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Deception Point (平装)
by Dan Brown
| Category:
Fiction, Mystery and Suspense |
| Market price: ¥ 168.00
MSL price:
¥ 158.00
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| Stock:
In Stock |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
Fast pacing, great tension in practically every scene, characters with interesting histories, and unbelievable research depth. Well, you can't miss it. |
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AllReviews |
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Lawrance Bernabo (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-08 00:00>
On the spine of my hardcover copy of this novel the name of author Dan Brown is much larger than the title, "Deception Point." This makes sense, not only because Brown's most recent novel, "The Da Vinci Code," has been atop the best seller list for about as far back as anybody can remember (i.e., back to "Tuesdays with Morrie"), but also because the title of this 2001 novel really is too broad of a hint as to what is going on. It is hard to look at the words "Deception Point" and not to be wary of everything that is happening in the novel.
Before we get to the novel we are confronted with an Author's Note that the Delta Force, the National Reconnaissance Office, and the Space Frontier Foundation are real organizations, and that all technologies described in the novel exist. If at this point you think you are entering Tom Clancy techno-thriller territory, you are indeed reading the signs correctly. We are then have a quotation from President Bill Clinton from a press conference on August 7, 1997 following a discovery known as ALH84001, which anyone who either saw the clip on the evening news or, more likely, caught it in the film "Contact." There is then a prologue with a puzzling act of violence and then we are introduced to the central character of the novel.
Rachel Sexton is the daughter of Senator Sedgewick Sexton, the presumptive nominee of the Republican party for the upcoming election against the incumbent President Zachary Herney. Because she works for the NRO, Rachel technically works for the President, and her father wants her to quit and come work for him. However, she has been estranged from her father since the death of her mother a few years earlier, and although she has never met the President that is about to change as she becomes an unwilling pawn in a dirty game of power politics that is being played for all the marbles (and then some). At the heart of this is a discovery made by NASA of such scientific importance and earth-shattering significance that it validates every one of the billions of dollars spent in space.
The problem is that Brown strings out both Rachel and his readers as to what the discovery was way too long. After a while I made a bet with myself that it we were not going to find out until after page 100 what the big secret was (wow, am I good). This was just one of several rather annoying literary tactics employed by Brown in this novel. I read "Deception Point" after having read both "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels & Demons," so one thing I can say is that Brown has improved as a writer. His propensity for ominous foreshadowing in the final line of a chapter has been greatly reduced since he wrote this novel. He has also been learned to do a much better job of being coy about the revelation of the mystery character (the misdirection in this book at the end is quite ineffectual).
On the one hand Brown does have several strong and compelling women characters in "Deception Point," but on the other he could not see American presidential politics in more black and white terms, despite the attempts to provide shades of gray. However, what Brown does in this novel that will probably frustrate you the most is his almost pathological insistence on switching scenes from one chapter to the next. When you finish one chapter and the next one actually continues the action you want to stop and check to make sure you did not somehow skip one. No wonder it is difficult to put the book down; you have to keep going through these other chapters to get to the end of the scene that has caught your interest. Then there is the final chapter, when Brown comes up with a rather cute little scene that earns a smile, but really goes against the rest of the book, especially given the wringer the characters have been put through by that point (not to mention their personal backgrounds).
The strength of the novel is what we have seen from Brown in his most recent and most successful books, which is smart people have discussions about topics that are way over our heads at warp speed. One advantage about "Deception Point" is that since the topics are meteorites and plankton rather than great works of art and architectural landmarks, there is no compelling need to go track down actual photographs of these things. The down side is that science is not as interesting as art, so even with the big brains watering things down so that Rachel and other neophytes such as myself and other readers I am still really just playing along rather than really understanding what is happening. You know, the basic "I'll take your word for it" position which is standard fare with such books, whether written by Dan Brown or Michael Crichton.
What we have here is a summer beach book in that it is face paced and there are games within each plot so there is nary a dull moment, just a sense of being played with by the author. Fortunately, whether this is your first Dan Brown book or your fourth, either way you know that "Deception Point" is not his best work, so it is hard to be too disappointed in it given what else he has out there. However, it does raise the ante on what he comes up with next, but it is not like that is anything Brown does not already know. |
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Harkius (MSL quote), MSL
<2007-02-08 00:00>
Dan Brown can keep you clutching your book, well into the night, despite your better intentions to put it down. If you have to move, you will take the book with you. To the bathroom, to the breakfast table, even to your important meeting the next day.
Quite possibly one of the best of his generation's storytellers, Dan Brown weaves a fascinating tale of betrayal, military force, and scientific intrigue. All of his books are extremely well researched, combining the facts most of us desire with the what-if that most of us fear. A compelling storyteller with his head in the clouds and his feet on the ground, he is one of his generation's best.
This book doesn't fail to produce. I won't spoil the book for you, but trust me when I tell you not to think that you know what is going on until the end and you have put the book down. It is awesome!
A great read, and highly recommended.
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