Digital Fortress : A Thriller

Rating:
Summary: The Best
Review: The Book Digital fortress has to be the best book that I have ever read. This was the first book that I literaly didn't put down and read it in one day non-stop. I dont understand how it could get anything below five stars. The plot has non-stop action that keeps you on the edge of your seat for the full three hundred pages. The realism in which it is written is incredible. I kept on forgetting that this was a fiction book and not a true story about the NSA. I wold strongly reccomend it to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: This book was glued to my hands!
Review: The depth and detail that go into this story are so real that it is scary. To think that what goes on in this book may actually be happening right now! I found myself literally unable to put this book down. The author, Dan Brown, is one of the best, if not the best, author that I have ever read. I can't wait for his next book to come out.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting book by a still raw-writing author
Review: During the reading of this book, I just couldn't stop wondering if these jerks were actually the real people who actually run the NSA. If the answer was yes, then our USofA would definitely in big trouble. The author had inevitablely gave me an impression that the whole NSA scenes inside out were just so obviously fake, since he could only imagine the tight security for entry, but once got in, he just could not provide us with more realistic pictures, so he just failed to visualize correctly and to deliver. So, what we got here from him were couple of very unprofessional, sexual harassing jerk like Hale, an egghead nerd, a very unconvincing IQ170 woman, her multi-lingualled sweetheart, an old, stress sticken No.2 guy, a steel-rimmed killer, plus several security guards outside the NSA building. Putting a Japanese American as some kind traitor, doing some personal vandetta to NSA and its personnel is still a legacy of the pathetic American syndrome orginated and still die-hard from WWII--the Asian Americans simply would not be accepted completely as other racial Americans, so, guilty until proven innocent; put them in concentration camp before they become the snitches, informers, or traitors--the (Japanese)American, even he had passed the security check to be qualified as an NSA employee, but he's doomed to be unstable, untrustworthy and would inevitablely became a traitor and sold his 'Digital Fortress' to his Japanese folks in Japan. This is a disgusting logic that made me appreciate more to the "Mercury Rising" movie. At least there were only real Americans being betrayed and killed, and all the Japanese people in that movie were just purely innocent, big dollar-spending tourists.

Rating:
Summary: A fun one...
Review: I recently heard the author speak at a technology conference and was impressed. I bought Digital Fortress, not sure what to expect. It was a pleasant surprise. Fast, intelligent, and full of surprises. I'm giving it a four instead of a five only because I can't break the darn code at the end!

Rating:
Summary: Fast paced thriller poops out..........
Review: The first 75% of this book is fast-paced with lots of action and numerous plot twists. Then, it sort of dies. The lame "riddle" that must be solved by the government computer nerds at the end of the story regarding the hiroshima and nagasaki bombs is just plain dumb and the characters, who were somewhat intelligent up until that point, take stupid pills. Also, as was mentioned by some of the other reviewers, the revisionist history/political correctness in condemning America's "despicable" act using the bombs on Japan gets tiresome. The bombs ended the war; a war that was killing 35,000 US servicemen each week. Too bad the author flubbed at the end. Up until that point, it was a fun read.

Rating:
Summary: Weakened by shallow characters and incorrect technology.
Review: Dan Brown presents a smoothly flowing tale in Digital Fortress but it is weakened by technical details and cartoonish characters. The supposedly 'brilliant' protagnoists are constantly 'agape' 'astonished' and amazed, and live in emotional extremes. They seem childish and shallow. Technically, Brown blunders when he describes Germany's Enigma machine as a twelve-ton monster. In fact, it was about the size of a typewriter and would have to be small to be used by field units. He blunders again in describing the difference between the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs (an issue critical to finding a secret computer code) as being between two varieties of uranium when, as every scientifically oriented high school student knows, the Nagasaki bomb used Plutonium (see Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb). He fails to make his super computer a quantum computer and misses the opportunity to delve into public key encryption. Finally, his dive into political correctness is annoying. He describes the atomic bombing of Japan as a vile act committed when the war was already won. Actually, most of the generals did not want to quit even after Hiroshima and Nagaskai. The war was far from won. Brown needs to brush up on history and science before staring his next book. But he should try again; his novel moves along and he clearly has a talent for storytelling.

Rating:
Summary: Great plot
Review: Techies under attack by computer nerd... Great fun.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This book is an excellent, mind captivating read. The surprise behind the scenes for me, expecting just another mystery/thriller type of story, was the tremendous love story. I absolutely love when an author tells more than one tale. Dan Brown - thanks for the email turning me on to this book, I can't wait for the next one. Thanks again.

Rating:
Summary: Fast Read, Too Formula, Little Tech
Review: Although the book is an amazingly fast read, it just helps finish the book quicker. The story of the internal NSA conspiracy and the adventures of David Becker in Spain, are completely formula based. The whole idea of "impending doom" upon the intelligence agency, with the only hope being within a school teacher, who also happens to be engaged to the "stunning, intelligent, and perfect" NSA cryptology director, seems all to coincidental. Finally, the "action" scenes that take place within the NSA building are just too hokey. All in all, read the book if you're not in the mood for somethine along the lines of literary merit, and wait for the movie.

Rating:
Summary: Right up my alley. Escapist fun...
Review: You'll either love it or hate it! Crichton technology, DeMille humor, and plenty of surprises. Enjoyed the setting. Had never heard of the NSA!