Review 23: Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

Title: Digital Fortress
Author: Dan Brown
Publisher: Pocket Books
Rating: 8.5/10
The Lowdown:
At the NSA, Susan Fletcher is a gifted mathematician/ code breaker. Her code breaking machine, TRANSLTR, can decrypt any code within seconds. But after TRANSLTR gets a code it cannot solve after 24 hours, Susan realizes that there is something fishy going on, along with the fact that her husband, David Becker, is in Spain looking for the ring of the creator of the code which TRANSLTR cannot break...
The Good:
A. I loved the puzzles in this book especially. Cryptology fascinates me.
B. I just loved the character of David Becker and the whole Seville plot line. It was amazing!
C. The ending was truly unexpected.
D. All the minor characters (this time) were actually quite vital to the plot and quirky and intriguing. I often feel that Dan Brown's minor characters are better than his major ones.
E. Not bad for a debut novel. :)
F. Great cliffhangers
G. Short chapters
The Bad:
A. The ending was quite stretched and drawn out. A few chapters cut would have been appreciated.
B. The usual plot line. See my earlier blog post about Deception Point.
C. The major characters. All so cliched, all so boring.
The Consensus:
Overall, I enjoyed reading the book. Every chapter was short, quick, and usually had a cliffhanger. I would recommend this book to any techie/person who enjoys a good thriller and some cool facts. Good one Brown!

Quick Overview:
Plot: 4/5
Original Appeal: 2/5
Ending: 4.5/5
EXTRA-ordinary: 3/5