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: 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: 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.
Rating:
Summary: NOT BAD....BUT NOT GREAT
Review: After having read "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels & Demons" I was ready to attempt to crack another mystery thriller by Dan Brown. The previous books were a challenge to solve but "Digital Fortress" did not measure up. The basic plot of a super computer "code breaker" gone mad was interesting but it was evident within the first 75 pages that the mystery was going to be easily solved. The charcters were given highly educated credentials but didn't seem very brilliant when it came to solving fairly obvious clues. This was very evident in the last part of the book when the computer printed out the "Ceasar's Box" algorithm. A room full of scientists and UBER computers geeks took forever to come up with the simple answer "3".
Perhaps because this was Dan Brown's first book and he hadn't mastered the skill he showed in "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons" that I wasn't overly impressed with this effort. If you've read other books by him you'll quickly see that he follows a similar formula for each of his books. While this book wasn't bad, it doesn't come close to his later work. If this is your first Dan Brown book you'll probably enjoy the read but if you've read his other books first, you might end up a little disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS
Review: this book is one of the best books i have ever read. a littil slow in the begging but man the ending will blow your socks off. one of the best books i have ever read. THIS BOOK IS DA BOMB
WEST SIDE CONNECTION........ what now peace
Rating:
Summary: Another Highly interesting read from Dan Brown
Review: I found this book just as fascinating as " The Da Vinci Code"
The topic alone of Cryptology could keep me entertained for hours! All readers should bear in mind that Dan Browns books are fiction, readers have to decide what's real and what's not unless they are experts in that field.
I found the story highly plausible and imaginitive, and with continuing clever twists. As usual the decriptions of the settings were very entertaining.
Character depth can be notoriously difficult to create in thrillers without making the characters sound so corny.
It's probably one of the hardest genres due to the authors effort to create a fast paced novel that matches the topic.
A thoroughly enjoyable read for mine!
Rating: 
Summary: NOT UP TO PAR
Review: I have read 3 of Dan Brown;s bookd, and thi is by far the worst. The plot is very straightforward and majority of the readers will figure out most of the ending by the halfway point.In addition there is virtually no suspense or the suspense is phony and forced.
Skip this one
Rating:
Summary: Quick read, fun if you ignore all the details....
Review: I read this book as it was given to me by my parents, whom thought it was 'pretty good.' I read it and while mildly entertained, I was really let down by the ludicous gaps in knowlege of systems and storage which are main elements in the book. My thought would be the author would at least research and know his stuff before he publishes. He refers to systems having hard drives, and in the same breath notes 'and if they shut down the power, all the information will be lost forever!!' Right. This misnomer is replicated constantly in parallel examples. If you dont know much about computers, it may all sound very convincing... However the double edge to that sword is, you will be very misinformed with how computers actually work.
Based on this read, I would not waste my time with other works by this author - I was let down too much..
** SPOILER WARNING **
Oh yes, lets not forget about the Mensa crypto folks who cant see anagrams of persons last names in a 10-12 char string..
Also annoying that I could see what was happening in the story 2 pages before the author spells it out through the characters...
8(
Rating:
Summary: The little things he gets so wrong really bug me!
Review: I read Da Vinci Code when everyone else was reading it, then Digital Fortress, now I'm reading Angels and Demons. I enjoy Brown's plot and like his characters (1-dimensional as some people might think they are). Each book has some deeply geeky aspect that very few people have any chance of questioning. I'm not an art historian so I can take a lot of Da Vinci Code at face value and not wince. I'm not a cryptographer so Digital Fortress's esoteric technology is fine. But in Digital Fortress, Brown calls a computer that must be a workstation a "terminal" and in Angels and Demons he refers to a cell phone having dial tone. Now I happen to think that dial tone would be a great way for cell phones to indicate that they have service but in my experience, none do that. Didn't anyone edit these books? Geez.
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