Rating: 
Summary: A Fun Read
Review: I found this book to be a fun book to read, with the usual far fetched action, and some unusual twists. If you like computers and spy stories, this is the book for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Disappointed
Review: Wow. I read Angels and Demons and immediately went out and bought this book and was extremely disappointed. I am glad that I read Angels and Demons first or I would never have bought another book by this author.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting start, good story, Hollywood style finish!
Review: This book was recommended to me by David Gerhard, cousin of the author. I really appreciate Dan's work in coming up with a good story. I used to work (indirectly) for the agency he is writing about in this book and I was amazed by some of the reality turned fantasy (excellent job!). This book reads very much like a Hollywood movie with a clearly Hollywood finish. It should be very easy to turn into a screen play. That said, I was very impressed with the detail in the beginning of the book. I enjoyed it and I recommend it. (...)
Rating:
Summary: Promising plot, weak characters, weaker writing
Review: In the hands of a good screenwriter given a mandate to make big changes, this book could make a good movie, but as literature, it's painful. The main characters are one-dimensional stereotypes (unless they are hiding something, in which case they are two-dimensional at best), the writing is clichéd, and the ending was the most excrutiating, drawn-out thing I've ever experienced in a climactic scene. (Okay, when you know the answer to a riddle on which the entire future of civilization hangs for a few moments before the supposedly brilliant main characters figure it out, that's not ideal but it sometimes happens in fiction; when you know the answer pages and pages and pages ahead of them, and are tortured as they take baby-steps toward the answers, it makes you want to throw the book across the room.) While the way all the characters were described and portrayed bugged me, none bothered me as much as the main character, Susan. We're told she's incredibly brilliant, but more space is given over to descriptions of her incredible legs than her brains, and she's usually shown acting clueless, worried, or insecure. It's really too bad, because the plot was promising, but the execution fell too far short to recommend the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Digital Fortress
Review: Very different. Fast moving and exciting. Informative for those not familiar with computers and an eye opener with those activities and programs kept from the public by the Government.
Would definitely recommend for those who want a break from more serious reading. Doesn't talk down to you.
Rating: 
Summary: Good idea, but wait...
Review: I like a good plot, I love good characters that move, flow, and adapt in a seting. A good closure is the heart of any good novle. This book, while writen pritty well fails on most fronts. Were I nsa, I'd never have hired most of these people. Susan reminds me of a chick from <fill in the blank> horor flick. She's frightened and acts like a blond bimbo. Greg just goes nuts and doesn't act like I'd immagin he would. Dave, the perfect companion to sexy Susan should have been killed! The killer, like in so many books keeps f...ing it up. One can't miss that many times if one is good. The ending, the closure is stereotipical. Down to the write and the day is saves. There is no sence of the events really hitting this cast of characters, no real aftermath. The only thing that's of some interest is the reader's digest historical lesson on cryptography. Though things are simplified, and the nsa isn't as secret as he would lead us to believe. It's a great book when you're on the pot. :)
Rating:
Summary: Skillfull author, but he should stick to what he knows.
Review: I must admit I was rather pleased with the general writing style of the author, I imagine he's normally quite good at both telling the story itself, and building characters one cares about.This book was however, a major disapointment. It's not only the most technically flawed book of it's kind I've ever read, but it's failed in every turn it possibly could. The technical flaws are not limited simply to the mathematical nature of cryptography, but the characters he discribes are not at all believable. If you think you'd like this book based on the introduction to the storyline I would rather suggest you pick up a copy of Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson.
Rating:
Summary: A really fun and enjoyable read!
Review: This is a great book for those who like techno-thrillers. It is also provides the reader with a lot of interesting facts and background, as far as the NSA is concerned. I also really liked all the information about codes and code breaking. The book is well written and is a real page turner. Every time I put the book down, I found myself wondering when I would be able to return to it, to see what happend next.
Rating:
Summary: Junk junk junk junk
Review: This book is junk. The story is unconvincing and written like an action-movie script. It contains several technical errors and assumptions. The plot is not credible. The end is weak.
Rating:
Summary: Indecipherable
Review: In the mood for suspending my belief, I packed "Digital Fortress" on a trip to Orlando and was amazed at how all those Orlando attractions now attained a level of incredible plausibility. Ostensibly the story of how a computer programmer creates a virtually unbreakable code, the eponymous "Digital Fortress", setting off a global-manhunt for the only conceivable key, the novel never grows out of a great idea, never offers remotely plausible or even appealing charachters, and never creates any tension. By the end, when secrets are revealed, what should be major plot twist has long been undermined by plot contrivances and fake charachters. I should have seen the warning signs - the Author describes the NSA in terms of how many Americans are aware of it. In one swipe, the author identifies his readers by their ignorance of the setting and insures us that much of our suspense will thus rely on our not having seen "Sneakers" or "Good Will Hunting". Further complicating things is the ends by which the author neglects the cause of pluasibility: The denizens of NSA headquarters are so dim, it's inconceivable that they'd be able to run an ISP, let alone the most sophisticated code-breaking computer in the world. Our hero is a bookworm in somewhat adequate shape, but the author presents no credible reason to explain his survivability against one of the world's deadliest assasins; The assassin is a bit of a cheat himself - using a PDA (?) to phone in his kills before their dead. Once it becomes apparent that the key to "Digital Fortress" might be engraved on a ring worn by its creator, prolongoing the hunt for the code-key, the author fails to create sense that the hit man might be better off tracking down the ring than our hero. Instead, and for reasons unknown, the assassin remains forever two-steps behind. Much of the tension of "Digital Fortress" involves just that - the hero tracking down the mysterious code-key ring in Spain, and boy it gets tired fast, with the hero tracking the ring down from one owner to the next. But plausbility isn't what the author is looking for. By the time that "Digital Fortress" reaches a climax, I couldn't care whether the NSA would be destroyed by the killer code, mostly because the author had by then changed from telling a story to giving a pitch for some splashy action movie, making the novel's Hollywood aspirations annoyingly clear. Throw away the key!
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