Customer Reviews

Digital Fortress: A Thriller

5 star:		(131)
4 star:		(62)
3 star:		(77)
2 star:		(67)
1 star:		(100)

 

 

A very gripping read! Mr. Brown writes in a way that keep you wanting to know what happens next. I have read his other books and can't wait for his newest. I can recommend this to everybody who likes adventure and thrilling stories.

The book starts off as a cheesy romance (and flutters in and out of that mode between its various changes of Point of View), and ends by making hackers, certain educators and the NSA look like incompetent fools. If you're fighting the clock for something you truly believe is important, are you really going to dance around the answer in a halfhearted attempt at flirting?

There is a Linguist in the book. He is the stereotypical sort who knows multiple languages and can speak them in any dialect he needs at whim. While these people do exist, like the beautiful genius, it's more a series of a "look how special this character is!" moments for me as a reader. There are also many times in the book where a character will say something in one language followed by the same thing in English. I am never sure if the author meant that these characters were speaking both languages, or if he didn't feel like taking the translation (there for the reader's sake) out of the dialogue.

There are so many laws, International and American, broken by characters in this book in the name of "National Security" that it made me a little sick to think that anyone would just set out one day and decide that their country is above all others in importance and the extent to which it can defend itself.

Purporting the "you have nothing to fear unless you're a danger" mentality from the point of view of the NSA character, the book does not present any opposing views to this dangerous mindset. After all, who decides who is dangerous? As a very minor mantra in the book, the question is posed: Who will guard the guards? No answer is given, of course, and an instance of rather poetic justice is painted as the vilest of evils.

Unless you really want to read a novel that describes a woman in a way that suggest a good part of her character was created to allow the reader to mentally ogle her, see a pair of adults act like hormonal teens, have a cluster of characters live by "the ends justify the means" and see yet another coincidence pop up every few scenes, I'd suggest you steer clear of this book.

I couldn't give it just a single star, though, as it does have some good moments and a very small bit of historical information on codes and code breaking that might interest some readers.

After enjoying Da Vinci Code I was excited to see this one on the shelf. The excitement didn't last 10 pages. If you know nothing about software this might be a good read. However if you know even a tiny amount the errors are so glaring that the most strenuous attempt to "suspend disbelief" fails. I expected better from Dan Brown. Add that to the weak and silly plot contrivances and flat characterizations I finally put the book down half read, something I never do. This is an adventure/thriller and my standards are not high there but this book fails to meet even that minimum.

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 couldn’t 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.