Rating: 
Summary: A First-Rate Thriller!
Review: Another top-of-the-line thriller from Dan Brown; this one educates the reader about the inner workings of NASA while also being one heck of an exciting read. The only competition Brown might have in this genre is first-time author John Robert Marlow, whose novel NANO educates readers about nanotechnology while also being (like Brown's books) a damned good read. Can't wait to see the next book from each author!
Rating:
Summary: Totally engrossing . . .
Review: Do not begin your reading of this novel the night before you have an important morning meeting: you'll never get there. Dan Brown has crafted a classic page-turner. The Prologue has geologist Charles Brophy trudging across a glacier. Within moments, a plot involving the White House, NASA, the NRO, a power hungry Senator, various scientists, Delta Force commandos and a couple of very interesting young women begins to unfold like a series of hammer blows.
Brown has the knack of painlessly leading the reader to suspend credulity. His writing is that smooth, his facts (yes, the novel is based on scientific fact) flowing together seamlessly.
Heroes and villains are believable, even in the most extreme scenarios. The plot twists and weaves and the bad guys aren't who you first think they might be.
One of the more unique elements of the novel is that two of Brown's main actors are young women. Though both are strikingly attractive, refreshingly Brown treats them as people, not sex objects. It's a nice touch.
I am deliberately avoiding a description of the novel's actions and plot lines: it's just too much fun to discover them as they occur.
The action is non-stop. Page-turner, pulse-pounder, all the cliches apply. Brown, who subsequently authored "The DaVinci Code," is a master of the craft. Deception Point is wonderfully worthwhile.Jerry
Rating: 
Summary: Good Thriller - Familiar Story
Review: This book was quick and exciting, something I have come to expect of Dan Brown. Like many others, I moved on to this work after the Da Vince Code and A&D. I enjoyed the story and plowed through it fully entertained. The story is interesting, the characters are good, the writing is fun. However, I have come to realize that Mr. Brown really doesn't diverge much from his formula for a book. In all three books, I have found a similar character map, a point at which someone (the hero or heroine) says something like, "I can't believe I woke up going to work this morning and now 12 hours later I am in (enter the Vatican, the North Pole, French Estate, etc...)" and the villain, who is always called "The _______" (Controller in this case) ends up being who you'd least expect! But, after the third book, it was plainly obvious who the villain would be simply from knowing how Brown tells a story. This book is good, especially if you have not read Brown's other works. If you have read some others, you will find a very familiar pace, direction, characters, and extreme scenarios. I'd recommend for fun reading, but this one doesn't measure up to the others.
Rating:
Summary: A fast paced summer read for the beach, despite some flaws
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor
Review: After reading Da Vinci code and digital fortress, both were excellent. I was looking forward to another installment of Dan Brown. Deception point is simply sub-par and a disappointment for such a gifted author;
(1.) Too similar to DF, substitute NRO for NSA, and you have the same plotline, same chases, same killer, same heroine, etc.
(2.) The buildup for the 'discovery' that would uplift NASA, restore the President's campaign, and shatter the senator's campaign was too hyped with very little substance. Fossils in a meteorite, big deal!
(3.) The lame attempt at misdirection of who the villain is Pickering vs. Tench was simply childish.
(4.) The same goes for the 'special industry group' trying to buy an election. BORING! I'm very disappointed. MAR
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: Deception Point was definitely a great book. It was chilling in some parts and action packed. This book should have had the words "Page Turner" or "Warning: After Picking up Reader Will Not Be Able to Put Down" written across the cover because it deserved it. It was written well and contained many different facets and ideas of which I was not aware. The concepts concerning NASA and politics kept me awake all throughout the night, and I learned many new things. I can only thank my wonderful physics teacher for not only recommending this book to me, but allowing me to borrow her copy of this thriller.
Rating: 
Summary: 3.5 stars. thrilling, but predictable.
Review: upside: classic dan brown style of writing
downside: classic dan brown style of writing my third dan brown book (DVC and A&D). those familiar with dan brown's style will recoginize that once again he uses the same "formula" to produce a high-pace, intellectual thriller. but that formula feels a bit old now leaving the ending entirely predictable. heres the outline: step 1: introduce a mysterious death
step 2: begin to outline the plot
step 3: introduce the mysterious unknown bad guy behind everthing
step 3: introduce the hero with specific specialty
step 4: introduce the hero's love interest with specific specialty
step 5: continue on the plot and tie in mysterious death
step 6: introduce the major twist
step 7: hero and love interest make out still a worthwhile read though. so if you have the time to enjoy it, pick it up. if there are others books on your list, read those first.
Rating:
Summary: Good Fiction
Review: I have never been one to spend much time reading fiction. On a whim, I picked up this book to read it. I read it in my spare time this week, and from the moment I started, I could think of nothing better to do. This book leaves you wondering what's coming next, as the writer takes you through a plot that, for the most part, begs to be read more. The last book I read, Rainbow Six, played up the characters too much (this guy is the best...) In Deception Point, the characters seemed real, if not always palatable. The plot, although stretched a little from reality, was certainly feasible. For not being a well read fiction reader (I read a ton of non-fiction), the book was a good draw to me. Normally, I will buy a book and lose interest after a short period of time. I just finshed "A Tourist in the Yucatan" Another good thriller with realsitic characters and Plot, so maybe I am becoming a fiction reader or these books are just getting better?
Rating:
Summary: Very pleasantly surprised!
Review: Of the three books I've read recently (Harris' POMPEII, McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD, and DECEPTION POINT) DP was by far my favorite. Not to take anything away from the other two--both great reads but totally different from this author and genre--but DP was such an action packed thriller with such a great plot that I can't help but rave about it. Kudos Mr. Brown--you've done it once again! Also recommend: Pompeii, Bark of the Dogwood, The Devil in the White City
Rating:
Summary: Another great novel by Dan Brown
Review:
I first read The Da Vinci Code by this author, and was impressed by the extent of his research, although obviously he derived much of his data from Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln. Possibly he also depended upon the research done by Umberto Eco, who wrote The Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum, all three of which I have reviewed for Amazon..
In any case, whoever was responsible, the research effort was intimidating. And so it is here. It is not uncommon for various authors to use ideas from others to derive their plots. What impresses me is the story they write around their plots. Dan Brown is an impressive storyteller. This book is a zinger!
He throws in much in the way of science from divergent disciplines, from oceanography, glaciology, paleontology, astronomy, and vulcanology to name only a few. There are also references to UFOlogy and military technology, including a ton of intelligence methodology and equipment--much new to me (and everyone else outisde the military.) For example: The fabled Aurora jet fighter, and Improved Munitions (IM) weapons, which use ammunition manufactured on the spot from elements of the environment, i.e.: ice bullets from snow. And a flying radio controlled communications device the size of a mosquito that sends televised images back to the operator in real time.
The author assures us that all technologies described in the book actually exist, as well as the agencies: the Delta Force, the NRO, and the Space Frontier Foundation, just as did the organizations in The Da Vinci Code.
This story's protagonist is Rachel Sexton, who writes daily intelligence briefs (gists) for the President of the United States for a living, as an employee of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), an intelligence community function.
Sexton's senator father is the leading opposituion candidate for the presidency. His daughter bears hostility toward him because of his past unfaithfulness to her late mother, and his self-centered political ambitions. He has a propensity for attacking NASA, and has made a political football of its failures and cost overruns. His attacks have helped him in the polls, and hurt the President's standing, so when it is announced that a NASA satellite has discovered a large meteorite imbedded in the ice near the arctic circle, and it develops that the rock has apparent fossils of exoskeletal life forms imbedded in it, it is very dood news for NASA and the President.
But there are glitches. All is not kosher on the Western Front.
This is a complicated plot, but it unfolds easily and is an easy read. With over 550 pages, the book will keep you entertained for a couple of days, anyway, depending of course upon your reading speed and time available to you for recreational reading. Although the plot is convoluted, and the identity of the head "bad guy" is kept secret until near the end, I enjoyed the book very much. I look forward to the next book by this author.
Joseph (Joe) Pierre, USN (Ret) author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
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