Rating: 
Summary: People love to whine
Review: I've read some of the other reviews on this board, and they seem to be coming from a bunch of whiners. Not to surprising considering this is Amazon. People are quick to point out it is technically inaccurate, but are not smart enough to tell you what those inaccuracise are. Not to mention they are assuming most of the world are software engineers. Anyway, I thought this was a great read, and a real page turner. Dan Brown does seem to use a formula, but doesn't every successful author? This book is worth reading unless you are one of the reviewers on this board whose life revolves around Star Trek and Japanese amime. If you have enjoyed his other work you won't be disappointed by this.
Rating:
Summary: A couple of flaws mar an otherwise very suspensful novel
Review: If the NSA has a guardian to prevent malicious code from getting into their vaunted multiprocessing code breaking computer, wouldn't they also have guardian block whatever might get out to other NSA systems? Especially, if a manager can bypass the guardian and allow the code to get in! Wouldn't this be a safeguard needed on a computer system that cost billions of dollars to build? This is one example of minor things that nagged at me after reading this novel.
That being said, while I was reading "Digital Fortress", I didn't take the time to ponder these questions because I was on a wonderful roller coaster ride of a story. The reader will find it very, very hard to put down this novel. I read "Digital Fortress" in one evening, finally going to bed at 2am.
Some of the characters needed to be fleshed out in this novel. Like the Langdon novels, Susan Fletcher, Dave Becker and the NSA Crypto team need to be revisited in future novels. And, the author needs to drop the mysterious assassin with one name that appear frequently in his novels (Hulahot in "Digital Fortress", Hassassin in "Angels & Demons" and Silas in "The Da Vinci Code") -- it's been repeated too much.
Rating: 
Summary: Suspenseful plot full of holes
Review: If you aren't that technically savvy and just want a suspenseful plotline, this book might do it for you. In Digital Fortress an expensive code-breaking computer owned by the NSA is under threat of an outside attack. A group of NSA employees are trying to save it, but some have agendas which are less than straightforward.
Dan Brown's writing keeps the reader wondering--how will the heroine/hero escape this time? What will happen next?
Brown's mastery of suspense was not enough, however, to overcome huge plot flaws which made it unbelievable for me. I will try to elaborate on a few which don't give away too much plot:
1. Passwords were compromised when an employee took equipment home and doctored them. Reality: Employees at this high level of security don't get to take ANYTHING home, including work (in another part of the book Brown says one of the characters took work home, too). They line up at the end of the day and are searched before they leave the premises.
2. The main character has 5-character password to her computer station. Reality: Most security professionals recommend an 8- to 10-character password for us average folk. I don't know what the NSA minimum is, but it's certainly not 5.
The climax at the end...well, let's just say it could never happen.
These plot flaws plus some cliche ending events took a lot of the punch out of the book for me. If you have a strong power to suspend disbelief or aren't a geek like me, you might enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: Don't believe the hype...
Review: It is time for a reality check. Neither Tom Clancy nor the NSA has anything to fear from Dan Brown's "Digital Fortress." Immediately one thinks, "This is a novel written by yuppies, for yuppies." The shallow, off-the-shelf, characters are totally uninteresting and bland... You keep telling yourself, "Just deal with it. I'm just reading this to find out what the NSA can really do." Well, friends, it's a disappointment. Anyone with the technical acuity of a 6th grader will be bored with this book. There are no solid details. It's sooo watered down. You know how Clancy can go off for pages on some arcane weapon system, or how a satelite works, etc...? Minute details, right? Brown gives us NOTHING like that kind of insight. Digital Fortress reads like a fattened up movie script. Most of the bulk of the book is an irritating cat and mouse game that doesn't do anything for the story. There is nothing revolutionary here. The technical shortcomings will be obvious to anyone with the slightest hint of sophistication. The subject matter was over the head of the author, and it shows. It's almost embarrassing. I was so excited about this book when I first heard about it. Jesus, was I disappointed... This thing may appeal to highschool kids and bored housewives that need something to do while the laundry is drying. It's not good for much else. If you're interested in the world of electronic intelligence gathering, read Bamford's "Puzzle Palace." As dated as it is, it is still "the" text on the NSA. Hager's "Secret Power" is also one to get. These books are non-fiction. I gave "Digital Fortress" a 5 only because it manages to move along at a brisk pace.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but obviously one of his earlier books
Review: Ok- first off... I really did enjoy this book. However, now that I have all 4 of Brown's novels, I have noticed a certain formula that Dan Brown uses.1- Use the word "Indredulous" as often as possible (although he kept the word to a minimum in "Digital Fortress" less than 10 occurrences).
2- The bad guy MUST be known by a term/phrase instead of a name (here he is known as "North Dakota").
3- The bad guy is double crossing the good guys... and you are NOT supposed to suspect this. 4- The novel must take place in the course of one day.
5- Your hero must wake-up and not have a clue that he will spend his entire day many miles away from home, while being chased by bad guys.
6- All good guys must be experts at something very arcane.
7- The ending must be weak. If you follow these steps you too can write a Dan Brown novel. ORRRR you can use this formula to figure out the book you are currently reading after about 100 pages. Of course, tweaks the formula for each of his books. However, "Digital Fortress" is clearly the little brother of all Brown's books. The plot is interesting and while the it certainly is a "Page Turner" you notice pretty quickly that everything doesn't quite add up. Like when the deaf guy notices all of the people entering the street because he HEARS a bell being rung. As others have pointed out, Brown has taken quite a few liberties with computer programming. Even though it took me two tries to get through FORTRAN, I had very little trouble figuring out a few of the mistakes. For the most part I enjoyed the novel. Since I know the Brown "Formula" it didn't take me very long to predict EXACTLY what would happen... but hey, sometimes a little predictability is ok!
Rating: 
Summary: Exhilarating thriller
Review: The more Dan Brown I read, the more I enjoy Dan Brown. The man is a master of the fast paced thriller and it is fun to watch his growth from one book to another even if I did begin my acquaintanceship with his blockbuster "The DaVinci Code." Brown's books always start fast and "Digital Fortress" is no exception. Ensei Tankado dies in a Seville plaza. He raises his hand, fingers outstretched . . . and dies. Susan Fletcher, a National Security Agency cryptographer is roused from her dreams first by a call from David Becker, her university professor boyfriend who tells her he has to postpone their planned weekend romantic retreat in order to fly off to an unknown destination. Seething and disappointed, her anger if interupted by a call from Commander Strathmore, her NSA boss asking - commanding - that she come in on this Saturday to help on an emergency project. It seems Tankado has launched an attack on NSA's most secret computers. From that point on, Brown takes you on a non-stop adventure - and it's fun. Brown's characters are well rounded and don't engage in super-heroics, though they do seem to catch more than their share of lucky breaks. But Brown's plotting carries you over those points so fast that you fail or simply don't want to notice them. For the thriller fan, "Digital Fortress" is an exhilarating read. Jerry
Rating:
Summary: NAIL CLIPPER
Review: The novel had me by the neck.
Technical quibbles from nitpicking critics notwithstanding it's spectacular high-speed thriller material: breakneck pace, punchy dialogue, very credible plot with clever twists, and, as typical of Brown's work, a delectably global setting.
Sure the descriptions of NSA may fall short of pitch perfection but they're made up for the most part by some sparkling wit, e.g., NSA being so cloak-and-dagger as to define itself as No Such Agency.
Above anything, I have a great deal of respect for Brown's research caliber. Some technological sections sound so frighteningly plausible it's hard to believe they came from an English teacher in New Hampshire. He makes sure he adds some ribbing academic humour into his lead character, surely a reflection of his real life!
The crypto theme and the lengths to which a national security organization is willing to go is thought-provoking if nothing else. Had me wondering if all this loss of privacy and violation of human rights is justified by the number of all the devious terrorist plots foiled and lives spared daily. An intriguing dilemma.
If a bit of technology doesn't intimidate you (all well explained anyway) I recommend this enthralling thriller in a blink.
Rating: 
Summary: He needed a computer tech advisor
Review: There are so many inaccuracies in this book that it makes it difficult to keep reading. It gives a new slant to The Da Vinci Code. If that's as full of errors as this one, then the Catholic Church can rest its concerns. I could enumerate them, but this book isn't worth the time or effort. I'm sorry I bought it.
Rating:
Summary: Should be a best seller!!!
Review: This is the fourth book of Dan Brown that I read for the star given here. This book must his first novel. To my delight plus surprise, this book is great, definiteltly better than Deception Point which the last scene of attempting to rescue the heroin from the Triton reads like fake, and too cliche. It is believable that TRANSLTR could break a 64-bit key or crack a 128-bit key in less than 6 hours, because it is a parallel computing machine of millions of processors. As great as Da Vinci Code but less filling.
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