Dan Brown: Digital Fortress

Digital Fortress is one of Dan Brown's earlier novels. Having read both The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons I almost immediately recognize his style. Blending fiction with non-fiction to create a story that is both fantastical and easily imagined. There is the organization that few know much actual detail about, in this case the NSA. There is the hero, or this time the heroine and their dark mysterious foil. Not to be forgotten the hero's mate who is placed into a fair amount of peril on his own. Most importantly the plot twist(s) that reveal themselves only after a few chapters of slight of hand.

The problem of course comes when you actually know something about the subject matter. Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code both dealt with the Catholic Church which has always been shrouded in secrecy. It is easy to believe somethings when conspriacy has clouded the line between fact and fiction before you even get to chapter one. This of course is not to say that the NSA isn't as equally secretive but it certainly doesn't have two millenia behind it, and more importantly the 'Digital Fortress' is just a fancy computer. It's really hard to stretch the bounds of reality with something as ubiquitous as a PC. There were certain twists that I saw coming a mile away. I don't know if it because they were so obvious or Dan Bown's style is so formulaic, or both. In all the book kept my interest if only because I was curious to see if I was on the right trail.