Rating: 
Summary: Decent thriller at the NSA
Review: This book does NOT have the same claims as Brown's "Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons", which claim that the references to art, history, symbology, etc., are all true. But this is a fun and quick book, I started it one evening and was done by the next afternoon. DVC and AD are two VERY similiar stories, and "Digital Fortress" is somewhat similar: the plot consists of a 24 hour period, and includes a dashing academic and a beautiful professional solving a mystery at the NSA, and it involves mysterious murders and international clandestine operations in a tense fast-paced plotline. But "Digital Fortress", as opposed to DVC and AD, is more about the plot and less about the environment. For example, cryptonalysis plays a prominent role in this book, but nearly as much as the symbology and anagrams of DVC or AD. If you're looking for the cryptographic equivalent of Da Vinci Code, this isn't really it. And as someone who grew up in the DC area and knows a bit about the workings of this town, I can say that the details in this book involve some real fiction. (For real insight into the NSA, I would suggest the non-fiction work by James Bamford called "The Puzzle Palace".) And the plot makes some real major leaps and includes a few rather obvious 'mysteries' and plot twists. But it's fast paced and fun nevertheless - for a decent work of fiction with some anagrams and a bit of the US intelligence network, "Digital Fortress" does the trick.
Rating: 
Summary: Digital? Possibly. Fortress? No.
Review: Because I had been fovorably impressed, but not swept over, by Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code', and because I am an amateur, very amateurish cryptography buff, I bought 'Digital Fortress'. One of the positive traits I had found in DVC was, in a general way, the considerable efforts invested by D. Brown in research. Whereas in Digital Fortress, the inaccuracy that borders on flippancy, of most of the cryptographic information displayed in the book cannot be the result of serious research. Of course, this is first and foremost a work of fiction. I do not expect it to be a treatise on cryptography. But an acceptable compromise could have been attained. In my modest opinion, it wasn't. So read it for fun, but just so.
Rating:
Summary: A bit obvious at times ...
Review: I liked most of this book, however the end was really annoying to me. The characters were like "Oh no, what is an element?" ... quite irksome. Dan Brown was very good at making you think one thing happened, and then turning right around again and throwing you off. (which is a good thing)
Rating: 
Summary: Predictable plot, factually inaccurate, embarassingly trite
Review: Because I loved his DVC, I read this novel without a critical screening - was I fooled! This book is awful - a total waste of time. Its only merit is it is unintentionally droll! My favorite gaffs: The plot takes obvious turns so often even the characters comment upon the number of coincidences; The matter-of-fact reference to a urinal while in the Ladies washroom; Brown's assumption that readers have no more than his elementary level of computer knowledge; and the colossal stupidity of the NSA characters who are supposed to have IQs of 170!
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable nonsense
Review: The book is a total nonsense. However, it will be a good source of amusement to anyone with a minimal background in computer science. You can find a plenty of gems to share with your collegues during lunch breaks, or to keep people awake during a boring technical presentation. Some examples:- You cryptographers know nothing about security
- 64 bits are sufficient to store 64 characters
- ZIP is an encryption algorithm
- Transltr does not care about an algorithm once it guesses the key
- a program that DEVELOPED a bug
- million bits long encryption keys
- etc...
Rating:
Summary: Digital dreck
Review: Criminy, how I loathed this book. It was painfully predictable, cliched and soulless. Another Dan Brown book with a brilliant, handsome academic and his brilliant, beautiful partner solving problems no one on the planet could hope to crack. Sheesh. Although the basic plot is reasonably clever, the one-dimensional characters, banal dialogue and foregone conclusion of the book make it an irritating read. Halfway through it I was rooting for the professor to die and the end of civilization as we know it. Wasn't gonna happen, of course, but at least it might've been interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Nice and suspensful; the DaVinci Code it is not
Review: This is a nice weekend mystery book. It touches upon interesting themes: (1) mysteries of the NSA; (2) supercomputers; (3) cryptography. Since those themes, are somewhat more "specialized" than the ones used by Dan Brown in "the Code" or in "Angels and demons" the book may not appeal to the same audience.
Rating:
Summary: Obvious and Simple
Review: I loved Dan Brown's other three books, but this was a real disappointment. I am in 9th grade, and many books stump me. However, this was too obvious. I figured out the mystery as soon as any clue was given. I was quite upset by the simplistic nature of his first book.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining techno-thriller with a thought-provoking climax
Review: Similar to "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons," this book has well-developed characters, an unspeakable conspiracy, an academic hero, a hideous assassin, a mad authoritative figure and the inspiration that makes you want to learn more about the subject matter. The flow of Dan Brown's writing in incredibly engaging and undeniably riveting. It will be hard to put down this book before the very last page is read. The book is not 100% sound from the technical perspective and some might argue that it's not sound from the narrative and logic perspective as well, but it is very informative and thought-provoking. The book tackles the issue of privacy and one's right to have it. Can we afford to live in a world where our most intimate thoughts are read and analyzed? Who has the right to watch us? Who is watching who's watching us? And who is watching who's watching who's watching us?! Pretty interesting premise, huh? Rich with technological, historical and general facts about encryption, NSA, nuclear bombs, privacy battles and languages, this book makes an awesome read. Whether you find computers to be either interesting or repulsive, you will find this reading experience to be quite rewarding. Dan Brown's writing gets better with each book. Since this is his first book, I recommend reading it first and then work your way up from there. You will be glad you did :-)
Rating:
Summary: Wow, was this bad.
Review: I read Angels and Demons first. Then I read The Da Vinci Code. Both were good. Not because they were well written, but because they had interesting story lines. But, both of those books were predictable. But the WORST book he has written so far is Digital Fortress. I knew the "who-dunnit" in the first quarter of the book and read the rest in case I was wrong. I wasn't. Unfortunatly, Mr. Brown only gave you one character that knew all the details. And that character was, of course, the guilty party. I was actually mad by the time I finished the book.
Another little issue I don't like are the clumsy suspense attempts. I hate knowing I am not given information to make me read more pages. If it's seamless, it's great. When it's not (and it's not), it stinks.
Beware. Da Vinci Code is good, but this book is not even worth the six dollars.
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