I do not necessarily agree with those who say that fiction must commit to the same high level of integrity to historical or scientific fact as non-fiction. Despite the clear flaws I have to admit I found it entertaining. I succumbed to the hype and read The Da Vinci Code first. If I were, my interest might have been severely deflated.Ī little strange that it ended up being the last one I read. Although, at the time I was not aware of John Campbell’s novella, Who Goes There?, the story on which The Thing films were based. Compared to a historical conspiracy story ( The Da Vinci Code), a power-play at the Vatican ( Angels and Demons) or a security threat to the NSA ( Digital Fortress), Deception Point sounded like a much more interesting story than the rest. I’d go to the chain stores not to browse, but only to pick up something I knew was readily available for a price that couldn’t be beat.Īs for Brown, I was fond of saying that if it were not for the deafening buzz around The Da Vinci Code, and I had to pick one of his four novels to read, I would probably pick Deception Point. I’d go to the independent stores to browse in the hope I may find a gem or at least discover a book or author I had never heard of before, willing to pay a bit more for the ambience, the range of stock and the excellent knowledge of the staff. I would hedge between the chain stores and independent sellers. While the independent stores are enjoying a new era of clientele who still prefer browsing without a browser, enjoy the weight and texture of paper to the synthetic heat of powered plastic and glass, and don’t necessarily miss the chain store discounts or are tempted to deal with Amazon.īut the old days were not so long ago that I don’t remember them. Those chain stores have all but disappeared, damaged by the GFC but ultimately defeated by Amazon.

Struggling independent book stores, where the true book lovers browse, certainly did not display Dan Brown prominently and were not proud to stock him at all though they could not afford not to. And they stocked the Dan Brown quartet – The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, Digital Fortress and Deception Point – in stacked piles and full shelves. Those were also the days of large bookseller chains whose mid-city stores were as large as some department stores. Think back if you can to those heady days of 2003 when everyone who was talking about books was talking about The Da Vinci Code, both in enthusiastic praise and vitriolic frustration. However, while it is not the worst pop-fiction you will read, it is certainly not among the best. At the peak of Dan Brown’s popularity, Deception Point was probably the novel of his that intrigued me the most, even more than The Da Vinci Code.

Dan brown deception point review