Digital Fortress: A Thriller

Digital Fortress: A Thriller
by Dan Brown

Digital Fortress: A Thriller
List Price: $23.95
Our Price: $10.50
You Save: $13.45 (56%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.00 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


or

Book Summary Information

Author: Dan Brown
Edition: 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.

Action & Adventure Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Action & Adventure Books
Polar Shift ImagePolar Shift
by Paul Cussler Clive & Kemprecos
Penguin; Published: 2007; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.30
The Call of the Wild (Children's Classics) ImageThe Call of the Wild (Children's Classics)
by Jack London
Penguin Audio; Published: 1997-08-01; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $11.00
Pelican Brief ImagePelican Brief
by John Grisham
Trafalgar Square; Published: 1993-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.19
Price in other shops: $9.75
Stardust ImageStardust
by Neil Gaiman
HarperCollins; Published: 2008-12-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.30
Price in other shops: $6.99
Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 1) ImageQuicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 1)
by Neal Stephenson
William Morrow Paperbacks; Published: 2004-09-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.50
Price in other shops: $15.99
Sandstorm ImageSandstorm
by James Rollins
Harper; Published: 2005-04-26; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.50
Price in other shops: $7.99
No Man's Land ImageNo Man's Land
by G.M. Ford
William Morrow; Published: 2005-06-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.50
Price in other shops: $16.95
Forever Odd - Signed Proof ImageForever Odd - Signed Proof
by Dean Koontz
Bantam; Published: 2005; Paperback; Book
Prey ImagePrey
by Michael Crichton
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2003-08-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.95
Sharpe's Waterloo (Richard Sharpe's Adventure Series #20) ImageSharpe's Waterloo (Richard Sharpe's Adventure Series #20)
by Bernard Cornwell
Harpercollins; Published: 1998-01-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Similar Books and other products
Deliver Us from Evil ImageDeliver Us from Evil
by David Baldacci
Grand Central Publishing; Published: 2010-04-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.53
Price in other shops: $27.99
By Dan Brown: Angels & Demons ImageBy Dan Brown: Angels & Demons
Hardcover; Published: 2003-08-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.00
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ImageThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
by Stieg Larsson
Knopf; Published: 2008-09-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.99
Price in other shops: $26.95
DaVinci Code ImageDaVinci Code
by Dan Brown
Doubleday, New York; Published: 2003; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.00
Deception Point ImageDeception Point
by Dan Brown
POCKET BOOKS @; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.09
The Da Vinci Code ImageThe Da Vinci Code
by Dan Brown
PBS; Doubleday; Published: 2003-03-18; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.61
Price in other shops: $26.95
The Lost Symbol (Dan Brown) ImageThe Lost Symbol (Dan Brown)
by Dan Brown
Doubleday Books; Published: 2009-09-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.45
Price in other shops: $29.95
Angels & Demons ImageAngels & Demons
by Dan Brown
Atria; Published: 2003-07-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.93
Price in other shops: $26.00
Deception Point ImageDeception Point
by Dan Brown
Atria Books; Published: 2003-09-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.69
Price in other shops: $24.00
Deception Point ImageDeception Point
by Dan Brown
Washington Square Press; Published: 2006-05-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops: $16.00