of the scene I felt quite nauseous reading it. It turns out this is not the only time i was to have this feeling while reading Deception Point, however it is not so much to be off-putting. The ability to evoke that strong a response from me within two and a half pages is the sign of a good book in my opinion, and i was not disappointed. 

There are some very big characters in the book, which is not surprising considering it is based around a presidential election. The President and the Senator however are not the main characters and instead the focus is on the people who surround them. The book is cleverly written and kept me wanting to know what was going to happen and who did what all the way through. I guessed who was behind the deception before it was revealed in the book, but that did not detract from it or lose my attention as i was dying to know if i was right or not. There were a lot of undercurrents and complexities to the story, which i believe added to the sense that this could really have happened. I got a real sense of conflict and an understanding of the dirty moves that seem to be rife in politics while reading, as well as a strong feeling of staff loyalty and powerful positioning going on. The book gave me that edge of terror that comes with being almost too close to the truth, as well as a feeling of satisfaction for having read it. I also believe the scientific information was covered well with sufficient explanation for me to understand the technical side.

There is a romantic sub plot to the book that appears to just add a bit of extra reading and what i would call the awwww factor, but in my view that was quite unnecessary and did detract a bit from the overall quality of the read. 

I would compare the book to an episode of 24, the TV series that puts special agents into impossible situations in order to save the world from catastrophe - i really enjoyed that series and Deception Point entertained me in the same way. A very enjoyable read which was as described on the cover "Unputdownable".

If you want to purchase this one i can recommend Amazon for paper copy or digital, you might also like to view some other books by Dan Brown as well.  I thought this 6 book collection looked like a good buy: 




 So, thats my opinion on this book, I hope you find it useful.  I would say i will be reading some more of Dan Brown's books now (probably from the collection above lol) and will of course let you know when i do! 



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