Knowledge Brings Fear

Dan Brown: Digital Fortress

Dan Brown has become famous (and probably rich) with his bestseller The Da Vinci Code. Now his publisher is trying to dust off his older stuff and has published "Digital Fortress" from 1998. The plot is at least a bit interesting. The NSA has a secret exotic hardware computer that can break any encryption. They are of course the good guys who just prevent evil, terrorism and dark forces from taking over the world, so they can be trusted with this kind of power. Just some misguided libertarian troublemakers dont like them snooping into everyones communication. Around this setting the classic story setting of a Dan Brown novel begins to spin: Likeable professor attached to intelligent and beautiful woman hunts for some mysterious secret/object/truth, guided by his own smarts, strength and luck along a increasingly unbelievable story-path.

I have read the Da Vinci Code only after reading Angels & Demons from the same author, so the whole setting was very familiar. In Digital Fortress you can see Dan Brown trying out the elements that made his success in his later books. The book in itself is mainly worth reading for the interesting NSA / codebreaking setting. It contains numerous serious instances of hollywood science and even some avoidable basic errors (like frequently confusing bits and bytes), but is entertaining anyway. Good read for a boring day or travel.