Unless you live in a cave (I’m not judging) then you’ve probably heard of Dan Brown. If you haven’t heard of Dan Brown then you’ve probably heard of “The Da Vinci Code”. If you’ve heard of neither then I suggest you watch less TV and stop collecting porn from the internet. (I’m still not judging).
I won’t blog on about how fantastic the Da Vince Code is (it really is) or how mind-blowing the concepts where (they really were) or offer my thoughts on the validity of Dan Brown’s research for the book (not enough time in the day). Nope. This is about one of his earlier novels: Deception Point.
If you’ve not read it, then stop reading this puerile obfuscation of the written language (that’s this blog by the way) and go read it now.
If you need a little tease (still not judging) then reads on…. (Please affect your best “Deep Movie Trailer Voice”).
There are no direct spoilers here, but if you prefer not to know anything about this book, turn away now. Not looking at your computer screen now? That’s a bit silly.
President Zach Herney is in trouble. He’s taking a beating in the polls for the forthcoming presidential election. A stoic supporter of NASA, he’s backed and funded from tax payers money a string of expensive NASA blunders.
His rival, the ruthless Senator Sedgewick Sexton, is riding a wave of unrest from the American people he’s stirred by condemning the billions of tax payers money that’s been wasted on failed NASA projects and he’s all but guaranteed the presidency.
As the situation gets even more desperate for the President, a new NASA satellite detects evidence of an astonishing object buried deep in the Arctic ice: a meteorite containing the fossilized remains of extra terrestrial life. The floundering space agency appears to have struck gold and will silence all their critics with their find.
The President dispatches Senator Sexton’s daughter, NRO intelligence analyst Rachel to the Arctic to verify the find. She’s accompanied by a team of NASA and civilian experts, including the charismatic “Amazing Seas” presenter Michael Tolland. Their every move is watched by the mysterious Delta Force taking orders from “the controller”.
However, things start to unravel quickly when Rachel uncovers that the object isn’t all that it appears to be. A shocking discovery that will plunge the country into controversy.
Before Rachel can make her findings known she realizes that her discovery puts her life, and the lives of others in danger. Fleeing for her life with Michael Tolland and Corky Marlinson – a NASA scientist – in the dangerous Arctic conditions they have only one hope for survival: to find out who’s behind the deception.
Back in Washington, the election grows closer and the stakes get higher. William Pickering, the NRO director is frustrated with NASA’s regular security leaks which put their technological advances into the hands of the highest bidder. The NASA administrator, an ex-Pentagon man is fighting to keep NASA from being restructured as part of the governments intelligence community joining the FBI and the CIA. The President, taking advice from his sly senior advisor Marjorie Tench, prepares to tell the world of NASA’s discovery.
Sounds good, doesn’t it? It is. Dan Brown has really done is research and although you’re entertained, you also learn a fair bit about the Arctic, meteorites and fossils. His technical detail is on par with Tom Clancy although it’s not as dry as some of Clancy’s work. His real flair is in involving the reader. This is a book that you won’t want to put down.
Now, go read it.
{ 43 comments… read them below or add one }
Why read it when it looks like you’ve got enough of a summary here that I wouldn’t need to.
Umm, put the book down and get back to work!
well i already read this and digital fortress and i’m glad someone else is reading his older stuff.
make sure to read digital fortress, and “angels and demons” they are both excellent also
i´ve read all his books (in german and in english). they are really great and iam looking forward for his next book.
iam also waiting for the movie to “the da vinci code” hope it will be half as good like the book (hope the grammar of this sentence is correct
)
I’ve read all 4 Dan Brown books and enjoyed them all very much, they are entertaining and thrilling.
Something of a warning: In “Deception Point”, Dan Brown states before the book: “All technologies in this book exist”. This is NOT true, many of the technologies don’t exist, such as the mechanical mousquito. In fact Dan Brown is somewhat notorious for claiming things to be true that really aren’t. Oh well.
However, I find that all his plots follow a very similar basic outline (in terms of the relationships between all the characters and how they pan out, as well as their motives etc). The endings and the “who done it” revelations are all also very cliched. I found after reading 2 of his books I could predict who would be revealed as the “villain” as it was always a main character and someone you would call a “generic good guy” (not the main protaganist and nothing suspicous about him/her). There was also often a “decoy” revelation that came before the real revelation (who was the bad guy) so that made the endings even more predictable.
Character development is also somewhat lightweight, and not many of the characters can claim a unique or entertaining personality.
But despite these drawbacks, all the books manage to be entertaining, and I will gladly read “The Solomon Code” when it comes out. But it still would be a pleasent surprise if Dan Brown had some more originality in his next book.
–
(The above is my OPINION)
The book is brilliant – but I have to disagree – technologies like the mechanical mosquito may indeed exist, though I seriously doubt if the public would get any knowledge of them. We can only speculate.
Also, have you noticed the every book starts with violence, and contains pretty much the same fate for women?
Anyhow, I’m looking forward to “The Solomon Code” and hope it will be a tad longer
I recently read “angels and demons”, it was really good!
I’ve still not read his other stuff, but it’s on my todo list.. right after harry potter!
It arrived from amazon yesterday and I’m up to chapter 20 and already hooked.
I MUST FIND OUT WHAT IS UNDER THE ICE!!!!
Back in a few hours.
Can anyone provide any info on “The Solomon Code”? I haven’t heard of it (I wasn’t even aware he was working on a new book).
Thanks!
I have read all of his books and I am a big fan. Deception point is one of my favourites, but my favourite is probably Digital Fortress (about hacking, encryption etc.). Glad to see I’m not the only one who likes more than just the Da Vinci code (It’s very good, but people bum it too much).
In response to e11, the villians are not as predictable as you may think. Try reading Angels & Demons, Dan Brown leads you to think it is the good guy in it all (I can’t say much more without giving it away), but it turns out it’s not who you think…
“I found after reading 2 of his books I could predict who would be revealed as the “villain” as it was always a main character and someone you would call a “generic good guy” (not the main protaganist and nothing suspicous about him/her). There was also often a “decoy” revelation that came before the real revelation (who was the bad guy) so that made the endings even more predictable.”
I think this is indicitive of the genre. I read a lot of James Patterson and although often forumlaric they are still good fun if you don’t try and second guess every chapter you read.
I’ve just finished reading it (the quickest I think I’ve ever read a book actually). The quote on the front of the book is spot on: “Unputdownable”.
And as for it being predictable… I certainly didn’t see it coming. A very good twist if you ask me.
The only critisisms I have (and I’m trying to do this without spoiling it) are: 1) The way the revelation is avoided at the end seemed a bit daft to me, and 2) the emerging love story in the last third seemed pointless in the context of the book. Not sure why it was there, it just felt cliched.
Very good read, well worth looking at
I wasn’t sure why he included that either, I assume he wanted to balance the book out a little and give some “human” interest aside from all the cold political wranglings and technology.
I read the Da Vinci code last week and went out and got all his books. I’m going to read Digital Fortress first, then Deception Point and then Angels & Demons. So far Digital Fortress is good. Oh well, I better get back to reading :p
Corky Marlinson wasn’t a NASA scientist he was a civilian scientist bought in to verify the find
Anyway great book, currently about 6 hours into digital fortress.
I’ve just read Deception Point per Matt’s suggestion. While I felt the book was a little funny in areas it clearly didn’t mean to be, I read it in two days and enjoyed it.
It just killed me when, for example, they are out on the glacier, 100KM/h wind, dark, and it starts talking something about seeing a glimmer in someone’s eye. Common! It was a bit like Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Great story, but very unbelivable from the “physics” stand point. There were quite a few spots like that where I thought to myself “over my dead body”.
Anyway, that’s just a peeve of mine. Like I said, I read the whole book in two days, and would recommend it without hesitation.
I just finished Digital Fortress. Was a slow start, took me days to read the first 30 chapters, but when it got going it was brilliant. I was up till 4am last night just reading it to find out what was going on, I couldn’t stay awake any longer and had to go to bed
Finished it this morning. In reference to the comment about the bad guy being predictable – I’m not sure I’d agree with that in this case. It’s definitely not as clean-cut at Deception Point. It’s much more complex.
**DON’T READ BELOW IF YOU HAVEN’T FINISHED THE BOOK!**
The only problem I have with digital fortress was the ending when they were trying to solve the pass-key. Anyone with the bare minimum knowledge of chemistry and history would have been able to solve it within a few seconds (I did, and I’m no chemist or historian!) and yet it took this group of intelligent people 45 minutes. Just seemed a little too obvious to have taken that long to me.
I know what you mean, I solved it straight away… and science & history arn’t exactly my strong point.
Deception Point and Digital Fortress are the same book. I’ve read them both (or read the same book twice, depending on how cynical you are) and they were addictive as anything. However, as with a lot of books like this, the outcome wasn’t worth the journey. The plodding dialogue and cardboard characters really aren’t up to much. Still, I had to read The Da Vinci Code, and now I want to read Angels and Demons, so I’m about as consistent as they come!
I just read this, and its great! Dan Brown is one of the best authors I have come across.
I agree I couldn’t put this book down and feel as though I learned some basic intricacies of science that can only be fully grasped on the printed page. But… why is it Follett and others always (and I mean always) have to include a ridiculous love story that blossoms and comes to exhaustive fruition on the last few pages? Can books only make it if they are “dumbed down” to reach the bodice-ripper romantically dreaming crowd? My $0.02, for what it’s worth. JB.
I think Dan Brown is brilliant. The only problem is all of his books are like a Steven Segal movie, events and characters have changed but THE SAME MOVIE. Unlike the Da Vinci code and Digital fortress has anyone broken the code in the back of the book???
I have just finished reading Deception Point and it was really good. I’v read the Da Vinci code adn Digital fortress and now I’m on my way to reading Angels and Demons. The only things is that I don’t know what the code at the back of Deception Point means and I was wanting to know if anyone has broken the code if so could you tell.
Wish i figured out that code, but i didnt:
FROM:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deception_Point:
The code that appears at the end of the book, after the main plot
1-V-116-44-11-89-44-46-L-51-130-19-118-L-32-118-116-130-28-116-32-44-133-U-130
is decrypted by looking at the first letter on the chapter decided by the number. For example, the first letter of chapter 116 is “C”. The resulting text is
TVCIRHIOLFENDLADCESCAIWUE
Decryption is performed using a columnar transposition cipher, termed a “Caesar Square” cipher in the book (this is unrelated to the Caesar cipher). The letters are arranged into a five-by-five square:
TVCIR
HIOLF
ENDLA
DCESC
AIWUE
and read each column from the top down.
THEDAVINCICODEWILLSURFACE
Add spaces and correct capitalization, and you get the plaintext,
The Da Vinci Code will surface
Deception Point was awesome. It mixes science, politics, military strategy, with a fast paced action packed story. DaVinci Code mixed just about every subject into a novel that blurred the line between what is real and what isn’t. Angels and Demons I felt had the best character development of his books and asked the science vs religion questions in an entertaining manner, loved the Camerlengo. Dan Brown simply put is the best fiction writer out there right now…
I have literally JUST finished ‘Deception Point’ (Having read ‘Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code) and stumbled on this site. I would thoroughly reccoment any of Dan’s work. Only Digital Fortress to read now. Which is sat on my coffee table!
I’ve read angels and demons, davinci code, digital fortress and iv just finished deception point. I’m a huge fan of Dan Browns and I’v loved all of his books!
It drives me nuts though that now i’v come accross this site I find that there are so many people who claim to have enjoyed the book spending their time trying to pick holes in the plots and characters! There all great books lets just leave it at that!
In responce to Rikki’s comment about why Dan Brown included the love story parts – well maybe he bludy wanted to! its his book and if you ask me it just helped to break up the stream of action so as to give it some background story aswell as the great ongoing action that made the book what it was!
Oh yeah and for Lord Mooch’s comment that digital fortress and deception point are the same book – are you sure you didnt just read the same one twice cause when I read it there were loads of differences! Deception point included a few MAJOR twists in the plot which made it a suprising ending whereas digital fortress was twisting the plot in every chapter to make it an amazing read!
So anyway I think you should all stop mmoaning about the fact that some of you guessed the endings – cause at the end of the day WHO CARES – the books were all amazing so be happy 8D
DONT READ THIS BIT IF YOU HAVENT READ DECEPTION POINT!!!!!!!!!
Was I the only one that thought that Sexton was going to be the one who was behind the meteor so as he could then reveal that the meteor was fake and frame NASA as being behind the fraud?
But anyway I preffered Dan Browns twist anyway!
OK YOU CAN READ NOW!!!!!
Anyway iv got to go but i just want to end by saying that Dan Brown is the greatest writer iv ever come accross! (and I mean EVER!!!)
Mike
PS- does anyone know if hes written any other books other than the ones iv mentioned – or if there are any books done similar to his? – cause iv got nothing to read thats even half as good as Dan Brown!
yeh i agree with mike u lot shud shut the **** up! :@
does anyone here know where I can find a celery fan club?
Yeh i would like to know where I can fin competitions where one can win celery? One heard that somebody on a popular ITV show called who wants to be a milliionaire won eight years worth of celery. Does anyone know of any internet based sites where I can win such prizes?
hey…lolz
i am, what?…a 13 year old who just came across deception point after reading the da vinci code (awesome book), angels and demons (again an awesome book). i could hear my mind fryin up while reading deception point as its content is AMAZING.how could dan brown (a human just like everybody else…) write such an amazing book with fantastic charters and a hmmm… what can i say… something plot (i’m speechless). but anyway…i wanna just say a huge WHOOOOOOPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEE to dan for making a great book for everyone to read…not just adults. (my librarian sed that dan brown books are not neccesarilly (spelling?) for 13 year olds so i shouldnt read it but i read his books anyway. so ha SHAME IN HER FACE!!!! nvr underestimate kids…. i understood dans books in a full extent and cuurently telling the whole world about it!
anyway, talking about the book…
i coudnt believe how much suspense is actualy in the book ( who put the meteorite under the ice…and soo on).. the facts( u know…nasa..pods and all the other stuff) the megaplume the chrondules…the …well all the other scientific stuff i cant say or spell.. but WOWOWOWOWOWOWOW what a great read! the politics rivalry is great and when rachel slapped her dad! aaargh … i needed to go to the toilet.
this is a law that should be passed on:
1)everyone should read deception point
2)dan brown should be evryones fav author!
hehehe
ps. hi there to dan’s fans and i just wanna say u all got good taste…cant wait to read digital fortress.
i…i’ve got to meet dan brown…ne1 wanna come with me?… hehe
thx..if u’ve read what i wrote
wats with the celery club thing…
sounds interesting…
can i join
hehe
please post a reply 2 me in this message board..
thx againx
I’ve read all of Dan’s books and I’m a huge fan. I just finished reading Deception Point and something in the back of the book has me perplexed. The page opposite the last page of the epilogue has some sort of code? Is this a code for part of the online game? I’m not too familiar with the game. I’ve only heard bits and pieces about it. Could someone give me an answer? Thanks
“Something of a warning: In “Deception Point”, Dan Brown states before the book: “All technologies in this book exist”. This is NOT true, many of the technologies don’t exist, such as the mechanical mousquito. ”
Did you do your own research before making this comment? I ask because, in fact, the MOSQUITO does exist.
“Mosquito: An advanced spy gnatbot; the prototype was developed by Seiko, but several other groups seem to have developed their own versions or copied theirs. The Mosquito looks practically identical to a small, transparent mosquito, complete with mosquito-like behavior. It is made of light plastic, and contains a small neural net brain and advanced vision systems. It cannot hear, but can transmit what it sees using radio or infrared. Price: 1,000 IOU Spec, Ill”
So, you see, Brown’s microbot may not have the exact specifications as that od Seiko’s Mosquito, but he was still telling the truth when he said that the “technology” exists.
I’ve found this page http://www.deceptionpointthemovie.com...
the book deception point is the fantastic one. you can not put a book aside before complete it. it’s like gravity.
I still have Deception Point on my lap – just finished.
I came here trying to figure out what the “code”
at the end of the book meant. Thanks ‘j’.
I read Digital Fortress first and had to read more
Dan Brown right away. I thought both books
were great!
Since I haven’t seen the movie, “Angels and Demons”
is next for me.
Hopefully he writes fast – I’ve only got 2 more
of his books to read!
The lost symbol is out now
I love that mans books!
Hi
I don’t like this book but in my school I need to read it. In the exam the teacher will ask from chapter 40 to 60
Can you please give me a summary just about those chapters??
Thanks
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12 year old kid here….just finished deception point, and read da vinci code, the lost symbol, angels and demons…only one left is digital fortress–definitely gonna read it…..dan brown is an awesome author, has been my fav….even my 15 year old cousin got addicted to reading the angels and demons book by just taking it of my shelf, and decided to borrow the da vinci code………All hail dan brown!!! XD
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