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.


David Pogue, Macworld Magazine
A thriller is only as thrilling as it is real, and if Dan Brown's gut-churning story were any realer, its plot turns would hurl you against the wall.


Lawrence Lasker, Screenwriter, Wargames, Sneakers
Digital Fortress reads with all the pace of a hit movie.


From AudioFile
The National Security Agency's secret code-breaking machine is stumped by Digital Fortress, a code created by a former employee that could undermine the agency's efforts to keep tabs on the Information Highway. The code sparks two chains of events--a battle with a traitor within NSA headquarters that envelops Susan Fletcher, its head cryptographer, and a race for the ring containing the key code, which draws in David Becker, Susan's fiancé. Moved along by both the abridgment and Bruce Sabath's breathless reading, this techno-thriller races at a lightning pace. Sabath's offbeat character voices, such as that of an NSA staffer nicknamed Jabba the Hut, are fun. The many twists will keep people guessing to the end. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
The National Security Agency (NSA) is one setting for this exciting thriller; the other is Seville, where on page 1 the protagonist, lately dismissed from NSA, drops dead of a supposed heart attack. Though dead, he enjoys a dramaturgical afterlife in the form of his computer program. Digital Fortress creates unbreakable codes, which could render useless NSA's code-cracking supercomputer called TRANSLTR, but the deceased programmer slyly embossed a decryption key on a ring he wore. Pursuit of this ring is the engine of the plot. NSA cryptology boss Trevor Strathmore dispatches linguist Dave Becker to recover the ring, while he and Becker's lover, senior code-cracker Susan Fletcher, ponder the vulnerability of TRANSLTR. In Seville, over-the-top chase scenes abound; meanwhile, the critical events unfold at NSA. In a crescendo of murder, infernos, and explosions, it emerges that Strathmore has as agenda that goes beyond breaching Digital Fortress, and Brown's skill at hinting and concealing Strathmore's deceit will rivet cyber-minded readers. Gilbert Taylor


Don Ulsch, Managing Director, the National Security Institute
You are not going to forget Dan Brown! Comparisons of Brown to Tom Clancy are inevitable and justified. What Clancy has written so convincingly about the CIA and the FBI, Brown has accomplished masterfully for the secretive National Security Agency in "Digital Fortress". Dan Brown has crafted a powerful and memorable novel that is alive and kicking with intrigue, covert action, and more twists and turns than the NSA has underground bunkers. No longer can we think of Tom Clancy as the dominant literary icon with unequaled insight into the intelligence community: Dan Brown has charged that intrepid hill and now occupies the same high ground. "Digital Fortress" is frighteningly real, filled with honor and dishonor, passion and conviction, life and death, the love of country, and the inescapable conclusion that each of us understands deep inside: the complex simplicity of right and wrong and the strength of love are our beacons of hope.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Digital Fortress transports the reader deep within the most powerful intelligence organization on earth - the National Security Agency (NSA), an ultra-secret, multibillion-dollar agency, which (until now) less than 3 percent of Americans knew existed. When the NSA's invincible code-breaking machine encounters a mysterious code it cannot break, the agency calls in 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.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

John Mance

A disturbing, cutting—edge techno—thriller that should galvanize everyone who sends or receives e—mail or even dreams of navigating the web. — (John L. Mance, author of Pandora's Clock, Blackout)