THE DECEPTION POINT

BY DAN BROWN
Ice Shelf to verify the authenticity
of the find. Accompanied by a
team of experts, including the
charismatic academic Michael
Tolland, Rachel uncovers the
unthinkable: evidence of scientific
trickery -- a bold deception that
threatens to plunge the world
into controversy.

But before Rachel can contact the
President, she and Michael are
attacked by a deadly team of
assassins controlled by a
mysterious power broker who will
stop at nothing to hide the truth.
Fleeing for their lives in an
environment as desolate as it is
lethal, their only hope for survival
is to find out who is behind this
masterful ploy. The truth, they
will learn, is the most shocking
deception of all
CHARACTERS
Rachel Sexton: A data analyst for
NRO and Senator Sexton's
daughter, Rachel's relationship
with her father is strained
because of his infidelity, which
indirectly contributed to her
mother's death in an accident.
Michael Tolland:
An oceanographer and television
celebrity-scientist called in to
authenticate the meteorite found
by NASA.
Apart from his scientific merits,
Tolland possess excellent
educational and social
communication skills and does
not exhibit unchecked anger, as
other characters do.


Zachary Herney: The incumbent
President of the United States in
the book, who is criticized for his
extravagant expenditure of U.S.
money on low-yield areas
(including the allegedly futile
search for extraterrestrial life)
while the important areas of
nation (such as education) suffer
from the lack of fund.
Although he maintains his office
for another term, the events of
the story lead him into revising
government extravagance.
Senator Thomas Sedgewick
Sexton: Rachel's father and an
ambitious presidential
candidate in the book.
Senator Sexton is corrupt,
promiscuous and ruthless as he
accepts bribes, engages in several
extramarital affairs and even
would sacrifice her daughter to
crush his political opponent
slightly harder and slightly sooner.
For this, his daughter (Rachel) and
his aide (Gabrielle Ashe) sabotage
his press conference, utterly
destroying his public image.
Despite his political ego, he does
not take computer
security seriously and chooses
weak passwords for his computer.
Corky Marlinson: A world-
renowned astrophysist called in
to authenticate the meteorite
found by NASA, Marlinson has
little knowledge of proper social
conduct and is initially a staunch
proponent of the authenticity of
the meteorite finding. Marlinson
survives a shark attack.
William Pickering: The
main antagonist, director of NRO
and the handler of the Delta
Force team featured in the book.
Pickering's intention is to help
president Herney maintain the
office for ulterior motivations of
his own.

He and the Delta Force team
under his command would kill
anyone who is a threat to their
plan, even Marjorie Tench,
President's adviser. Pickering is
sucked into a vortex.
Gabrielle Ashe: Senator Sexton's
aide and one-time mistress, she
receives intelligence from an
unknown source about the
extravagance of the standing U.S
president in book.
Later, when it is revealed that the
intelligence although accurate
comes from the standing
President's adviser and is in fact a
trap, she infiltrates NASA to help
salvage Sexton's lost campaign.
Gabrielle later threatens to
expose their illegitimate affair to
dissuade Sexton from sacrificing
her daughter for his political
ambitions. Failing to succeed,
she and Rachael cooperate to
replace the meteorite fiasco
evidence with photos of said
affair.
Norah Mangor:
A glaciologist called in to
authenticate the meteorite found
by NASA; she was killed early in
the book by Pickering's death
squad.
Dr. Wailee Ming:
A paleontologist called in to
authenticate the meteorite found
by NASA; he was killed early in
the book by Pickering's death
squad.
Xavia: A marine geologist who
helped prove the meteorite was
fake. She was killed by Pickering's
death squad.
Marjorie Tench: Senior Adviser to
the President. Described as very
astute and ruthless, she resorts to
every tactic to help the standing
president. She anonymously
sends intelligence about the
president's expenditure in NASA
to lure Sexton into attacking the
expenditure.
Tench has kept the meteorite
discovery a secret, intending to
use it as a justification for the
expenditure, making Sexton's
campaign backfire. When Rachael
informs her of the fake nature of
the meteorite, Tench hushes it up.
Tench is killed by Pickering's
death squad when she becomes a
liability.
Lawrence Ekstrom: Administrator
of NASA; serves no purpose in the
book beyond attracting suspicion.
Delta force team: A team of
three, apparently male, they are
the death squad of William
Pickering and take
advantage technology of the
time, such as
spy microbots, Aurora aircraft,
a Kiowa Warrior helicopter and
weapons that manufacture their
own munitions .


All three were killed: One was
eaten by sharks and two others
were drowned.
When a new NASA satellite spots
evidence of an astonishingly rare
object buried deep in the Arctic
ice, the floundering space agency
proclaims a much-needed
victory...a victory that has
profound implications for U.S.
space policy and the impending
presidential election. With the
Oval Office in the balance, the
President dispatches White House
Intelligence analyst Rachel Sexton
to the Milne