Customer Reviews

Digital Fortress: A Thriller

5 star:		(130)
4 star:		(62)
3 star:		(77)
2 star:		(66)
1 star:		(100)

 

 

Dan Brown has inspired me to read and actually find it enjoyable. I was never a vivid reader and despised reading most books I picked up "Deception Point," another novel by Dan Brown. I read it and was hooked. For each of Dan Brown's 4 books, I have never been so into a book in my life, I read for hours on end hoping to finish the novel to read the ending. Admittedly, I believe that The Da Vinci Code was over-hyped. Of the 4 books of his that I have read, The Da Vinci code was the worst. Digital Fortress, however, was not disappointing.

This book is thrilling, exciting and amazing it is so fast-paced I couldnt turn the pages fast enough; it held my attention till the end. But of course the story is extremely far fetched one would be naive to believe any of it to be facts.

Normally one to keep to something our book club is reading ("Life of Pi" by Martel, or "Katzenjammer" by McCrae), I veered off the path in search of my own "grail." Low and behold, I found Dan Brown. No I have NOT read "Da Vinci Code" but I will. DF is my first book of his and I loved it! This is just not something I'd ususally pick up, but WOW! What a punch this one packs. I guess if you're expecting a hyped up book, you might be disappointed, but I hadn't heard that much about "this one" and wasn't expecting much. Must also recommend the novels "About a Boy," and "Katzenjammer" by McCrae. Also, anything by Brown.

Took some time to review but was disappointed that the copy came in large print so it wasn't able to stay in our collection of great reads. Other than that it came as promised and in okay shape. Books should be mailed in book boxes, not envelopes where the spine gets broken and book edges smashed. The company did reimburse us for our complaint.

I cannot recall a time when I read a book cover to cover in one sitting. I would try to stop but everytime I put it down I was back at it in minutes.

This novel differs from Dan Brown's other well know works because it doesn't deal with theology at all. It has a powerful story line that ends each chapter with a cliff hanger. Digital fortress is easy to read and I would recommend it to anyone with an afternoon to spare.

I found the book interesting but not fantastic. The main female character was lame. It would have have been better to see a bit more spunk in her, instead she was pretty weak at times. She would fight the villain and then regress ... The characters in the book were supposed to be above average in intelligence, but I found their reasoning in certain situations really stupid (I'm trying not to give away the plot) ... there was no background why they did what they did ... no explanations for their reasoning ... it was like watching a mediocre movie ... cut in the wrong places so you had no idea what was going on ... You would get tid bits in the conversations .... but you were left hanging ...

I also found the whole concept a bit unrealistic, knowing the protocls of the nsa I could not see the scenarios presented in the book. Great idea but lame story line. Its not too bad of a read, Dan Brown keeps you in suspense like usual but unrealistic.
cheers

One of the best books I have ever read. It will keep you guessing until the end. Enjoy.

I am not big reader at all. I haven't read novel for ages. I read only technical books. Last summer I picked up this book and couldn't stop reading. I am electrical engineer and love this kind of stories. I never thought reading can be so much fun. Since then I red all Dan Browns books. All are great but Digital Fortress is my favorite.
Some people may not like hi tech / conspiracy fictions, but I loved it. I wish I can find more books like this one.

While I have generally enjoyed all of Dan Brown's stories, I found Digital Fortress somewhat unbelievable and far-fetched. For a work of fiction, an adventure and thriller, it meets the requirements, so long as you don't delve too deeply into the facts or science. The abilities of the characters also don't quite meet the mark - somewhat unbelievable and not in the realm of reality. While looking for something new to put a better taste in my mouth, I discovered a new thriller recently whose characters (unique) and strong science and facts, provided me with more thought-provoking ideas - Fusion, by Bruce Huntly. This one has ideas and characters you can enjoy and take seriously, and he even provides a possible solution to some of today's energy problems. I would recommend Fusion as a serious addition for readers of Dan Brown and Michael Crichton. Don't get me wrong, Digital Fortress keeps your attention and is an entertaining enough book but it fell short on some of my expectations.
Also recommended: Bruce Huntly: Fusion; Dan Brown: The Da Vinci Code, Deception Point; John Grisham: The Broker; Michael Crichton: State of Fear; Douglas Preston, Tyrannosaur Canyon.

This is the 3rd book I read from Dan Brown. I started with da Vinci Code like everyone and loved it. So I went on and read Deception Point, and now I just finished Digital Fortress. The latter two had exacly the same plot as the first one. Reading DF, I found myself skipping pages forward a couple of times, since it was so easy to predict what was gonna happen and I just couldn't read it again.

If this is the first book you read from Brown and you are not too much aware of computer security, you will love it. But if it isn't the first book, you'll easily guess the plot since the author uses the exact same plot through all the books I read from him. I still think it's worth reading if this is not your first Dan Brown but as I said, you we be a little disapointed with the plot.

Now, I'm an expert in the field of computer science security. Two third of the books I read from this author, and I know Angels and Demons deal with that to, have to do with cryptography. So, I think Dan Brown should get a lot more knowledge about cryptography and computer security before publishing his next novel. It seems to me that he just got a few "buzz" words from some cryptograhers so that he could throw them in the novels as needed. Also, some of his puzzles like the one in da Vinci code where you have to look in a mirror to decrypt a message, are way too easy. I'm not asking for puzzles imposible to solve, but at least something that would challenge the average reader. This is true for some puzzles in DF also.

Not all bad comes from Dan Brown's novels. I found that it is really well written and interesting. When I start reading his books, I know I wont be able to stop for a couple hundred pages. I love the fact that he bases his stories on hightech consiparies. I would just love to see him write a novel where the high tech stuff would actually make sens. That doesn't mean it has to be possible as this is a sci-fi novel you have to be open minded for the impossible to happen!