Rating: 
Summary: Enthralling thriller
Review: O.K. Let's not kid ourselves. Dan Brown's inclusion of cryptography, somebody myseriously dying on the first page, a sexy intelligent female protagonist, a college professor who becomes the reluctant hero, & a mysterious assassin in every one of his books IS bordering on a sick obsession. That being said, his formula DOES work. Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Seeing as Digital Fortress is his inaugural work, Dan Brown makes a few rookie mistakes that unequivocally engender some implausibility throughout the book. So as not to give away anything, I'll just say that the ostensibly intractable quagmire that the characters are engulfed in is hardly realistic, let alone believable. Having said that, Brown's mastery of suspenseful prose more than makes up for his shortsightedness in other areas. After all, this is why it IS fiction - not nonfiction. I enjoyed it and recommend it to those who enjoyed The Da Vinci Code. As a caveat, just don't expect 100% accuracy on the computer minutiae.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun read, but...
Review: I'm very grateful to Dan Brown for this book - it got me through a long flight painlessly. The book is very suspenseful and has a lot of the "can't put it down" essence that readers want in suspense thrillers. That said, two problems: 1.) Mr. Brown's idea of how NSA works borders on comedy (trust me), and 2.) The final mystery ("the prime difference...") was way too easy to figure out. When I first saw it, I thought to myself "Oh, please don't let it be...", and at least half the people I know who read the book figured it out just as easily. It's worth the time to read, though, and an impressive first effort. I would like to say that all three of his other books are better, especially "Deception Point."
Rating: 
Summary: *BIG GROAN*
Review: Mind numbingly banal. I am not a mystery buff or a thriller buff at all but I figured out the plot developments pages & pages before any of "brilliant" characters in the book. More boring than waiting in queue at the DMV. Since this book is about Math, lets "run some numbers" on this book. There are 384 pages in the paperback and 128 CHAPTERS! This is an average of 3 pages per chapter. Many chapters are less than 2 pages and quite a few not even a single page long. I'd guess that none are over 5 or 6 pages.Not much chance for plot or character development. Instead of a deliberate, well-researched development of plot you get a staccato splattering of scenes bouncing back and forth between 2 primary story lines. Sometimes, Brown breaks what should be a single 10 page chapter into 2 or 3 chapters for no apparant reason or effect--it almost feels like a COMMERCIAL should appear between some of the chapters.. What is glaringly obvious is that this author watched ENTIRELY TOO MUCH TV when he was young. I find it amazing that he is allowed a venue to spew this drivel forth just because he can string some sentences together and print a nifty code at the end. By the way, the code at the end? A simple Cesarean cube just as illustrated in the last few chapters. Notice that the numbers are no higher than 128--the number of chapters in the book. Put the numbers in the cube, substitute the 1st letter from the corresponding chapter and you get--WE ARE WATCHING YOU. Oooooooeeeewwweee, how neato! I must rush out and buy all the rest of his books! Not.
Rating:
Summary: Who Will Guard the Guardians?
Review: After being disappointed recently by two old favorites, John le Carre (Absolute Friends) and Robert Harris (Pompeii), I decided to read a thriller by a new (for me) author. Digital Fortress did the trick. Code breaking, foreign languages, the National Security Agency, and the timely theme of privacy versus safety, are all wrapped around a very competent plot that moves quickly. The twists and turns were often easy to spot from a distance, but the main story was a grabber. This was my first Dan Brown book, and it was just good enough for me to want to try his next thriller. Which is more than I can say for le Carre and Harris.
Rating:
Summary: Loved the story but the ending could've been better!
Review: As a huge fan of Dan Brown and having read just about every book he has ever written I think I have earned the right to tell him that as much as I loved his story (Digital Fortress), I thought his ending could have been better. That being said I would still happily recommend everyone read not just this book but all of DAN BROWN'S Books, they're terrific!
Rating:
Summary: Yow!!
Review: I heard people raving about "DaVinci Code", so when a friend lent me "Digital Fortress" by the same author, to while away some brutal hours flying cross country, I was pleased. Brown owes me 6 hours of my life back. You don't want to read it; so accept that I have sacrificed for you. This book is thoroughly predictable and will only appeal to the connoisseur of fine comic books. The plot is swiss cheese. The protagonist is presented as having an IQ of 170, but certainly doesn't behave that way. (maybe the scale is different for women). Dan Brown doesn't have the slightest grasp of digital security, hardware or programming and is obviously too lazy to do the homework. The characters consistently act contrary to logical motivations, and depend on the most wildly, unlikely coincidences to advance the story. I have thoughtfully included the following 'Tips to the Author' Nobody is going to lie on their back and hand-solder a chip to a motherboard in a "mainframe".
You don't put a silencer on a revolver. There is a gap between the cylinder and the barrel where gas (and sound) comes out, rendering said silencer useless.
Once a zillion people download a program, putting a new rev of it on a website isn't going to spontaneously change all existing copies.
If a person created an "unbreakable encryption" scheme, wouldn't you find it odd that his secret e-mails would be sent in clear-text? No, that wouldn't raise a red flag for your garden-variety NSA bighead.
I would guess that somebody in IT there at NSA might suggest that a TAPE BACKUP for the giant 'databank' might be a swell idea.
Silicon, Germanium, etc. doesn't really burn very well.
If the Dig Fortress program was encrypted, how could the GAUNTLET program even detect the evil 'mutation strings'?
How useful is it to provide backup power to your front-end terminals, and then leave the only access doors to them unpowered.
Its VLSI not VSLI. Very Scale Large Integration, doesn't make much sense, does it?
Ad naseaum.... I could go on, but I'm bored. Take my word for it, the book is riddled with them. All in all, I would give this book a half of a Star; and that's only because the ring being a red herring was rather original. But then the underlying advocacy is about as subtle as a Bruce Cockburn song: NSA, BAD!!! Privacy Rights, GOOD!!!, so half the distance to the goal line - back to a quarter Star.
I would recommend that you run from this book. Run fast. Run far. Don't look back. Oddly enough, some people LIKED this book, but then 'Three's Company' stayed on for like ten years. Most likely the same people. P.S. so 'without wax' translates to Sincerely? Gee, that was compelling; thanks, Paul Harvey. And the other 'secret code' at the end.. no one cares what it means.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I greatly enjoyed Angels and Daemons and DaVinci code, but Digital
Fortress was disappointing. Being well-versed into technology and
cryptography, I found several errors in this book. Calling ZIP an
"encryption algorithm", for example, is not only wrong but misses the
point. The final moments of the book are completely laughable. The time is
running out to find the "kill-code" and all these PhD and scientist in
the room can't solve a simple riddle. I certainly hope Dan Brown did more research in his latest books.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice
Review: ¡§Digital Fortress¡¨, by Dan Brown, is definitely a book that¡¦s hard to put down. Its full of suspense, surprises, and thrills. It hardly ever stops deceiving the audience.
Unlike some books, the plot of ¡§Digital Fortress¡¨ is not far-fetched, nor is it common and overused by most authors. Instead, the plot is something that we can relate to in the real world and also possibly happen. All the settings and agencies mentioned through out are real and really do exist. In other words, ¡§Digital Fortress¡¨, although fictional, can almost fit into the non-fiction genre.
Dan Brown certainly does not leave anything unexplained. Every event, setting, or background information given is furnished with the utmost detail. And every detail is necessary to understand what¡¦s going on. What seems to be a petty description at the first glance may turn out to be an important element as the story progresses on.
The book is a roller coaster that¡¦s unpredictable. It steers you in one direction only to take a sharp turn in the opposite direction half way down the road. Dan Brown makes it obvious and clear to what¡¦s going on. He supports it by adding lots of evidence and explanation until you¡¦re convinced. Except, at the last second, he turns the whole thing upside down. Overall, it¡¦s simple to understand, but all the twists and turns shake you off course. You will never know the final destination until you¡¦re almost there.
¡§Digital Fortress¡¨ is a one-way bullet train from beginning to end that doesn¡¦t stop. You can¡¦t get off and you can¡¦t truly understand what¡¦s going on because this train is just going too fast. But when you board the train several times, everything will come to light. And when they do surface, what you see and read will be totally amazing.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining-if you enjoy the technogeek stuff
Review: The DaVinci Code was my first exposure to Dan Brown and I looked forward to reading Digital Fortress. His writing combines a great deal of thought provoking ideas and conspiracy theories.
Digital Fortress is about a computer genius gone mad. You've heard the story before and this one follows the pattern. However, if you enjoy the technological aspects of the book, you will enjoy the storyline also. It's a fun read and one that will entertain you for a few hours but don't expect anything new.
Rating:
Summary: Wanted to give this more stars, but still a good read
Review: Had high hopes for this ... I wanted to like it more. It got started well, but I thought this book was trying too hard to be like a screenplay-ready Crichton novel. While entertaining, the story line became somewhat predictable.
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