Digital Fortress - SFBA Book Club

mass market paperback, 528 pages

English language

Published Dec. 24, 2013 by Corgi Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-552-16998-1
OCLC Number:: 844311468

(1 review)

National Security Agency, Fort Meade, Maryland: when the most powerful intelligence organization on earth's invincible code-breaking machine encounters a mysterious code it cannot break, it calls for 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 US intelligence.

Seville, Spain: the creator of the code, Ensei Tankado, is found dead. And with him has died the secret to an impregnable code-writing formula that threatens to obliterate the post-cold war balance of power. Forever.

From the underground hallways of power to the skyscrapers of Tokyo to the towering cathedrals of Spain, a desperate race unfolds. Caught in an accelerating tempest of secrecy and lies, betrayed on all sides, Susan Fletcher finds herself fighting not only for …

National Security Agency, Fort Meade, Maryland: when the most powerful intelligence organization on earth's invincible code-breaking machine encounters a mysterious code it cannot break, it calls for 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 US intelligence.

Seville, Spain: the creator of the code, Ensei Tankado, is found dead. And with him has died the secret to an impregnable code-writing formula that threatens to obliterate the post-cold war balance of power. Forever.

From the underground hallways of power to the skyscrapers of Tokyo to the towering cathedrals of Spain, a desperate race unfolds. Caught in an accelerating tempest of secrecy and lies, betrayed on all sides, Susan Fletcher finds herself fighting not only for her country but for her life, and in the end. for the life of the man she loves. --back cover

48 editions

Ashwin reviewed DIGITAL FORTRESS by Dan Brown

Review of 'DIGITAL FORTRESS' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

This is Dan Brown's first fictional work. The story involves the ultra secret NSA and its cryptographic department. The NSA has built a 3 million processor computer named TRANSLTR which can crack any ciphertext by means of brute force. But, it is one day challenged with a ciphertext that it can't crack. Also, the creator of the new encryption algorithm named Digital Fortress threatens to go public with this algo if NSA doesn't reveal to the world that it has been snooping on the world's information using TRANSLTR. But, there is more to it. There is a chance of USA's biggest secrets being revealed to the world.

Compared to The Da Vinci Code, Digital Fortress is quite amateurish, especially the former half. The main protagonist is a female cryptographer who is in love and has a fabulous figure to boot. The book rests on cryptography, so the author tries to …

This is Dan Brown's first fictional work. The story involves the ultra secret NSA and its cryptographic department. The NSA has built a 3 million processor computer named TRANSLTR which can crack any ciphertext by means of brute force. But, it is one day challenged with a ciphertext that it can't crack. Also, the creator of the new encryption algorithm named Digital Fortress threatens to go public with this algo if NSA doesn't reveal to the world that it has been snooping on the world's information using TRANSLTR. But, there is more to it. There is a chance of USA's biggest secrets being revealed to the world.

Compared to The Da Vinci Code, Digital Fortress is quite amateurish, especially the former half. The main protagonist is a female cryptographer who is in love and has a fabulous figure to boot. The book rests on cryptography, so the author tries to explain every single crypto jargon in layman terms. This read quite funny to me in most cases. Thankfully, by the the time I hit the latter parts, the book was a nail biting page turner with Brown throwing up twist after twist. In parts of the book the EFF and the right to information show up. An enjoyable read.

Subjects

Fiction, espionage
Fiction, technological
Fiction, thrillers, general