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.
Rating:
Summary: not his best work
Review: I have already read Browns two better-known books, The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons. They did not disappoint - with the exception of the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boy "perfect" heros and heroines, the plots were fascinating and the books were real pageturners.
However, this book was disappointing in that (1)the lead characters were extra-specially gorgeous, perfect and infallible and (2) it seems that the author let his own opinions on the availability of private communication data to the government be known over and over. However I would certainly read him again, though I cannot really recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN!!!
Review: This book consumed the life of myself and my husband for an entire weekend. Things like cleaning the house and going to the grocery store were put on hold! This was one of the best books I've ever read - read it and then recommend it to everyone you've ever met!
Rating:
Summary: The Second Greatest Book
Review: Dan Brown is a gifted artist with a serious talent for writing mystery thrillers. Digital Forfress is a wonderful story which captires the conscious mind in a split second. I urge everyone to read the book and enjoy it. ---Sherry Ann Rollins
Bloomfield College
BA, English-Writing
May 23, 2002
Rating: 
Summary: "Thriller" genre
Review: I did finish the book but I don't know why.
It reminds me of a "B" movie script that was later novelized by a hack writer.
But tastes differ - if you enjoy the first few chapters then you might enjoy it more than I did.
Rating:
Summary: good first effort
Review: I read the Da Vinci code first and Angels and Demons second. Compared to these two outstanding works this first effort is average. Be sure to not judge this writer by this first effort, the two I mentioned earlier are 5+ stars, don't miss them. But if you haven't read this one, you can skip it without too much guilt!
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