Deception Point

I just finished reading Deception Point, by Dan Brown. Well, it is similar to The Da Vinci Code in the speed with which the story progresses. I thought it was an exciting read, what with vivid descriptions of action scenes that play out in your head just like it would do on the tv if you were watching a movie. I like Dan Brown's style in which he builds up on the same event from the points of view of different people. At the end of every chapter, where theres a context change, he heightens the story so that you have to keep reading on to find out what happens next. That makes it a big "i-gotta-read-some-more" type thing.

I just visited Washington D.C., walked down Pennsylvania Avenue, saw the White House, the Monument, a couple of musuems and all. And the book contains references to the White House, and some buildings and memorials around it. So, it was really fun to just have seen the actual thing, then read about it in a book that weaved it into a dramatic story so effortlessly.

There are a couple of twists and turns in the story; well, one, mainly that might shock you. The other broader twist is revealed slowly but steadily. You can't call it a twist as much as you might call it the premise for the story. The characters of the players are well made out, just enough history about them and their impact is described, so not a moment in the book is dull.

Overall, on a scale of 1 to 10, I would grade this book an 8. It has enough action and adventure in it to spend a couple of nights in a cosy chair reading it, cursing any noisy room mates. It somehow is made out like an equation, in the sense that it is exact in what it portrays. But, there are some very predictable settings that can be easily guessed, which, I guess, can be attributed to exposure to a lot of movies that have somewhat similar situations. Also, when you think the characters just cannot get out of an impending disaster, they tend to use information to save their lives which the reader is yet unaware of. I somehow feel that as cheating me; make me aware of what the possibilities of them saving their skins are, and let me think about how they can use those possibilities and resources to their advantage. That is exercise for my mind, making me interact with the story. If you show a situation, give a certain amount of information, and ask someone to solve it, and after they cannot do it, show a hidden door D, that they should have chosen, its not as appealing to me as explaining the solution from what information you've already provided. But I'm sure this issue is pretty debatable, and from the opposing point of view, showing all the cards before-hand may just over-simplify the plot. So, keep guessing!