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Buy or rent from www.recordedbooks.com President Zachary Herney has pledged to run a clean re-election campaign free of the derogatory ads embraced by other politicians. Senator Sedgwick Sexton, on the other hand, feels free to use any means possible to win the White House. Sexton rallies the public with speeches decrying NASA's failures and over-blown budget while taking under-the-table donations from companies bent on opening space exploration to private companies. The ploy is working until Herney announces a spectacular find by NASA. A fossil-bearing meteor has been found buried in the ice of an Arctic shelf, proving the existence of extra-terrestrial life. Sent to the Arctic confirm NASA'a data is Rachel Sexton, daughter of Senator Sexton and a fact-finder for the National Reconnaissance Office. Rachel doesn't share her father's political views, nor does she like him. Sexton was shacked up with a lover when Rachel's mother died in a winter car accident. Rachel's never forgiven her father's infidelity, not the fact that he used her mother's death to his political advantage. She suspects the President is using her as a media weapon against her father, but she follows orders to analyze the NASA meteor data. Rachel meets Michael Tolland at the NASA base on the Arctic ice floe. Michael is a media darling, a man who explains science in simple terms to millions of Americans via his television series. Michael is only one of four independent scientists flown to the Arctic by Herney, but he's the one most sympathetic to Rachel's appearance in the Arctic. He takes Rachel under his wing, and along with Corky, another scientist, instructs her on the science of meteorites. NASA's day in the sun is threatened when Michael and Corky come up with some unexplainable data involving the meteorite. Before you know it, Rachel and the scientists are targeted for death by Delta Force soldiers working under orders from a shadowy government controller. Running for their lives across the ice, the three are rescued by a Navy submarine and transported to US soil. From there, they flee to Michael's ocean research center where they confirm that the meteor is a fake. The Delta Force team is right behind them, this time with their controller taking part in the exercise. All looks lost for a time, but as in any good thriller, the good guys win in the end. Brown's success with THE DAVINCI CODE may be repeated with this book. The story hinges on a wildly improbable conspiracy theory that falls apart under close examination. And, like other Brown books, there's way too much extraneous fluff adding to the page count. Nevertheless, the book is packed with enough high-tension adventure scenes, descriptions of political chicanery, and semi-scientific information to please most thriller fans. Those who delight in the exploits of James Bond will surely enjoy this book. Richard Poe's years of experience as an actor impact on his narration of DECEPTION POINT. Poe's subtle voice changes enable listeners to 'see' the individual people in the story, quite an accomplishment given the number and diversity of characters. All in all, Poe gives a masterful performance.
Reviewed by Mary V. Welk, July 2004
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