Digital Fortress

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

This is a great read for the technically savvy but not for me. Great story, plenty of intrigue, much edge of your seat action. However, a lot of the technical jargon is over my head, and I had to plow through it slowly. This is the only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5.

It is a page turner. Not my usual genre but I loved it.

I've recently discovered Dan Brown's books, and have read several of them. He tells a good story, and has a knack for writing real page-turners that keep me reading long into the night, so that's a definite positive.He's not the world's greatest writer, by any means. I'm not looking for flowery prose (and in fact find it annoying--just tell the darn story, already!) but if I have to read "she felt tired" or "he felt scared" one more time, I'm tempted to toss the book across the room. Brown has gotten better since this one (which was copyright 1998), but he could really use an editor who will stand up to him.I didn't mind all the technobabble in this book, and I don't really care how plausible it is. It worked for me, and that's all I really need.But.The thing that kicked my review down to four stars was the motive for everything that happened.Ugh.Seriously, ugh.I'm not going to spoil it, but I'll just say it was far more... personal than I would have liked, and one of the characters, who I started out with a lot of respect for, turned into a blithering idiot by the time the book was over.Another thing that annoyed me was that Susan, who was supposed to be this kick-ass cryptography expert, turned into far too much of a damsel in distress as the story progressed. Yeah, she did have some good insights, but it seemed like most of the time she was reacting to other people's actions instead of taking any of her own. Her boyfriend in Spain was much more proactive, and I was rooting for him. I will say that Brown has gotten better with his female characters in the ensuing years, so I'll give him a break for this book being written so long ago.Anyway, it's mostly a good page-turner, so if Dan Brown's writing is the kind of thing you like, you'll probably like this one. Just be prepared to cringe at the end.

Another very good book by Dan Brown, I could not put it down and kept wanting to read. I very much enjoyed it.