Skip to main content

DECEPTION POINT


Author: Dan Brown
Publication: 2001
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Language: English
Main Characters: Rachel Sexton, Michael Tolland, Thomas Sedgewick Sexton, Corky Marlinson, Zachary Herney, William Pickering
Narrator: Narrator of the novel is third person and is narrated from the different perspectives of the various characters.
Theme: Deception and the search for the truth is one of the main themes of the book. The title, Deception Point, even reinforces this. The main plot is hinged on a large-scale fraud designed to ensure NASA's future. The subplot of Senator Sexton accepting illegal campaign contributions is also about Sexton deceiving others, and throughout the novel, Sexton is described as a consummate liar. References to high tech military and intelligence equipment are also generally described as secret, and Pickering's concerns about security relate to keeping information from the public so as to protect national security.

Plot Summary

Deception Point is a mystery and suspense thriller that combines in-depth knowledge of classified intelligence with high-tech weaponry and presidential politics in a very fast-paced, suspenseful novel. There are many plot twists and surprises throughout the story, and a wealth of interesting characters.
On the Milne Ice Shelf in the far north, a meteorite has been discovered under the ice that contains fossils of large bugs; proof of life on other planets. NASA is there, along with four civilian scientists to verify that the meteorite and its fossils are authentic. Rachel Sexton, a highly-competent, intelligence analyst with the National Reconnaissance Office, is sent there by the President of the United States to also confirm what has been found. Rachel is the daughter of Presidential candidate Senator Sedgewick Sexton, who is running against the current President and is ahead in the polls.
The President goes live with a press conference to announce to the world NASA's discovery of proof of extra-terrestrial life. Rachel, after first verifying that the meteorite is real, begins to see some strange contradictions, and along with Michael Tolland, an oceanographer, and some others, embarks on a terrifying quest to find out the truth behind the meteorite. Along the way, they are attacked by assassins and barely escape with their lives from some terrifying situations.
Meanwhile, the race for the presidential election hangs in the balance, as a NASA victory will cement the current President's place in the White House, but evidence of a NASA conspiracy will ensure that Sexton wins the election. The book climaxes with Rachel and Michael finding all the evidence they need to prove that the meteorite is fake, while simultaneously escaping from a team of deadly assassins, and the mastermind of the conspiracy, William Pickering, Rachel's boss and the director of her intelligence agency.
The White House tells the world that the meteorite was planted; Sexton is betrayed by his closest adviser, disgraced by a sex scandal, and threatened with blackmail regarding illegal campaign practices. Michael and Rachel get together in the end, and the media speculates that the current President will keep his office for another term.

Characters

Authentication team: During the story, NASA invites five external experts to help authenticate the meteorite finding as secondary sources:
Rachel Sexton: A data analyst for NRO and Senator Sexton's daughter.
Michael Tolland: An oceanographer and television celebrity-scientist.
Corky Marlinson: A world-renowned astrophysicist and a staunch proponent of the authenticity of the meteorite.
Norah Mangor: A prickly glaciologist.
Wailee Ming: A paleontologist with an impeccable dress habit.

Politicians:

Zachary Herney: The President of the United States.
Senator Thomas Sedgewick Sexton: Rachel's father and an ambitious presidential candidate
Marjorie Tench: Senior Adviser to the president.
Gabrielle Ashe: Senator Sexton's aide and one-time mistress.

NASA:

Lawrence Ekstrom: Administrator of NASA
Chris Harper: NASA section manager

NRO:

William Pickering: The main antagonist, director of NRO and the handler of the Delta Force team
Delta Force team: A team of three, apparently male, they are the death squad of William Pickering.

Review

Struggling to rebound from a series of embarrassing blunders that have jeopardized its political life at the start of this lively thriller, NASA makes an astounding discovery: there is a meteor embedded deep within the arctic ice. And it isn't just any meteor. Inside the huge rock, which crashed to earth in 1716, are fossils of giant insects—proof of extraterrestrial life.

Yet, given NASA's slipping reputation, the question arises: Is the meteor real or a fake? That uncertainty dogs NASA and its supporters in Dan Brown's latest page-flipper, a finely polished amalgam of action and intrigue. Trying to determine the truth are intelligence agent Rachel Sexton and popular oceanographer Michael Tolland, both among the first to suspect something is amiss when the meteor is pulled from the ice. Their doubts quickly make them the targets of a mysterious death squad controlled by someone or something that doesn't want the public to hear the meteor may be a fraud. Together, Sexton and Tolland scramble across arctic glaciers, take refuge on ice floes, are rescued by a nuclear submarine, then find themselves trapped aboard a small research vessel off the coast of New Jersey.

All the while, the nation's capital is buzzing as to whether NASA has engaged in deception. Or is NASA just a dupe for aerospace companies that have long wanted a bigger share of space contracts? Dan Brown  moves into new territory with this book. It's an excellent thriller—a big yet believable story unfolding at breakneck pace, with convincing settings and just the right blend of likable and hateful characters. He's also done his research, folding in sophisticated scientific and military details that make his plot far more fulfilling than the norm.

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

GEORGE ORWELL

English novelist, essayist, journalist and critic. Born: 25 June 1903 Motihari, Bengal Presidency, British India. Died: 21 January 1950, University College Hospital, London, England. Birth Name: Eric Arthur Blair Pen Name: George Orwell Early Life Born on June 25, 1903, Eric Arthur Blair who later decided on George Orwell as his pen name was the second child of British parents Richard Walmesly Blair and Ida Mabel Limonzin who then resided in Indian Bengal where Richard was an employee of the British Civil Services. George Orwell created some of the sharpest satirical fiction of the 20th century with such works as Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. He was a man of strong opinions who addressed some of the major political movements of his times, including imperialism, fascism and communism. The son of a British civil servant, George Orwell spent his initial days in India, where his father was stationed. His mother brought him and his older sister, Marjorie, to England about a year aft...
Post a Comment
Read more

11 Short Classic Book That You Can Read In A Single Sitting

To some people reading classic literature is a big challenge – an investment of time and mental energy. Usually classics are a big fat books full of wisdom and philosophies. However, here are few examples of short classic book that you can read in a day or in a single sitting; yet they are equally meaningful, emotionally challenging and beautifully written. The Outsider Author: Albert Camus This novel by French author, published in 1942, is often cited as Camus’ example of philosophy of the absurd and existentialism. The title character is Meursault, a French-Algerian man, who attends his mother’s funeral. He killed an Arab man in French Algiers after a few days of funeral. The Arab man was involved in a conflict with a friend. Meursault is sentenced to death after trial. The story of the book is divided in two parts. One part illustrates Meursault’s views before the murder and another after the murder. This short classic book ends as a meditation on the meaninglessness of existence. T...
2 comments
Read more

You will never lose interest in these books with unreliable narrator

Unreliable Narrator When the narrator is unreliable and can’t be trusted, we, the reader have to think for ourselves to figure out the story. We’ll evaluate the situations and characters critically in the book to figure out what’s going on. Sometime we’ll draw our own conclusions and judge the characters as the author didn’t do it for us. There are so many reasons behind narrator’s reliability. Sometimes they are consciously and intentionally lying, sometimes they misunderstood the situations, and perhaps they’re drunk, or amnesiac, or suffer from some other conditions that keep us doubting their version of story. (We’re all unreliable narrators, because our version of any events or occurrence or incidents is just one of many. But that’s not what we are looking here.) Some stories are too ambiguous that they don’t resolve their plots. Readers reach to the final page without the knowledge of what’s actually happening or happened. It’s on readers how they fill the blanks. For few of us t...
5 comments
Read more