Deception Point by Dan Brown

Whatever their historical or literary shortcomings, the novels of Dan Brown are the defintion of "page-turner." Unfailingly, Brown's tightly woven plots compel the reader to keep reading, often at the expense of more pressing duties, like sleep.

Deception Point is no exception, although it stumbles just a bit in the final chapters, as the plot's latent implausibility becomes more and more difficult to ignore. The book is set during a heated presidential campaign, in which the slithering Republican challenger (thankfully, the book is otherwise apolitical) repeatedly blasts the incumbent over the many failures of NASA. Desperate for any good news, NASA suddenly claims to have found a meteorite, encased deep in the Arctic ice. The Republican candidate's estranged daughter, an intelligence analyst, is sent by the President to independently verify the meteorite's startling contents: clear evidence of extraterrestial life.

But, of course, not all is as it seems. Brown skillfully blends the thrill of scientific discovery with the more sordid realities of politics as he throws twist after twist at the reader. As in all of Brown's works, the true identity of the protagonist remains hidden until the very end, and when the truth is finally revealed, it is genuinely surprising. The finale is somewhat pat, but this is just a minor blight on an otherwise suspenseful and well-told tale.

Angels and Demons, the lesser known prequel to The Da Vinci Code, remains Brown's best novel, by far.