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All in all, this was not a bad book. He has a lot of great ideas, and he executes them relatively well. It definitely had all the elements of what it takes to make a good thriller... almost non-stop action, pulse pounding suspense in the lulls, lots of "insider knowledge" and "who knew what when". This one had extra layers of political intrigue and loads of scientific and military techno- babble. I will say one thing for Mr. Brown... he does a good job of explaining techno-speak and complicated scientific concepts so the average person (i.e. me) can understand it. He also does a great job of weaving complicated plot lines into a coherent whole. The sad thing is that he still hasn't quite mastered how to get the exposition out there without making his characters look incredibly stupid. On several occasions, I wanted to throttle his characters as they were bouncing ideas back and forth about the origins of the meteorite... "You idiots are the smartest minds the world has to offer?!?! It's obvious, stupid... it's THIS! Look over there!!"
The good part about that rant is that it means I was engaged with the characters. :)
I also really enjoyed the way the female characters in the book managed to move the plot forward, and not by playing the stereotypical whore or virgin archetypes. They were, as much as any of the male characters, as fleshed out and "real" as this type of story allows.
The only other problem I had with this one was the overall predictability of the story. You *knew* that Michael and Rachel were going to get together. You *knew* that Gabrielle and Rachel were going to have to meet and "compare notes". You *knew* that the character with the initials "SS" was going to have to go down... one way or another. And the one thing that drove me nuts, but could have been just an editing error... the oft repeated androgynous bestowing properties of the CryptTalk communication system. He was swinging for the cheap seats to convince us of the necessity of that filtering software... that it was important in someway. After reading it for the third time, all I could think was, "Clarice, doesn't this random scattering of sites seem desperately random, like the elaboration of a bad liar?" (Yes, I will quote Thomas Harris in a review about Dan Brown's book if I want. It's my blurbing book blog after all!) At any rate, I think he mentioned it about 6 times in the book. It would have been a nice ruse if he just trusted us and went with it maybe twice. That would have made it much more effective!
He does a great job distilling complicated concepts down into understandable plot points. He keeps the book moving and it *is* a real page turner. He just runs into trouble with exposition and with making his characters anything more than one-dimensional good guys or bad guys. Character development is not always the mark of a thriller, though, and you won't get much of it here, either. What you will get is a fun ride and loads of information about the spying abilities of the US Government. (Oh yeah, if you are given to flights of paranoia, this is probably not the book for you!)
To sum up, as the primary reviewer for "Sherry's Blurbing Book Blog", I give "Deception Point"...
3 (out of 5) stars!!
This book is a sweet little thriller from an author who got better as he went along. If you are a fan of his later works, you will probably enjoy this one, too. Give it a go!
Wishing you the best of books,
Sherry
