"Deception Point" Dan Brown By Andrew Irwin

This novel, written by Dan Brown, is called Deception Point. It is a fictional story based on present times. There are many protagonists in this novel, which makes it difficult to follow sometimes, because Dan follows all of their lives at one point or another. The novel is about a presidential election about to take place in the States, between Senator Sexton and the existing president, President Herney. The plot follows the political battles between them, and the mystery of a NASA discovery that could save President Herney’s campaign. Since Senator Sexton’s main argument is that Herney spends too much money on NASA, NASA will be going to have to come up with something big to save their organization, as well as the president.

NASA ends up producing a massive fraud that will help President Herney stay in power to keep NASA in business. Rachel Sexton (Senator Sexton’s daughter) tries to uncover NASA’s fraud along with world famous oceanographer, Mike Tolland and astrophysicist, Corky, to stomp President Herney’s campaign and to throw her father into the White House. The actual fraud is that NASA claimed that they had found proof of extraterrestrial fossils imprinted on a meteorite found in the artic. This “meteorite” actually ends up being an ocean rock imprinted with an extinct sea creature. Although the trio finally uncovers this eccentric fraud, NASA hires secret assassins to make sure the fraud is never known to the world. It ends up being a struggle for survival, as some of the most highly trained assassins in the world attack the trio as they fight to let the truth be known to the world.

Although there are many themes represented throughout the novel, the main ones are deceit and violence. With the title of the novel being deception, it is not difficult to understand that the novel will be about deceit. This holds true with this book with NASA’s masterful plot to amplify their reputation, and how deceptive they are with keeping the truth from the media. Another big part of deception in this book is shown with how Rachel’s most trusted advisor named William Pickering, ends up being the leader of the assassins trying to kill Rachel. Obviously, when you are talking about assassins, there is a whole lot of violence, and that is why it is one of the main themes of the novel. From the time Rachel, Corky, and Tolland reach the artic where the meteorite is and discover the fraud, to the time they reach Washington DC, they are followed by extremely stealthy assassins out to do their job.

As explained in the plot summary, there are many protagonists of the story, which Dan switches to and from. This gets incredibly confusing if you’re focused on one character, and all of a sudden Dan is talking about someone completely different. Dan switches points of view talking from Rachel’s, Senator Sexton’s, President Herney’s, Gabrielle’s (Senator Sexton’s advisor), Senior Advisor Marjorie Tench (White House advisor), and William Pickering’s point of view. It is written in the third person from all of these people’s points of view. Although being very confusing at times, it was a fantastic book, which I finished in about four days.

Although none of the issues shown in the book pertain to my life, I can think of some loose connection to some of the things we have studied in school. In Deception Point, the media is a big part of the book. Whenever either candidate for President addresses the public, they will be speaking directly to the media in a press conference. Some of the techniques the candidates and the media use have been covered in class.

Anyone would know, having read Deception Point, that it was a fantastic book and that there wouldn’t be much else to make it better. The thing I liked most about this book was the very suspenseful action scene. An example of this would be when assassins in the artic corner Rachel and the gang and Tolland quickly hooks a parachute to the three of them and the katabatic winds carry them off to safety. The only thing I could possibly suggest to make it easier to read would be to make it more clear when Dan is switching which character he is talking about.

Like I said I really enjoyed this book, and I have talked to a few of my friends who have read it as well. All of these friends have loved it and have said Dan Brown is one of their favourite authors. I would recommend it to anyone grade eight and up as the reading level is not particularly high. This book has definitely been the best read of the New Year for me.

One of the many rhetorical devices found in this book are similes. The simile I decided to use as an example was during my favourite action scene where one of the assassins has a helicopter on a sinking ship trying to escape. Before his helicopter can get enough lift, it crashes into the guardrails of the ship and sinks into the ocean. “From the chopper’s armored cockpit, Delta-One watched his rotors tear into the sub’s cable like a giant lawn mower running over a steal chain. A blinding spray of sparks erupted overhead, and the Kiowa’s blades exploded.” (P. 416) Similes make literature more vivid and they make the reader feel more connected to the writing, because if you use them well, they will make the writing more interesting and create emotions. In the same section of the book I found the use of personification. “The whirlpool was hundreds of yards across and expanding fast. The ocean spiraled into it, racing with an eerie smoothness over the lip. All around him now, a guttural moan reverberated out of the depths. Pickering’s mind was blank as he watched the hole expanding toward him like the gaping mouth of some epic god hungry for sacrifice.” (Pg. 436) The italics in the quote actually contain a simile as well as personification because of course the whirlpool doesn’t actually have a mouth hungry for sacrifice. This whirlpool is actually called a mega plume, which is a sparsely known ocean phenomenon. A mega plume is where a hotspot is located under the earth’s surface, and heats the ocean above it. It is possible for this area to open up and act as a whirlpool as explained in the book. William Pickering is being sucked into the mega plume in this quotation. Personification is treating abstractions or inanimate objects as human, that is, giving them human attributes, powers, or feelings. This enhances your view of the scene in the novel, making it more vivid and more interesting to read.