Deception Point (2001) is a book by Dan Brown, who also wrote The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, and Digital Fortress.

Contents

1 Description 2 Characters 3 Agencies involved 4 Code solution

Description

Brown's dazzling high-tech adventure opens with NASA personnel making a startling discovery. An ancient meteorite is found buried within an Arctic glacier. Samples taken from this meteorite reveal that it contains fossils from life forms not previously seen on Earth. Could this discovery prove that we are not alone in the universe? To answer that question, several civilian scientists are dispatched to the site in order to investigate the origin of the fossils and verify NASA's findings. Before any official announcement can be made, however, one of the scientists dies under mysterious circumstances. The remaining scientists quickly realize that all is not what it appears to be as they struggle to separate truth from deceit.

Characters

• Rachel Sexton: An intelligence analyst working for the National Reconnaissance Office. Daughter of Sedgewick Sexton.
• Michael Tolland: Oceanographer and producer of documentary films.
• Zachary Herney: President of the United States who is running for a second term.
• Senator Sedgewick Sexton: United States Senator running for president. Father of Rachel Sexton.
• Lawrence Ekstrom: NASA administrator.
• William Pickering: Director of the National Reconnaissance Office.
• Marjorie Tench: Senior advisor to Zach Herney.
• Gabrielle Ashe: Personal aide to Sedgewick Sexton.
• Corky Marlinson: Brilliant astrophysicist.
• Delta-One, Delta-Two and Delta-Three: Agents of the Delta Force.

Agencies involved

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

Code solution

The code that appears in the end of the book

 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 on the chapter decided by the number. For example, the first letter 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 collumn from the top down.

 THEDAVINCICODEWILLSURFACE

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

 "The da Vinci Code Will Surface"

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