I like this style & understand the reasoning behind it perfectly well.

However, just recently I've read a couple of newish releases (Dan Brown's deception point being one of them), where there are a good many different POV's. Each one has its own chapter, so its still limited perspective, but there are a significant number of different viewpoints, even from some minor characters from time to time.

Now that I seem to think about this stuff more than I used to, I've found that the use of different viewpoints does come across as quite stimulating. I reckon it's almost like cinematic in style, you get to follow the action from different camera action, which in my opinion does liven things up a bit.

Is this a new style that may be developing / becomming more popular? Has anybody on here written anything in that style?

Generally, you can tell a more intricate story if you use multiple POVs. You can also show your main characters (and their actions) through the eyes of various other characters. And that can make it worth the extra effort (for both you and your readers). Don't mistake that for a matter of style.

You should also be cautious about telling a lot of different stories that are only occasionally connected. That's one of the big dangers of having multiple POV characters, since everyone is the hero/heroine of his/her own story.

Using many viewpoint characters isn't new as near as I can tell. Sometimes it's justified, other times not. I, forone, use the perfect number of viewpoint characters for the story. :-)

Here are some things to keep in mind when considering/using multiple viewpoints:

1. What's first is strongest. The first viewpoint character that a person comes into contact with will automatically get the honor of being the "main" character until and unless you can do something to change our minds later. He ought to, therefore, at least be damn important.

2. We care about what we take the time to know. This means that if you do a rapid-fire succession of viewpoint character up front, each receiving a few pages of "introduction," we won't care about any one of them. (I mention this because I've seen this technique before and it drives me nuts!) It tends to be best to start with someone important at a time when the story is getting started and give us a chance to know and like them.

3. It's easier to get to know that which is vaguely familiar. Therefore, before you switch to a new viewpoint, if you can, mention them in the old viewpoint. If we know who Chuck is, it won't be nearly so miserable to be in his head.

4. If you do multiple viewpoints, something substantial must be accomplished in each viewpoint. Don't do it just for the heck of it. Some stories can be told very well through one character's eyes. My current WIP is told 90% from one character's eyes, with a few very short chapters told from the poitn of view of an antagonist she doesn't know is there. He's looking for her, but she doesn't know it. So if I didn't use his viewpoint, no one would know and when he came in at the end it would be like, "Where the heck did that come from?"

5. Each viewpoint character should be likable or interesting in some way. If we are bored or hate a character, we will not want to read the chapter from his/her point of view. The villain can be a viewpoint character and make for some dramatic irony, but he or she needs to be interesting and three-dimensional. A sidekick does not often make for a good viewpoint character since there is typically nothing he sees that the hero doesn't also see. A complex story, in which many peopl ehave their own agendas, can make for many interesting viewpoints, but the word of caution here is that people will be more interested in one that in another and they may lose patience with you as they wait for their favorite subplot to come back into view.

6. The more viewpoints you have, the more we have to care about each one. This is exponential. You want twenty viewpoint characters? There had better be something interesting, integral, and likeable about each and every one.

7. Don't forget that some stories only need one point of view to be told. Have a reason to branch out and make it a good one.

You should also ask yourself if the second viewpoint is really necessary. Sometimes authors use multiple POVs as a way of including unnecessary or unconnected subplots that have little to do with the main story. While not always a bad thing, this is very difficult to do because you have to make your readers care as much about the subplot as the main one or else they might lose interest completely.

One particularly bad example I can think of in this category is OSC's Pastwatch. He tells the story from the point of view of a certain character whose plot somewhat involves the history of Christopher Columbus. Then he has whole chapters told from the point of view of Columbus, which (as least this was the reaction I had to it) just serve to distract from what we really care about, which is how the main characters are going to save the world. I really have no idea what goes on in these chapters, because I skipped most of them, just like KDW was saying above.

On the other hand, I just finished reading a book not too long ago that had, I believe it was three or four POVs. It was done excellently. I cared about the characters equally, and I was never tempted to skip to the next person's point of view.