Bibliofemme Reviews
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Digital Fortress by Dan Brown 
(Published by Corgi Adult)
Dan Brown became a publishing phenomenon last year with his fourth novel, The Da Vinci Code. A quasi-religious conspiracy thriller, it was an entertaining read that moved along at a whip-cracking pace. So far, that book has sold more than 7.5m copies - you can't take a bus, train or plane without someone next to you reading it - and spawned a mini-industry of it's own. It's not in the least bit surprising, then, that Brown's publishers are now pushing his earlier works.
First published in 1998, Digital Fortress was his first thriller and, although it still involves code breaking, it's more of the computer than visual art kind. While The Da Vinci Code had people rifling the art section of bookshops to peer at reproductions of The Last Supper, Digital Fortress won't have any such impact.
Like Brown's other books, it features a pair of good-looking and well-educated lead characters - US intelligence officer Susan Fletcher and her fiancé, David - some mysterious and ruthless villains, plenty of confused and misleading action and a pace almost fast enough to cover up any plot holes. It's a mediocre read, not up to the page-turning standard of his later books but, for fans needing another Dan Brown fix, Digital Fortress is good stopgap fodder.
Also by Dan Brown
The Da Vinci Code
September 2004
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