Salocin

Deception Point by Dan Brown

Not long ago, Have you read The Da Vinci Code? was the question on everybody's lips. A work of fiction, its heavy research created a church-based storyline that nevertheless struck a chord with enough people that an entire new genre of books arose to comment on the allegations of Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" itself. Deception Point is Brown's fourth novel, and contains the same easy-to-read, multiple-thread style in a new adventure that reads (once again) more like a movie than a book.

Rachel Sexton has been dispatched by the President of the United States to a remote location to report - in her capacity as a CIA analyst - on a top secret find made by NASA. A find that arrives at a propicious time for an agency that is drawing harsh criticism for its squandering of US funds, and is dragging the President down with it in an election year. But even as she prepares to add her weight to the voices already endorsing this as the greatest discovery of all time, doubts about its authenticity begin to surface. The more she doubts, the more her life appears to be threatened by mysterious agents, but who is to blame in an election year where all minds are focused on this one discovery, and everyone has everything to win, or lose?

The Washington Post apparently said this book was "Unputdownable", and "A true study in suspense". You won't need to put it down because it's readable in a single sitting. You're not getting depth here, but adventure. It's fun, it's lightweight, it managed to consume 4 hours out of a 10-hour flight back from Johannesburg. It managed to stretch my bedtime slightly, and you should definitely grab a copy if you, like me, find Air France's selection of movies out-of-date and poor.

Dan Brown's style has certain elements to it that remain consistent, and one is a desire to share with the reader the fact that he has done research into his subject. It isn't enough to pique the readers interest by alluding to conspiracies, or giving us a portion of knowledge in a given subject. He insists that we receive as many bits of information as he has been able to bring to the fore. Government-watching conspiracy theorists will therefore love this book because in it, he describes a veritable plethora of secret military technologies that have somehow come to his attention (through various magazines, government indiscretions in their public budget documents and declassification exercises). From guns that manufacture their own ammunition to super-planes that apparently need to file no flight plan, there's plenty to go around. In fact, he seems to slightly obssess on the bond-like technology employed by his characters (another thing that gives the book a movie-like feel to it). What the weapon/device does is insufficient information, he always backs it up with at least two paragraphs on how it works also, just in case you thought he hadn't gone the last mile in his research.

I liked the Da Vinci Code without liking its popularity - I felt it was unworthy of being the surprise winner of the popularity prize for worldwide literature. Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres was a far more worthy winner when it became a huge seller on word-of-mouth alone. This new book is in the same vein, cheap thrills for speed-readers. That's fine, so long as I don't have to put up with another hundred people asking me if I agreed that this was "just fantastic literature, mate".