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There is a Chinese curse that goes something along the lines of "May you live in interesting times." There have, no doubt, been times more interesting than these --- I'm very happy to have missed the 14th Century, for instance --- but we're certainly in the middle of a wild ride. Part of it has to do with some of the little boxes of knowledge that we discover, and open, with increasing frequency.
The advances that have been made in medicine over the last half century have been nothing short of astounding. Operative procedures that would have resulted in several days of hospitalization 30 years ago are now done on an outpatient basis. Illnesses that would have required intermediate care can now be resolved pharmaceutically at home. Conditions that were once life-threatening are now curable.
Part of the process of discovery of these medical advances has been determining, quite basically, who we are, and where we come from. The answers to these questions have the potential to upset more than one philosophical apple cart, depending on what the answers are and assuming that they don't fall into the classification of the unknowable. But what would happen if someone discovered the answers --- or at least the hint of the beginning of them --- to those questions? Or, even more intriguing, what would happen if we were confronted with irrefutable proof that within the boundless reach of the Universe we are not alone?
Such a discovery is the premise of DECEPTION POINT, Dan Brown's latest offering. Those familiar with Brown's previous works, DIGITAL FORTRESS and ANGELS AND DEMONS, will not be disappointed, while those encountering Brown for the first time will seek out those earlier works on the strength of this one. Brown is one of those guys who gets an idea, does meticulous, painstaking research on the topic, and combines inspiration and perspiration to present a novel that is absolutely impossible to stop reading once it has been started.
This melding of talent and intelligence comes to its ultimate fruition in DECEPTION POINT. The world is rocked when NASA discovers, then recovers, an eight-ton meteorite millions of years old, frozen in Arctic ice since the early 18th Century, which contains dozens of fossils of an insect life form --- unequivocal evidence of extraterrestrial life. The discovery, it is announced, is made possible by the PODS satellite, a controversial NASA project deemed absolutely necessary by its proponents and a time and money waster by its critics. There are those inside and outside of government who want to see PODS succeed or fail, for reasons that have little to do with research and everything to do with power, and it appears that PODS has succeeded beyond anyone's wildest dreams.
Brown, in DECEPTION POINT, once again demonstrates that he is quite the craftsman, displaying a knack for character sleight-of-hand while always playing fair with his audience. Be forewarned: some of the characters in DECEPTION POINT are not as they seem. Actually, nothing is. The only certainty is that Brown, within the space of a few novels, has developed into one of the best of the authors laboring in the suspense field. His next work no doubt will be anticipated with the same fervor that his books to date will be examined.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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