Digital Fortress: A Thriller
by Dan Brown
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Book Summary Information
Author: Dan BrownEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2004-05-15
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Book Reviews of Digital Fortress: A Thriller
Book Review: Another solid thriller from Dan Brown
Summary: 4 Stars
I would like to start off by saying this book is not 100% accurate by any means. This is a fictional story, set in a fictional world, about a fictional event. After reading some other reviewer's articles I get the impression that some thought this was supposed to be a true story using strict facts and real world technologies. Dan Brown does not include a bibliography and never pretends to be a Computer Science wizard. With that said, the book is wholely enjoyable with a few interesting plot twists and great pacing.
Susan Fletcher, an NSA code breaking prodigy, wakes up to disappointing news. Her future husband, David Becker, has been sent over seas to find an item of great importance to the NSA causing them to miss their rendezvous. Disappointed, she gets called into work. Something is not right at the NSA. For the next 24 hours Susan and David run head long into murder, corruption, sorrow, and have to make decisions that will not only affect them but also effect the entire world.
Fans of Michael Crichton, Dan Brown's previous work, thrillers, and scifi will enjoy this book. Anyone that loves a good fiction book should also give it a try. For people that like to nit pick details and have to have every word footnoted, this is not the book for you.
Summary of Digital Fortress: A Thriller
Before the multi-million, runaway bestseller The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown set his razor-sharp research and storytelling skills on the most powerful intelligence organization on earth--the National Security Agency (NSA), an ultra-secret, multibillion-dollar agency many times more powerful than the CIA.When the NSA's invincible code-breaking machine encounters a mysterious code it cannot break, the agency calls its head cryptographer, Susan Fletcher, a brilliant and beautiful mathematician. What she uncovers sends shock waves through the corridors of power. The NSA is being held hostage...not by guns or bombs, but by a code so ingeniously complex that if released it would cripple U.S. intelligence.
Caught in an accelerating tempest of secrecy and lies, Susan Fletcher battles to save the agency she believes in. Betrayed on all sides, she finds herself fighting not only for her country but for her life, and in the end, for the life of the man she loves.
From the underground hallways of power to the skyscrapers of Tokyo to the towering cathedrals of Spain, a desperate race unfolds. It is a battle for survival--a crucial bid to destroy a creation of inconceivable genius...an impregnable code-writing formula that threatens to obliterate the post-cold war balance of power. Forever.
In most thrillers, "hardware" consists of big guns, airplanes, military vehicles, and weapons that make things explode. Dan Brown has written a thriller for those of us who like our hardware with disc drives and who rate our heroes by big brainpower rather than big firepower. It's an Internet user's spy novel where the good guys and bad guys struggle over secrets somewhat more intellectual than just where the secret formula is hidden--they have to gain understanding of what the secret formula actually is.
In this case, the secret formula is a new means of encryption, capable of changing the balance of international power. Part of the fun is that the book takes the reader along into an understanding of encryption technologies. You'll find yourself better understanding the political battles over such real-life technologies as the Clipper Chip and PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) software even though the book looks at the issues through the eyes of fiction.
Although there's enough globehopping in this book for James Bond, the real battleground is cyberspace, because that's where the "bomb" (or rather, the new encryption algorithm) will explode. Yes, there are a few flaws in the plot if you look too closely, but the cleverness and the sheer fun of it all more than make up for them. There are enough twists and turns to keep you guessing and a lot of high, gee-whiz-level information about encryption, code breaking, and the role they play in international politics. Set aside the whole afternoon and evening for it and have finger food on hand for supper--you may want to read this one straight through.
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