Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by mrogows
Deception Point by Dan Brown
2.0
This is a prime example of why I’m not a fan of Dan Brown. He uses a singular literary technique to keep the reader interested. One that will change the face of book publishing! And it will never be the same! FOREVER!
The characters in this novel are a prime example of this. The reader is given either too little information about the character or too much background noise to make their actions seem ‘plausible’. Pasts are created out of the necessity for plot advancement which is adequate at the best of times, and unbelievable at the worst. But this only touches lightly on the bigger issue: That of the most important part of the book! One which changes EVERYTHING! !
The author sets it everything up to be changed. He points you in one direction and gets you thinking in one way only to be tricked. As a joke you’d play on a younger sibling so you can laugh and say “Made you look!” So instead of twists and turns, you get tricked and fooled. Things are never as they appear and WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!!!
This would have been cute and interesting if it appeared in one of his books. But it’s becoming a M. Night Shyamalan formula when you expect it. This is my second Brown novel, and more enjoyable of the two. But it followed the same formula. When you expect the change…FOREVER!...it loses all impact. The reader rolls their eyes and says “Yeah, ok, so that’s what it was. That would have been great to know 500 pages ago.”
It’s all bait and switch; smoke and mirrors.
This would be an added bonus if it didn’t get in the way of the plot, characterization, and atmosphere. It seems these quintessential parts of the novel take the back seat for the bait and switch technique. Characters are flat, the plot becomes uninteresting, and everything falls apart to become a big ‘catch the bad-guy’ chase scene.
Taking my personal opinion of Mr. Brown aside, the three main point of this book only has one going for it. The narrative was very easy to get through. The bait and switch technique does serve to keep the reader going. In this face, I couldn’t put the book down against my better judgement. But the other two points: Plot and Characterization fell so far off the table that I won’t look back fondly on this novel.
In sum: This book is akin to a juicy fruit stick of gum. For the first five seconds it’s fun, light, and very easy to chew through. But the flavour disappears too quickly after that, and you are left with a flavourless wad which is very hard to chew.
I’d recommend this book to those who would rather watch a movie than read a book. That seems to be Brown’s target audience. The only problem is: The audience are watching movies and not reading books.
The characters in this novel are a prime example of this. The reader is given either too little information about the character or too much background noise to make their actions seem ‘plausible’. Pasts are created out of the necessity for plot advancement which is adequate at the best of times, and unbelievable at the worst. But this only touches lightly on the bigger issue: That of the most important part of the book! One which changes EVERYTHING! !
The author sets it everything up to be changed. He points you in one direction and gets you thinking in one way only to be tricked. As a joke you’d play on a younger sibling so you can laugh and say “Made you look!” So instead of twists and turns, you get tricked and fooled. Things are never as they appear and WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!!!
This would have been cute and interesting if it appeared in one of his books. But it’s becoming a M. Night Shyamalan formula when you expect it. This is my second Brown novel, and more enjoyable of the two. But it followed the same formula. When you expect the change…FOREVER!...it loses all impact. The reader rolls their eyes and says “Yeah, ok, so that’s what it was. That would have been great to know 500 pages ago.”
It’s all bait and switch; smoke and mirrors.
This would be an added bonus if it didn’t get in the way of the plot, characterization, and atmosphere. It seems these quintessential parts of the novel take the back seat for the bait and switch technique. Characters are flat, the plot becomes uninteresting, and everything falls apart to become a big ‘catch the bad-guy’ chase scene.
Taking my personal opinion of Mr. Brown aside, the three main point of this book only has one going for it. The narrative was very easy to get through. The bait and switch technique does serve to keep the reader going. In this face, I couldn’t put the book down against my better judgement. But the other two points: Plot and Characterization fell so far off the table that I won’t look back fondly on this novel.
In sum: This book is akin to a juicy fruit stick of gum. For the first five seconds it’s fun, light, and very easy to chew through. But the flavour disappears too quickly after that, and you are left with a flavourless wad which is very hard to chew.
I’d recommend this book to those who would rather watch a movie than read a book. That seems to be Brown’s target audience. The only problem is: The audience are watching movies and not reading books.