Deception Point - Dan Brown
’Deception Point’ by Dan Brown is his non Vatican novel. The word Vatican does not occur even once in this novel.
The novel is based on the backdrop of presidential elections in the United States.Senator Sedgewick Sexton and incumbent President Zach Herney are both involved in the race for the presidential post.One of the main issues in the campaign is funding of NASA .While the President is a NASA supporter , Sexton opposes the spending of billions of dollars on NASA each year and prefers that space research should be privatized and handed over to commercial entities.
The protagonist of this novel is Rachel Sexton , who inspite of being Senator Sexton’s daughter works in NRO (a U.S. intelligence agency ) for President Herney.The relations between Rachel and Sedgewick Sexton are not very cordial to say the least.
NASA claims to have made a revolutionary discovery on Milne Ice Shelf in Greenland.In order to independently verify its claims , NASA invites four civilian scientists to examine the discovery.Rachel Sexton is also sent to the discovery site by the President as she is a member of the intelligence community.
The discovery is hailed as genuine by the scientists initially.However certain facts come to light which throw a cloud of suspicion surrounding the discovery.Two of the scientists are murdered and other two and Rachel have to fight for their life.The genuineness or falsity of this discovery could virtually mean make or break for the presidential ambitions of President Herney and Sedgewick Sexton.
What is this discovery and what is the factor which arouses suspicion ? Who is really involved behind the murder of two scientists ?Can Rachel and other scientists survive and bring true facts before the world ?To get an answer to all these questions you will have to read the novel.
Dan Brown is once again excellent in the narration department.In this novel he picks up three sub plots simualtaneously and merges them towards the end.A highlight of this novel is that the characterisation of the characters involved is very strong.Dan Brown departs in this novel from art to science.This is more an action thriller kind of novel rather than a subtle suspense thriller like the Da Vinci Code.
The sequence of Rachel sinking in a submersible and hammerhead sharks is very well written.The political machinations in Washington are also well portrayed.As usual he introduces readers to certain unfamiliar concepts.
The drawback of this novel is that in some places the terminology used is highly technical.This may be difficult for some readers to grasp who are not well acquainted with the scientific field.In some places the readers shall feel Brown has unnecessarily prolonged the sequences.The character of Corky Marlinson could have been better written. I feel Dan Brown should stick more to writing ideological thrillers like Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons , they are more interesting.
All in all a good novel.
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