Deception Point

Written by Dan Brown, who has authored Angels & Demons, Digital Fortress and The DaVinci Code. Published by Pocket Books, in 2001, having 736 pages
The story revolves around the heroine, Rachel Sexton, a government analyst working for a secret agency, she is beautiful, smart and the daughter of Senator Sexton a presidential candidate. Father Sexton has a hard-on for the presidency and has been hammering the standing President Herney's pet department, which is NASA. NASA has been having publicity issues with a rash of failures when a new satellite locates a meteorite the in polar ice cap. The meteorite tuns out to have fossils of alien life forms. Rachel is brought to the ice cap along with scientists Michael Tolland and Corky Marlinson, all for the purpose of generating an independent, non-governmental, report on the authenticity of the meteorite. Initially all confirm the theory, but late evidence leads the trio to begin the path to truth, the meteorite is a plant. One of the scientists, Michael, is a handsome oceanographer and a widower, the mutual attraction between he and Rachel grows till the end of the story. Once clues point to deception the scientists evade the evil government assassins, prove the meteorite a hoax and vanquish the protagonist.
On a scale of 1-10, "Deception Point" gets a 6, for being a technically oriented, exciting story. This book is fast paced and easy to read. Higher rating is not given because the book follows the Dan Brown formula and is fairly predictable.
Last time the next book up was going to be, "The Coldest Winter", a book on the Korean War by David Halberstam. This is underway, and already judged to be a well written story, the Brown book was picked up in an airport during a recent trip.