I think at this point everyone is familar with the Dan Brown craze. His books are fascinating and frightening all at once. They are mystery/thrillers that literally grab you from the first page you read, and then you cannot put them down.
When Deception Point came out it seemed to me to be too close to DaVinci Code, and I was really expecting it to be a fast, and poorly written follow-up designed to milk the Dan Brown craze for all the money that could be gotten out of it. I was pleasantly surprised.
Basically the book is about a presidential race where NASA funding is a serious hot point, and then NASA suddenly makes an unprecedented discovery. Rachael (our main chicky) must investigate this finding to assist in verifying it's authenticity, and instead finds a conspiracy that is so deeply rooted that some people will stop at nothing to silence her.
The plot has a lot of believable twists. Don't get too attached to your theories, because they likely won't make it to the end of the book in one piece. It's well written, it's exciting, and it's seriously worth the time it takes to read it, and then read it again.
According to amazon.com and the slightly more clear isbn.nu, Deception Point was first published November 2001, while DaVinci Code was not published until March 2003.
For reference, based on my own research around the time I read (and loathed) DVC, it is a sequel of sorts to Angels and Demons. If you like Dan Brown's writing, and liked DVC, you should probably read it, since it gives more background on the main character from DVC, who will also be the main character in the book Dan Brown is currently working on (his first followup to DVC, still forthcoming).
So. Yeah. I couldn't stand the book. The characters were infuriating, the writing style was aggravating, the revelations were either obvious from early on or meaningless (ie: "apple")... it did sortof make me want to know "what will happen next", but not in a "I care about the characters or what's going on" way, rather in a "there must be something better than this coming - this is the sellingist book besides Harry Potter" way. And there was nothing better. It was crap from beginning to end, and the end was more of a let-down than the rest of it.
Sorry. Go enjoy your books.
Posted by: Teel on October 14, 2004 01:50 PMWeird. I guess I just missed it completely before. That would explain why it didn't seem rushed to me, though.
I did read Angels and Demons, and I really enjoyed it also.
There were parts of DaVinci Code that I thought were not tied together, and there were some revelations that were unfounded, but it was a complicated story and I was willing to give the characters some leverage.
Keep in mind, my enjoyment of a book is based primarily on characters and the story, and if I feel interested in watching their lives and stories develop.
Posted by: Marie on October 14, 2004 04:23 PMAh, but I kept just wishing all the characters, good guys, bad guys, whatever, that everyone in the book would just drop dead. That they fall into the category I so often dismiss as being misused of being "too stupid to live". All the characters fell short of my being able to identify with them. Ooh, except maybe the grandfather, but he died before he got a chance to do anything. And as far as the story goes, the closest thing in DVC to interesting or engaging story was the backstory of the crazy monk guy. Nothing developed. I kept waiting for something to develop, but nothing did. The whole book was an exercise in frustration for me.
Right now I'm reading The Plot Against America by Philip Roth, and it's got engaging characters with real depth, and a story where interesting things happen in their world that actually effect the characters lives deeply and emotionally and that (at least within the world of the story) have a lasting effect on people. Some of the characters make decisions that I can't see myself making in the same situation, but at least I'm given the opportunity to explore their reasons for making those decisions and shown the way those choices effect their ongoing lives and the lives of those close to them (their friends and families) and in some cases the whole or America and/or the world.
Sigh. Sorry. Seriously. You're welcome to enjoy that stuff I consider garbage; for all I know it's better than anything in the vastly profitable and popular world of romance novels. Mine is only an opinion.
Posted by: Teel on October 14, 2004 08:37 PM
