Like every other human being on the face of this planet, I came across Dan Brown via the excellent Da Vinci Code. Faced with choosing one of his other three titles to digest next, I opted to steer clear of the apparently similar Angels and Demons, having had my fill of religion and symbology for the time being, and went with this offering.

Deception Point deals with the twin focuses of NASA and American Politics, specificly an up-coming election. After Brown kicks off the book with his customary unexplained death, we are introduced to our protaganist, Rachel Sexton, as she meets her estranged father for breakfast. He just so happens to be Senator Sedgewick Sexton, the man hotly tipped to oust the incumbent President from the White House, so well has his rhetoric exposed the recent failings of NASA, a body whom President Zach Herney strongly supports.

Rachel is a Gister, or an intelligence expert specialising in supplying the White House with concise information, working at the NRO (National Reconnaissance Office). Called in by the President for an undisclosed reason, she is swiftly despatched to the Milne Ice Shelf in the Artic, where NASA have discovered an object frozen in the ice. An object of such global significance that all their indiscretions would be forgotten, and President Herney would be back on track for a second term.

Meeting charming celebrity oceanographer Michael Tolland and his scientist friend Corky Marlinson at the site, Rachel is witness to the discovery of a potential flaw in the find, and pursues this anomaly. However, it appears there is someone out there who doesn't want this door to be opened ...

And so we are launched into the recognisable Brown-style thriller; short chapters, switching from location to location, plenty of cliff-hangers (quite literally) and inter-woven stories. Every bit as much as his most famous book, this is incredibly hard to put down; rarely is there a let-up in the action, as the characters delve deeper into the elusive secrets.

Brown never reveals more than is necessary for continuity - he teases the reader by keeping his characters as in the dark as they are. Those that do know anything are peripheral figures, popping up here and there to stir things up, but never letting much slip. The characterisation is well-done on the whole, although Rachel is one of the weaker of those depicted - when the inevitable romantic liasons between her and Tolland happen, it is a little tricky to comprehend what he sees in her blandness.

The dual storylines, switching between the Arctic and Washington, work well, converging slowly until they meet at the end. If either is weaker, it is the side involving Senator Sexton's campaign, which can seem to drag and cover familiar ground, but any boredom here is reduced by the effect of the short chapters - the reader is seldom left in a dry recollection of facts and details long before they are thrust straight back out into the thick of the action.

Once again, Brown's research is seemingly faultless - certainly to someone lacking in-depth knowledge of the space race and surrounding science, this feels incredibly real and well-informed. The processes, gadgets and institutions covered all ring true, and few will come away from the affair without having learnt something.

On the negative side, Brown's books are always something of a battle against plausibility, as is the way with thrillers. Generally, he pulls this off - one is able to retain empathy for the characters, as their adventures and escapes seem like things which reasonably could happen to anyone in the same position. However, not unlike the aforementioned Da Vinci Code, this all goes a tad awry as we reach the climax. The big twist at the end seems a little desperate, and anyone who has read the above book should, by analogy, be able to see it coming if they take a moment to think it over.

Certain set-pieces at this point seem to belong more to a Schwarzenegger movie than a serious novel, and it is here that the reader loses contact with any sort of understanding they made have had of the characters' situations. As such, the book finishes on a lower note than the 500-odd pages that came before probably deserve, but this should not detract from an excellent mystery/thriller. For anyone who felt The Da Vinci Code to be marred by its religious connotations, this is a perfect remedy, and, on its own merits, compares favourably to its more famous brother.


Recommended: Yes