Rating: 
Summary: Great! Loved it!!
Review: Susan Fletcher, a cryptographer and her school teacher boyfriend David's relationship is on rocky ground. David's new promotion and old-fashioned attitude towards being the bread-winner has put a strain on their relationship which Susan doesn't know how to mend, (she's the one with the bigger salary). Their relationship is strained further, when Susan's boss asks David to run an errand for him - in Spain. Meanwhile, Susan has her own troubles. She's tracking a miraculous new encryption program called "Digital Fortress" which is expected to revolutionize Encryption as we know it.I really enjoyed this thriller, and I particularly liked the character of Susan Fletcher. (It's nice to see more women in lead rolls in thrillers), I was a bit bored with the parts about David, because I found his transformation from simple high school teacher to 'super agent' to be unrealistic. I also disliked the fact that he had difficulty dealing with Susan's salary, I mean the guy's a teacher for goodness sake. I would expect he'd be used to lower wages! I also enjoyed the characterization of the other IT experts such as Jabba. While the ending held few surprises, I still thought this audiobook was great!
Rating: 
Summary: What a waste of dead trees
Review: This could rank as one of the worst books I've even seem. The author attempts to make some grand statement but it comes out as a palsied whine. The plot is boring, the characters cardboard. He thinks by throwing in some buzzwords he can form a techno-thriller, but it is painfully obvious that he forgot to look up what the words mean. I now understand why it was so hard to find, I wish it had been harder. This is definitely a 'B' grade effort from a 'C' grade author.
Rating:
Summary: Not The Agency I Worked For
Review: Suffice it to say that this work of fiction does not provide an accurate portrayal of the National Security Agency.
Rating: 
Summary: Are NSA people really this dumb?
Review: I listened to the unabridged Audible.com version of this book, and finally turned it off in exasperation sometime just before the end. I knew the "answer" probably three chapters before the characters. (What is the "prime" difference between the Uranium isotopes U-235 and U-238? Anyone who's ever been exposed to the Periodic table, which should include NSA crytanalysts and computer programmers, could figure it out in a heartbeat.) Even after they figured out the answer, with the clock ticking down to seconds before the entire NSA databank would be open to the public, they stood around discussing it before taking action. Dialog was something like "3? Do you think it could be 3? Hmmmm. It's a prime number. Yes, 3 dammit, 3! Is anyone listening? It's 3! Could it be 3?" and so on for, seemingly, pages. I agree with the reviewer who suggested the author must have been given a page count he had to fulfill. I will not be buyng another book by this author, unless I hear that it's very much better than this one.
Rating:
Summary: NOT a techno-thriller
Review: Don't bother with this book if you know anything about encryption or computer security (or the NSA). The author apparently did no background research in the subject. Aside from the lack of technical realism, the story line is simplistic and the alleged thrills overblown, unless exclamation points count for excitement.
Rating: 
Summary: A Fun Read
Review: I found this book to be a fun book to read, with the usual far fetched action, and some unusual twists. If you like computers and spy stories, this is the book for you.
Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointed
Review: Wow. I read Angels and Demons and immediately went out and bought this book and was extremely disappointed. I am glad that I read Angels and Demons first or I would never have bought another book by this author.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting start, good story, Hollywood style finish!
Review: This book was recommended to me by David Gerhard, cousin of the author. I really appreciate Dan's work in coming up with a good story. I used to work (indirectly) for the agency he is writing about in this book and I was amazed by some of the reality turned fantasy (excellent job!). This book reads very much like a Hollywood movie with a clearly Hollywood finish. It should be very easy to turn into a screen play. That said, I was very impressed with the detail in the beginning of the book. I enjoyed it and I recommend it. (...)
Rating:
Summary: Promising plot, weak characters, weaker writing
Review: In the hands of a good screenwriter given a mandate to make big changes, this book could make a good movie, but as literature, it's painful. The main characters are one-dimensional stereotypes (unless they are hiding something, in which case they are two-dimensional at best), the writing is clichéd, and the ending was the most excrutiating, drawn-out thing I've ever experienced in a climactic scene. (Okay, when you know the answer to a riddle on which the entire future of civilization hangs for a few moments before the supposedly brilliant main characters figure it out, that's not ideal but it sometimes happens in fiction; when you know the answer pages and pages and pages ahead of them, and are tortured as they take baby-steps toward the answers, it makes you want to throw the book across the room.) While the way all the characters were described and portrayed bugged me, none bothered me as much as the main character, Susan. We're told she's incredibly brilliant, but more space is given over to descriptions of her incredible legs than her brains, and she's usually shown acting clueless, worried, or insecure. It's really too bad, because the plot was promising, but the execution fell too far short to recommend the book.
Rating:
Summary: Digital Fortress
Review: Very different. Fast moving and exciting. Informative for those not familiar with computers and an eye opener with those activities and programs kept from the public by the Government.
Would definitely recommend for those who want a break from more serious reading. Doesn't talk down to you.
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