Resumo de Deception Point

All of Dan Brown's novels move at a racing, almost frantic, speed and Deception Point is no exception. Dan Brown works his magic by describing scenarios that are pretty fantastic, but not so unrealistic that there is still a possibility that they could actually happen. The exciting political scene of Washington DC right before a presidential election serves as the backdrop to the novel. The lead heroine, Rachael Sexton, holds a prestigious intelligence position as the liaison between the National Reconnaissance Office and the White House. Her father Senator Sedgewick Sexton, with whom she has no relationship to speak of, is the leading Republican presidential candidate. The Senator hopes to claim the white house for himself by attacking the current president's unshakable confidence in and support of NASA and its projects. Recently NASA has suffered a lot of public scrutiny over its extremely high budget, several mission failures, and intelligence leaks, so much criticism that there is a large debate whether to absorb NASA into another government agency or even possibly to privatize the space industry. The story evolves around a provocative scientific discovery made by NASA on an ice glacier in the Arctic. The president asks several civilian scientists to go to the Arctic to verify NASA's findings, including Michael Tolland, an Oceanographer and a celebrity tv documentarian. The president also sends Rachael to confirm the discovery, not because she is the most qualified for this job, but more importantly because she is the daughter of his political rival, making her credibility unquestionable. The object found in the Arctic brings forth possible answers to all sorts of important scientific and even philosophical questions. Are we alone in the universe? How was life on earth created? As each question is thought to be answered new evidence brings about more and more questions including how far would a person go to deceive the public in order to obtain their goal? Added to all the intellectual stimulation in the novel, there are exciting chase scenes through the severe conditions of the Arctic and an encounter with extreme weather conditions in the ocean. One really interesting thing about Brown is that he includes a page at the beginning of his novels stating what components in the story are fact and what are fiction. When I read a novel I usually skip through any extra stuff before the story, but in Brown's novels it really adds to the experience of reading it. Part of his statement in Deception Point was that all technologies mentioned in the novel are real. The story becomes even more fascinating because some of the weapons and aircraft described seem like they came straight out of a science fiction novel. Back in DC there is all sorts of political maneuvering going on among the president, the senator, and their staff members. The results of these happenings include a sex scandal on the verge of being exposed, a secret rendevous, and even a murder. Throw in some highly trained killers working for an undisclosed government agency and this is one exciting novel. Dan Brown has a knack for surprising readers with many twists and turns, in particular leading up to the moment when the person behind all the deception and killings is finally revealed. When I read both Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code I had a pretty good idea about who the mastermind was, but I can honestly say in Deception Point I was completely stunned when the real villain was exposed. It made my experience reading the book even better.

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