"Deception Point" is the third Dan Brown book I've read and I'm starting to wonder if this author makes a point of always having some character killed in the first couple of pages of his books. More interestingly, he also seems to make a point of writing damn good thrillers. In my opinion, "Da Vinci Code" was alright, "Angels & Demons" was rather good and now I find "Deception Point" hanging somewhere in between.

The action unfolds for the most part between the Arctic and Washington DC. Long story short, NASA claims to have found a meteorite, packed with fossils of what appears to be an extraterrestrial being, which fell on the earth and got buried in the Milne Ice Shelf. The truth however is usually stranger than fiction and so we follow three civilians, two of them reputed scientists, trying to put the seemingly disjointed pieces of this puzzle together while doing their best to avoid getting wacked by ruthless (but in all honesty not very smart) killers. But you can learn all this from reading the book synopsis, right?

I found this to be a satisfying book, an undeniable page turner and exceptionally well written featuring a couple of rather intelligent plot twists. As I said before, the action unravels between the Arctic (and later on the Atlantic shore) and Washington DC. Whereas at the former reside the thrills and crazy Hollywood type fireworks, it's in the latter that the really interesting stuff, at least for me, is happening.

Brown swaps back and forth between the two intertwined plot lines but I found myself constantly eager for the political games going on in DC and involving top ranking US government agencies all the way up to the White House. Unfortunately, the final showdown aboard a ship is described at such exhaustive length that I couldn't help but feeling bummed every time a new chapter on it presented itself. Also, some more character development, at least for the main parts, wouldn't hurt. I personally would've liked to know more about them, as they seemed interesting but not dense enough. Nevertheless, this should not taint some great classic moments this story contains.

Finally, after reading three books by Dan Brown, he reminds me a bit of the TV show "24". Both found a great formula that thrills the viewer/reader but whereas "24" keeps successfully reinventing itself every season, Brown's way is becoming a bit tiresome for me. Like, I'll read "Digital Fortress", sure. Just not now.