In rounding out my Dan Brown reading there was only 1 of the 4 novels I hadn't read. But now I have and I wish I would have read this one first. That way I wouldn't have been let down. "Digital Fortress" doesn't to have the edge or the constant action found in "The DaVinci Code" or even "Angels & Demons." It's not a bad novel, it's just very tame when compared to those action thrillers.
In "Digital Fortress" Dan Brown covers a very timely storyline, in which the U.S. Intelligence community relies on the NSA. And the NSA Relies on a new computer called TRANSLTR, which can snoop and read every email and break any encryption code. Published at least 5 years before President Bush had problems with wiretapping and snooping, Mr. Brown was talking about how the government could snoop through your e-mails. The action begins when a former NSA employee a computer expert, Ensei Tankado, who helped design TRANSLTR, does not think the government has the right to snoop in private lives of citizens and vows to make an unbreakable encryption code.
The code is Digital Fortress, and after creating the code the creator, Tankado dies of a heart attack, but not before putting the code up on the internet. The NSA has downloaded the code to try to break it but problems erupt without the key to the encryption code. Tankado's motto, "Who will guard the guards" is moved on through the fact that unless the NSA publicly admits to having TRANSLTR the code will destry TRANSLTR.
The action of this book is lacking mainly because most of the events take place in the Crypto-Dome of the NSA (home of TRANSLTR). However, Dan Brown, does do his signature globe hopping, by the NSA having to send the fiance (David Becker) of one of it's crypto agents (Susan Fletcher), to Spain to find the key which is with Tankado's body. At least that's where it started. So between the events in the crypto-dome and David Becker trying to locate a ring that Tankado handed off to tourists at the time of his death, the action just doesn't match up to Mr. Brown's other books.
It is a good espionage, plot-twister novel. Just don't compare to other Dan Brown books.
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Comments: 7
I had not heard of Digital Fortress before, but will look for it at the library on my next trip to town.
Far superior are the books by, say, Robert Wilson or Arturo Perez-Reverte or Robert Littell. These typically combine suspense, action, excitement, danger, exotic locations and exceedingly mundane locations, all with language that is far beyond what one finds in the typical "summer thriller". These books teach me things about history, art, people, politics and much more, while maintaining the pacing of a thriller (in most cases). I've reviewed a number of them at Nearly nothing but novels: fiction and crime fiction book reviews.
So, for me, Digital Fortress was fine when I couldn't sleep and needed something to focus on that wasn't too demanding, but it didn't hold up to closer scrutiny. I don't feel much different about the others, except that the intensity was higher (I'm not disagreeing with you about DF being slower- it just didn't bother me). In the end, I had reader's remorse with all of them, though this was mitigated for the Da Vinci Code because I received the illustrated hardback as a gift, and it was great to see the artwork referred to in the book.
So, I'd rate all of Dan Brown's work and fun and largely forgettable. There is a place for this kind of book in my life, but not a big place.
Thanks for the review of this and so many books. I'm going through your reviews and enjoying them: I've read very little Philip K. Dick, and it was so long ago that I can't remember what it was, but he was clearly a gem and an inspiration to many. Best wishes!
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