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Deception Point (2001) is a thriller novel by Dan Brown, the author of The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, and Digital Fortress.

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Characters 3 Trivia 4 Agencies involved 5 Code solution 6 Artistic license 6.1 Marianas Trench 6.2 Canadian sovereignty 6.3 Misuse of Title "Agent" 7 References

Deception Point opens with a failing NASA personnel making a startling discovery— an ancient meteorite is found buried within an Arctic glacier. Samples taken from this meteorite show that there are fossils of some Isopod-like life forms inside it, raising speculation that humans are not alone in the universe.

Meanwhile, Rachel Sexton's father, Senator Sedgewick Sexton, is fueling his Presidential campaign by focusing on NASA's budget overspends. It is later revealed that he is funding his campaign by taking illegal bribes from the Space Frontier Foundation.

NASA proves the authenticity of the meteorite with unbreakable facts, things that can only occur in meteorites. Several civilian scientists including Rachel Sexton, an intelligence analyst from the NRO, and Michael Tolland, a celebrity oceanographer, are dispatched to the site in order to investigate the origin of the fossils, verify NASA's findings and also to improve its public image. Before any official announcement can be made, however, one of the scientists is killed by Delta Force, an elite government military team (though NASA and the scientists are not aware he was murdered.)

The remaining scientists quickly realize that all is not what it appears to be as they struggle to separate truth from deceit. They are chased by Delta Force, who are intent on stopping them from finding evidence against the meteorite. They soon realize that the meteorite is not extraterrestrial (the "alien bugs" are in fact fossils of giant isopods) and was inserted into the glacier by drilling beneath the frozen sea. In the end, it turns out the person who organized it all is William Pickering, administrator of the National Reconnaissance Office and Rachel's boss, out of the concern that the privatization of NASA, one of Senator Sexton's goals, could be catastrophic to national security.

• Rachel Sexton: An intelligence analyst working for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Daughter of Sedgewick Sexton.
• Michael Tolland: Oceanographer, producer of documentary films, and captain of a SWATH class research vessel known as the Goya, he was called in to produce a film on the arctic discovery. He becomes Rachel's love interest.
• Zachary Herney: President of the United States who is running for a second term.
• Senator Sedgewick Sexton: Corrupt United States Senator running against Herney for President. Father of Rachel Sexton.
• Lawrence Ekstrom: NASA administrator. While he initially appears to be the villain, this possibility is eventually discredited (see red herring).
• William Pickering: Director of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). He is revealed to be the mastermind behind the Delta Force killings and the manipulator of events throughout the novel.
• Marjorie Tench: Senior advisor to Zach Herney. She is killed by a car bombing organized by William Pickering when she began to become a nuisance to his plans.
• Gabrielle Ashe: Personal aide to Sedgewick Sexton. Seduced by Sexton early on in their partnership, she eventually grows wary of his corrupt nature. Upon hearing his plot to commercialize the space exploration industry, she secretly helps end her boss's political career.
• Corky Marlinson: A brilliant astrophysicist with a somewhat high opinion of his abilities. He is a friend of Michael Tolland and is one of the outside parties called in to examine the discovery. He and Michael are the only two of the original four still alive by the end of the story.
• Delta-One, Delta-Two, and Delta-Three: Agents of the Delta Force, they are responsible for the majority of the numerous civilian casualties throughout the story. Delta-One drowns to death when the helicopter he pilots sinks into the ocean. Both Delta-Two and Delta-Three are killed by hammerhead sharks.
• Norah Mangor: Glaciologist from the University of New Hampshire. She is knocked unconscious by the Delta Force's ice rifles. They then kill her by stuffing her throat with snow.

• The main plot may have been inspired by ALH84001, a meteorite found in Antarctica and first mistakenly believed to contain fossils of extraterrestrial life.
• William Hayward Pickering, ONZ KBE (December 24, 1910—March 15, 2004) was a New Zealand born rocket scientist who headed Pasadena, California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for 22 years, retiring in 1976. He was a senior NASA luminary and pioneered the exploration of space.

• National Reconnaissance Office
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• Delta Force
• USS Charlotte (SSN-766)

The code that appears at the end of the book, after the main plot

1-V-116-44-11-89-44-46-L-51-130-19-118-L-32-118-116-130-28-116-32-44-133-U-130

is decrypted by looking at the first letter of the first paragraph on the chapter decided by the number. For example, the first letter of the first paragraph of chapter 116 is "C". The resulting text is

TVCIRHIOLFENDLADCESCAIWUE

Decryption is performed using a columnar transposition cipher, termed a "Caesar Square" cipher in the book (this is unrelated to the Caesar cipher). The letters are arranged into a five-by-five square:

TVCIR
HIOLF
ENDLA
DCESC
AIWUE

and read each column from the top down.

THEDAVINCICODEWILLSURFACE

Add spaces and correct capitalization, and you get the plaintext,

The Da Vinci Code will surface

a reference to the book The Da Vinci Code, also by Dan Brown.

As is customary with his novels, Brown opens with a statement asserting the veracity of all information in his work. Specifically for Deception Point, it is claimed that "All technologies described in this novel exist." While the author claims no artistic license in regards to fact and technology, some of the claims in Deception Point are somewhat suspect.

Brown says that the "meteorite" is actually a rock taken from the bottom of the Marianas Trench, the deepest underwater trench in the world. He says that the trench is so deep that no manned craft has ever explored it, and most probes sent to the bottom have been crushed by the pressure. In fact, the trench was explored by man as early as 1960.^[1]

Much of the novel takes place on Ellesmere Island "in the high arctic", within the base set up by the US military and NASA there. The base includes a habisphere and landing strip. In reality, Ellesmere Island is part of the Nunavut Territory of Canada. It is highly unlikely that Canada, which has a military base on the island (Alert), would allow the US to build a base on the island, or be unaware of it having done so. The Canadian Space Agency would also likely be involved in any such operation since it is a close partner of NASA and a member of the International Space Station. If Canada was not alerted due to the secret nature of the operation, the president's international address in the book outlining the discovery would likely result in a large diplomatic incident as the entire exercise would be a violation of international law.

• During his first meeting (in the context of the novel) with Rachel Sexton, her boss, NRO Director William Pickering, greets her as "Agent Sexton". The term agent has a specific legal meaning for U.S. Government employees, such as special agents or consular agents. Intelligence analysts are never called agents, not even informally.

v • d • e Dan Brown books
Digital Fortress	book
Angels & Demons	book	film
Deception Point	book
The Da Vinci Code	book	film	game	soundtrack
The Solomon Key	book

External Links

• Deception point Review