Rating: 
Summary: Edge of your seat thriller and future movie script
Review: This book is simply a thriller. Does it have some character development issues, of course. Does it stretch the plausibility of the reader when it comes to technology, you bet! Is it a blast to read? Absolutely, no question.In fact the last few chapters, with the clock winding down and the pressure on to solve a code with seconds to spare, I found myself literally skimming and turning pages as fast as I could to try and find out what happened and then going back for a more thorough read. This is perhaps the highest praise for a tense thriller - the heart pounding, edge of your seat, emotional impact in the moment. It will make an incredible movie screen play, and would be a great thriller in the James Bond or Jack Ryan tradition. Is this a literary masterpiece, and are the criticisms of other reviewers in regards the writing accurate? Sure. However, this misses the point. This is just for fun, and in that regard succeeds brilliantly. You will forget the details soon after, but enjoy the process. If you get caught up in the details, then perhaps you are taking it too seriously. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: A Total Waste Of Time!!
Review: I doubt this will be a popular review, but I feel obliged to tell it like I see it...or read it, in this case - and "Digital Fortress" is a waste of time! I have now read all of Dan Brown's books and am a big fan. Brown tackles unusual subjects, conducts impeccable research on his topics and writes fabulous suspense thrillers, with the exception of this one. His characters are cardboard, totally without depth. The plot could have been believable but it is not written in a credible or logical manner. The action is chaotic - and there is too much action and too little substance here. The National Security Agency, (NSA), has a top secret, totally invincible code-breaking machine called TRANSLTR, especially effective against advanced electronic terrorism. A disgruntled ex-NSA employee, Ensei Tankado, is a genius computer programmer and author of encryption algorithms. He has written a program that creates unbreakable codes and is using this program to blackmail NSA. Tankado wants a public disclosure of TRANSLTR. This multibillion dollar wonder machine that supports the CIA, FBI, DEA, IRS, etc., and traces & monitors drug cartel shipments, corporate money transfers and terrorists chatter on the Internet, also grossly violates human rights. It is able to open and read everyone's email and reseal it without public knowledge. The US government has the capability, with TRANSLTR, of violating the privacy of computer users around the world. And Tankado is sworn to protect the peoples' right to privacy. Sounds like a terrific plot, right? That's why I bought the book. Enter Susan Fletcher, the beautiful, talented, brilliant NSA cryptologist and mathematician who steps in to investigate the unbreakable code that threatens to render TRANSLTR useless. What she uncovers should be shocking and terrifying, but it isn't. It's blatantly unbelievable. The theory is realistic, but the people who take action, and their different rationales, are totally ludicrous. How could people like this be in charge of national security? I could understand a bad apple, or even two - but there are just too many wackos populating this novel, and all with mega-responsibility. It would be horrifying if there were a secret code that would cripple US intelligence systems. But Brown tampered too much with a potentially great plot. He has Susan's boss, Commander Strathmore, deputy director of NSA's CRYPTO facility, send Susan's fiance to Spain on a Top Secret errand...and the fiance doesn't even work for NSA! He's a foreign language professor! Apparently Strathmore has his own agenda, which is ridiculous and totally weakens the storyline. There is unnecessary globetrotting, too many needless murders, silly dialogue, uncalled for disasters, etc., etc. If Dan Brown were not the author, I would have closed the book before the halfway mark. I kept waiting for the author to make some sense out of all the malarkey. There is so much potential here for a super suspense techno-thriller. And the issue of where to draw the line between national security and personal freedom is a wonderful one to explore. Unfortunately the novel contains too many special effects, unbelievable subplots and flat characters...and all the above mentioned needless action. The fascinating information about real life technologies, cryptography and the battle for privacy in cyberspace is lost in the mega-murders and catastrophes that plague this novel. If you are intrigued by the subject matter, then by all means read the book, and you may even enjoy it. It seems that other reviewers have. I don't often award 1 Star, but I really believe that that's all this novel deserves. I find Dan Brown's other books to be excellent - across the board.
JANA
Rating: 
Summary: Fun, fast paced techno-thriller
Review: The first of many excitingly fun reads by author Dan Brown is more of a techno-thriller than the more traditional thrillers his books to follow have become, but Brown shows flashes of his more polished writing style in this book about secret government spy agencies and conspiracies within them. When the fiancée of government techno-wizard Susan Fletcher is hired to embark on a dangerous mission overseas, she is naturally petrified for him. When she finds out he is being used as a pawn in a government conspiracy involving her own boss (who secretly pines for her attention) all hell is about to break loose. Nevermind that the super-computer that protects all secret government information is about to go down....inviting anyone with a desktop computer to hack into anything they have ever wanted to know... If you are a fan of high-tech thrillers, this will be a very fun read for you. It may be a bit too "tech-y" if you are not into that kind of thing - so bear that in mind as well. All-in-all it's a very fun book to read and I would recommend it, especially if you have read any of Brown's other novels (Deception Point, Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code) and enjoyed them. Sit back and have fun with this one!
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting plot, weak characters
Review: Here's the problem: Digital Fortress has a good plot, but it's filled with weak characters. I really liked the plot. A disgruntled NSA employee develops an unbreakable encryption program (the Digital Fortress) and threatens to give both the encryption program and the key (which is buried in the program) away on the Internet. If the bad guys gain access to the key, they will be able to communicate without fear of the NSA decrypting their messages. This throws the NSA into a panic - as it should - so they send David Becker to track down the former employee. However, David learns that the man has died in suspicious circumstances, so ... well, you know. Pretty good so far, but now consider the main characters. Susan Fletcher and David Becker are the perfect pair. She's beautiful, intelligent, sexy and decent to the core. He's beautiful, intelligent, sexy and - yes - decent to the core. Although Susan has an IQ of 170, she's mostly eye candy. The only surprise was that nobody tied her to railroad tracks in front of an oncoming train. Although that might have improved her characterization. David, on the other hand turns out to be the greatest daredevil of all time, outwitting a professional assassin, even though the most exciting thing he has done is to thrash an opponent on a squash court (and then treat him to a fruit shake and bagel). There's another character known only as Jabba ... enough said? Okay, so what's the bottom line? This clearly isn't a top-level thriller, but if your plans fall through some weekend, this wouldn't be a bad book to pick up.
Rating:
Summary: Ignoring the techno-details, pretty darn good plot
Review: Few thrillers dare to tread on the turf of the NSA, preferring the comfortable terrain of the FBI or CIA. As portrayed by Brown, the NSA relies upon stealth, brainpower and technological wizardry to monitor the world's voice and data communications. The plot revolves around a brilliant, ex-NSA scientist, Tankado. Worried about the government's ability to monitor all communications, he has threatened the release of a totally new cryptographic technology, termed "Digital Fortress". Digital Fortress is impervious to traditional "brute force" attacks and, thus, the NSA's highly parallel supercomputers. The only chance to contain this groundbreaking technology lies with Susan Fletcher, head cryptographer, and her fiance, David Becker, who has been sent to Spain to retrieve Digital Fortress' only key. Ignoring the book's technological explanations (many of the cryptographic and other details are flat-out wrong), the plot is pretty exciting. Few novels deal with the NSA with all of the requisite, technically daunting explanations... but Brown has rendered a pretty exciting story around the NSA, even if many of the background details are off-base.
Rating: 
Summary: Who are the good guys?
Review: ***Warning: Plot spoilers ahead!*** How does one write a novel about something that ends up being non-existent by the end of the book? Welcome to "Digital Fortress." Dan Brown, best-selling author of "The Da Vinci Code," pens an adequate practice run with "Digital Fortress"...but only adequate. It spins a "what if" scenario about a government agency that wants badly to have access to all digital communications globally in order to "serve and protect." This big brother plot is interesting enough to hook the reader, but once inside the story, there are no characters with whom to sympathize. Who are the bad guys and who are the good guys? By the end of the novel I still had no clear idea of who the author was wanting me to like and who to hate, and that apathy made me ask why I'd bothered to read to the finish? Perhaps that's why "Digital Fortress" didn't put the author on the map, but will become a sort of "backhanded" bestseller based on "The Da Vinci Code."
Rating:
Summary: A laughably horrible book
Review: Some suspense thrillers keep you on the edge of your seat, and impress you with the research of the author and their ability to keep you guessing until the final pages. This is not one of those books. Staying within the 1k word limit of this review, I'll just point out the few bits that drove me crazy, and might make you laugh out loud: ? The #2 person at NSA has the rank of Commander (O-5)? DIRNSA typically is a 4-star. And anyone who retires from the Navy with the rank of CMDR does not ask his co-workers to call him that as an honorific. ? Mandarin Chinese characters (sic) can be mistake for Japanese Kanji? ?The key device in the book is a supercomputer called TRANSLTR. It is used in dialog in this form throughout. How is that pronounced? Do you pronounce each letter? Something an editor should have caught. ? Mainframe computers have motherboards? You fix "motherboards" installed in mainframes by crawling under them with a soldering gun??? ?Senior NSA cryptologists apparently aren't tied to the federal payscale, and drive Lotus' and such, while working in their latte-filled, dot.bom-style playhouse at Ft. Meade. Pluh-eese! ?The most ultrasecret data bank in the entire US government, which includes EVERYTHING secret, from DoJ witness protection program IDs to CIA covert ops, IS CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET?!?! ? The ultra-hyper-super-powerful computer at the heart of NSA's cryptographic analysis has 33 million processors and some kind of quantum computing thingy. SaaayWhaaat? Pick of a copy of Creighton's "Timeline" and then try to imagine how quantum computing somehow got tacked onto the internals of a 33-million-processor binary beast. Other than being shaped like a phallus, the concept fails the laugh test. The dialog is terrible, there is no character development. It uses every cliche in the genre, and is entertaining only if you 1) like to read badly-constructed novels or 2) are remarkably gullible. The author seems to think that the only kind of code consists of PGP-style public/private key-based encryption. Even the most trivial amount of research would have shown that crypto is a rich field, and the best codes are not subject to brute-force attacks. The only reason I finished this poorly-researched, poorly-written book is because I wanted to find out just how clumisly it would lurch to its obvious conclusion. On the plus side, I liked the jacket design and typeface. My copy may still be in a men's room at LAX. Save your $$; buy anything written by Neal Stephenson instead.
Rating:
Summary: "Fantastic & Thrilling To The Very End"
Review: The battleground is cyberspace and beautiful Susan Fletcher (head crytographer and mathematician) has her job cut out for her as she tries to break a code the NSA'S code-breaking machine cannot. The race for time is on as Susan battles to save the country and her life after being betrayed on all sides. DIGITAL FORTRESS by creative writer DAN BROWN is a sure to be BESTSELLER with this MUST READ NOVEL...A novel you won't want to miss! (Highly Recommended!)
Rating:
Summary: I like the style of the book, not the subject matter
Review: The National Security Agency has been working for years on a method to intercept and crack any code or encrypted message sent via E-Mail across the globe. They finally developed a machine so powerful that it can decode even the toughest messages in just a matter of minutes. The machine is dubbed TRANSLTR. The existence of TRANSLTR is threatened when a bitter, crippled Japanese programmer threatens to release an encryption method that TRANSLTR can't crack: Digital Fortress. Digital Fortress is placed up on the web, encrypted in itself so that only those with the passcode can unlock it. The NSA learns the programmer is working with a partner as a safety measure. If he should die, the partner will publish the passcode within 24 hours. The programmer is found dead in Spain and the NSA must race the clock to obtain both passcodes before it is too late. The whole idea that keeping Digital Fortress out of the hands of the public was a life or death situation seemed a little too weighty for me. I believe the basic idea of Digital Fortress is that the encryption was constantly revolving, making it impossible for a computer to guess when the correct passcode had been entered. Anyone in the computer world knows that everything has a workaround. It may be that Digital Fortress would make TRANSLTR extinct, but necessity is the mother of invention and people would eventually figure out how to break into a file encrypted by Digital Fortress. Therefore, the book seemed a little bloody to me. People were taking the issue WAY too seriously. If you put the absurdity of the subject matter aside, I still enjoyed the book. I'm really starting to like Dan Brown's work. I've also read the Da Vinci Code and both books are filled with information you may not have previously known (such as where the term "sincerely" really comes from). They were also both written in real-time. I absolutely love books written in real-time. No skipping ahead three months and losing a portion of the person's life. No thought or detail left unattended. It was a good, dark read that I really enjoyed. I can't wait to delve into some of Dan Brown's other works.
Rating:
Summary: A Real Comedown
Review: Having read The Davinci Code and having been fascinated by the research, I wanted to read other works by this author. This is the first of his books, chronologically, and when it is compared to his other work, is found to be the most disappointing. The plot is most predictable and the excitement that exists at the beginning tends to wear thin. As his first published work, it is possible to see how much he has grown as a writer. Although the book is a rapid read, it pales in comparison to his other works.
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