Deception Point

by Dan Brown, Richard Poe (Narrated by), Richard Poe (Read by)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Twisted motives fuel this Dan Brown standalone about a mysterious NASA discovery. Set in the Arctic, this one takes on science and politics. Raising ethical questions about the place scientific discoveries hold in our political landscape, this is a brilliantly written page-turner that comes with many surprises.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, Inferno, and The Secret of Secrets—comes a lightning-fast thriller about an astonishing NASA discovery that uncovers a vicious conspiracy leading all the way to the White House.

When a new NASA satellite spots evidence of an astonishingly rare object buried deep in the Arctic ice, the floundering space agency proclaims a much-needed victory...a victory that has profound implications for US space policy and the impending presidential election. With the Oval Office in the balance, the President dispatches White House Intelligence analyst Rachel Sexton to the Milne Ice Shelf to verify the authenticity of the find. Accompanied by a team of experts, including the charismatic academic Michael Tolland, Rachel uncovers the unthinkable: evidence of scientific trickery—a bold deception that threatens to plunge the world into controversy.

But before Rachel can contact the President, she and Michael are attacked by a deadly team of assassins controlled by a mysterious power broker who will stop at nothing to hide the truth. Fleeing for their lives in an environment as desolate as it is lethal, their only hope for survival is to find out who is behind this masterful ploy. The truth, they will learn, is the most shocking deception of all.

In his most thrilling novel to date, bestselling author Dan Brown transports readers from the ultrasecret National Reconnaissance Office to the towering ice shelves of the Arctic Circle, and back again to the hallways of power inside the West Wing. Heralded for masterfully intermingling science, history, and politics in his critically acclaimed thriller Angels & Demons, Brown has crafted another novel in which nothing is as it seems—and behind every corner is a stunning surprise. Deception Point is pulse-pounding fiction at its best.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780743539470
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Audio
Publication date:	06/01/2004
Edition description:	Unabridged
Pages:	15
Product dimensions:	5.88(w) x 5.88(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

Dan Brown is the author of eight #1 bestselling novels, including The Da Vinci Code, which has become one of the bestselling novels of all time. His Robert Langdon thrillers—including The Lost Symbol, Angels & Demons, Inferno, Origin, and his most recent, The Secret of Secrets—have captivated readers worldwide and continue to be the subject of intellectual debate among readers and scholars. Brown’s novels are published in 56 languages around the world with over 250 million copies in print. Brown was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time magazine, whose editors credited him with “keeping the publishing industry afloat; renewed interest in Leonardo da Vinci and early Christian history; spiking tourism to Paris and Rome; a growing membership in secret societies; the ire of Cardinals in Rome; eight books denying the claims of the novel and seven guides to read along with it; a flood of historical thrillers; and a major motion picture franchise.” The son of a mathematics teacher and a church organist, Brown was raised on a prep school campus where he developed a fascination with the paradoxical interplay between science and religion. These themes eventually formed the backdrop for his books. He is a graduate of Amherst College and Phillips Exeter Academy, where he later returned to teach English before focusing his attention full time to writing. He lives in New England. Visit his website at DanBrown.com.

Richard Poe, a professional actor for more than thirty years, has appeared in numerous Broadway shows, including 1776 and M. Butterfly. On TV, he has had recurring roles on Star Trek and Frasier. His films include Born on the Fourth of July and Presumed Innocent. He is a well-known and prolific audio book performer, having narrated more than fifty books.

Hometown:

New England

Date of Birth:

June 22, 1964

Place of Birth:

Exeter, New Hampshire

Education:

Phillips Exeter Academy 1982; B.A., Amherst College, 1986; University of Seville, Spain

Website:

http://www.danbrown.com

Read an Excerpt

A shocking scientific discovery.
A conspiracy of staggering brilliance.
A thriller unlike any you've ever read....

When a NASA satellite discovers an astonishingly rare object buried deep in the Arctic ice, the floundering space agency proclaims a much-needed victory — a victory with profound implications for NASA policy and the impending presidential election. To verify the authenticity of the find, the White House calls upon the skills of intelligence analyst Rachel Sexton. Accompanied by a team of experts, including the charismatic scholar Michael Tolland, Rachel travels to the Arctic and uncovers the unthinkable: evidence of scientific trickery — a bold deception that threatens to plunge the world into controversy. But before she can warn the President, Rachel and Michael are ambushed by a deadly team of assassins. Fleeing for their lives across a desolate and lethal landscape, their only hope for survival is to discover who is behind this masterful plot. The truth, they will learn, is the most shocking deception of all.

Editorial Reviews

The fates of NASA, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), and the Senate become intertwined when a meteorite that appears to have extraterrestrial life buried within it is discovered under the Arctic ice shelf. Rachel Sexton, an NRO agent sent by NASA to the Arctic, becomes embroiled in a plot to kill her and the scientists working on the site to ensure the secrecy of the discovery. Richard Poe’s narration follows the plot twists as the ruthless Senator Sexton campaigns against NASA and his daughter in a dark cloud of intrigue in Washington. Chapters are short, the plot complex, and Poe’s voice the guiding light. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

DEC 04/JAN 05 - AudioFile

A mostly tedious third technothriller from the author of Angels and Demons (2000), etc. Incumbent President Zach Herney is fighting for his life in an upcoming election against the slick and slippery Senator Sedwick Sexton. Herney is a staunch supporter of NASA, while Sexton has been using the expensive, mistake-prone, and nonprofitable agency as a convenient whipping-boy in his stump speeches. Protagonist Rachel Sexton, the senator's daughter, works for the National Reconnaissance Office, where she digests information into reports used by the White House. The fact that she works so closely with the president has made for no small amount of tension between her and her father, of course. At the outset of the story, Rachel is whisked off to a spot somewhere near the Arctic Circle where NASA is trying to recover a meteor with what looks like fossils of extraterrestrial life on it from underneath two hundred feet of ice. Naturally, things aren't quite what they seem, what with the small band of Delta Force soldiers secretly watching the NASA encampment. The more that Rachel learns about the meteor, with the help of popular scientist Michael Tolland and a NASA techie by the name of Corky, the less things make sense. The author has an impressive grasp of his material, and even though this is the type of thriller where the gadgetry is often more believable than the wooden characters (the Delta Force soldiers' guns that create bullets out of snow are especially cool), Brown's scientific knowledge isn't what ultimately dooms the book. The story, which has an initial rush to it, bogs down once it starts plodding through all the government shenanigans and secret plots. Although Brown is a moreastute storyteller than most of his brethren in the technothriller vein, and won't lose any fans this time out, he's never able to convincingly marry the technical and the human sides of Deception Point.

Kirkus Reviews

"Excellent.... A finely polished amalgam of action and intrigue."

— Publishers Weekly

"A taut, fast-paced, barn-burner of a book."

— St. Petersburg Times (FL)

"A rocket-fast thriller.... An outstanding read."

— Vince Flynn, New York Times bestselling author of Consent to Kill

"A master of smart thrills."

— People

From the Publisher