Saturday, July 25, 2015

Readers Review - Dan Brown (Deception Point)

The world is filled with decent writers, telling their decent stories. But once in a while you'll stumble across a writer that outshines everyone else, when it comes to storytelling. You'll know it when you see it. We're talking about books you just can't let go. Books that keeps you awake late at night, because you just need to know what's happening on the next few pages. The pages seems to turn itself and the hours seems to pass by like sand in a hourglass. Well, 'Deception Point' is such a book.

Dan Brown is a god-given writer, with an incredibly talent. I have to admit, my first meeting with Dan Brown wasn't very satisfying. 'The Da Vinci Code' was far from perfect. He claimed, that the book was based on true historical facts. Knowing a thing or two about the ancient Christian Church, I was able to spot several grave historical faults. After a while, the voice of critics grew louder, and it was clear to me that Dan Brown didn't told 'the truth and nothing but the truth'. In other words: This book was a big disappointment to me – and to others as well.

So where did it leave me? Technical, Dan Brown is an excellent writer. His plot was captivating and his writing-style was without doubt smooth and interesting throughout the book. What I didn't like was his careless handling of the truth. But if I was able to look aside from that fact, I would have to admit that Dan Brown had what it takes to entertain me.

I believe everyone deserves a second chance. And that goes for mr. Brown too. Therefore I decided to read one more book of Dan Brown: 'Deception Point'.

This time I was prepared. Knowing that he was bending the truth to fit his purpose, I was ready to let me entertain – not educate. And 'Deception Point' was indeed a pageturner. It stole my sleep, made me almost quit talking to my family, and when I was away from my favorite reading chair, I had to pull myself together and concentrating on what I was doing.

Briefly, 'Deception Point' is about money and control. NASA receives money from the U.S. government. A huge amount of money – each year. Off cause, when a government spends a lot of money each year, it surely expects something in return. In this case, it expects NASA to deliver some outstanding results. Unfortunately these breakthrough results has failed to materialized for quite some time. So the funds are now in danger. Private companies are preparing to knock the door in, and claim their part of the money and prestige. NASA knows that. They know, that they desperately need to come up with an extraordinary discovery to maintain their unique position and financial support. The question is: What kind of discovery can justify further financial support? And how far are the involved parts ready to go to make that certain discovery and silence the critical voices for good?

That's what 'Deception Point' is all about, and it's REALLY GOOD! I give this book my best recommendation. Who cares if the story's made up. It's fiction for Gods sake - and it's damn entertaining. Nothing else matters...