Thursday, May 24, 2007

Deception Point


A shocking scientific discovery. A deception of staggering brilliance. A political thriller unlike any you’ve ever read...

This is what deception point is..as described by the author.

I object.

1. The discovery is not shocking, there had been plenty of times similar and more effective scandals were initiated.

2. The deception did not seem to have even the least amount of brilliance, are you saying the World's super power tried to bluff the whole world with all its brain power with this tryst?

3. Political thriller….no way, it fail to match the brilliance of Jeffrey Archer stories. The games people play for power ought to be brilliant; it is not enough that the author tries to convince it; the reader has to feel it.

Plot:
The setting is Washington D.C; the time is pre-election. The President is on the verge of losing his campaign, even his staff thinks he will be throwing in the towel. An ambitious senator, who is next in line for the becoming the POTUS (President Of The United States), Senator Sedgewick Sexton, attacks the government's policy of unlimited funding of NASA – an organization that yields no result or profit. And then, something is discovered, that might just turn the course of the events. First, it was just a meteorite, buried deep within the Arctic ice, but then it led to more unbelievable things.


There are so many things that doesn’t just fall to place.
A deception of such a magnanimous order, and they left the insertion shaft there? Incredible!!!
Where all the scientists so thrilled with the discovery that they forgot to run even the most basic tests on the discovery?
There is no suspense even in the story. Someone told me it’s the person you least expect, and I could say who it was. But pray then, what exactly was the motivation? I couldn’t find anything or am I missing something?
The way Sexton's assistant manages to get into NASA office and bully a senior scientist with her cooked up story is laughable.

Another flaw, this is more of a science journal than a thriller. The author has really gone overboard with all the detailed explanations of everything from the Arctic ice to the Submarines. The prodigies are running for their life from beginning to end and half of the book is about how they escape each attack on them. Some are in air, some in water, some in ice, some on a drifting glacier, some on a submarine, volcano, I really lost track and started hoping they would die once and for all! There is this scenario where our hero is in water and the heroine is trapped in a ship that’s sinking and he is thinking "What makes the ship sink??" I could kill that guy myself.

There is a geologist, glaciologist, oceanologist, marine biologist, and many more, all trying to impart their knowledge page after page. I did not get thrilled, I got thoroughly bored.

Inspite of being so knowledgeable, there is no sign of wisdom or wit in even the protagonists. Nothing strikes us, all character, except maybe that of Marjorie Tench, comes across as plain.

The reader feels no empathy with any of the characters. I was surprised when I found myself feeling blank with Sedgewick ditching his own daughter, Rachel's memories of her mother, Mike's sad story and even the surprise press conference at the end.

There is suspense, and the book is readable, but the narrative loses momentum with unwanted action scenes, which seems to be influenced by Hollywood.

Cant believe it is from the same author who gave us Davinci Code.

For those who like spy stories, conspiracy theories, and the secret services, read this.


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