late review of Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

Oh! The old man broke his spectacles in the city bus when he was pushed by that obese woman. Why did the woman push the old man? Because her slipper broke, and she slipped. Why did the slipper break? Because the cobbler hadn't fixed it correctly, the last time. Why didn't the cobbler fix it well? Because he was not in a good mood, after having a lousy meal. Why did he have a lousy meal? The rice that his wife had prepared, was bad.
Why was the rice bad?
The fertilizer used by the farmer was of a bad quality.
Why was the fertilizer of a bad quality?
The fertilizer factory had a defective machine...

and on...and on... and on....

This is the similar way in which Dan Brown's novel Digital Fortress goes about cracking the complex codes in the NSA, a premier Government security organization of the United States.
Believe me, this is how the climax passes you by, getting on your nerves.
The build up to the climax is equally painful.

A university language professor with no experience is sent on a mission to Spain, by the NSA boss.
His nubile girlfriend is the top cryptologist in the NSA, who is called by the same boss on the same day, a weekend, on an important mission.
And there's a 'Translator', a super computer in the NSA with 3 million silicon chips working in parallel to break complex codes of encrypted messages floating all over the internet. There is no code that the 'Translator' could not break within a few hours atmost. But, this time, it had met its match. It has been working on a code for 15 hours, and still had not been able to break it. And it needs to be broken at any cost.
This encrypted software is called the Digital Fortress, something that cannot be broken through.

To break the code, one needs a pass key, consisting of a series of alpha numeric. And this is engraved on a ring, worn by dying Japanese scientist in Spain, who gives it away to a German tourist before dying.

As Becker, the university professor, hunts for the ring, he is being hunted by an assassin.
To add, there is chaos in the NSA with 'Translator' in deep trouble by the unbreakable code, cryptologists losing their cool and fighting against each other, and of course a traitor.

The few pages of history of cryptology, and various incidents related to it, in the beginning of the novel, though mere 'Wikipedia knowledge', are interesting to surf through.
Some of the scenes of the hunt for the ring by the university professor are charming. Dan Brown takes you right there to Spain, moving along with the professor, trying to make sense out of the puzzle that he is in. Narration zips around interesting people, and strange locations.

But the alternative scenes in the NSA make you atone for the bit of pleasure that you would have grabbed in the earlier scenes, with flat conversations, and predictable tumults, moving at a snail's pace, without any particular direction.
The characters are etched terribly, though there is a feeble attempt to build them.

If the 'Da Vinci' code stunned you with revelations, the 'Deception Point' with it great locations and heart catching experiences, the 'Angels and Demons' with its pace, you would be let down by this novel, as this has nothing to offer but for a peek into the NSA, and cryptology.
Pages and pages of banal display of technological blabber. It is not exciting for the junta drenched in software as they are reading the book looking out for a break from that. It is not exiting for the non-software junta, who are not able to make out whatz the big deal about???

To top it all, there is a climax, dragged totally out of proportion. It seems as though Dan Brown was inspired by the Bollywood flicks, and a bad one at that.

Pick up this book if you have curiosity about where Brown can go wrong (if you have not, already). But, I beg of you, please toss it aside after the first hundred pages.

with warm regards,
Thejas
(ps: Whew!!! It is a relief to spit out all the venom. Presently reading 'LOC' by Tom Clancy.... hope it turns out to be better ;-) )