Product Description

When the NSA's invincible code-breaking machine - encounters a mysterious code it cannot break, the agency calls in its head cryptographer, Susan Fletcher, a brilliant and beautiful mathematician. What she uncovers sends shock waves through the corridors of power. The NSA is being held hostage...not by guns or bombs, but by a code so ingeniously complex that if released it will cripple U.S. intelligence.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11513 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

THE TIMES
'engaged me instantly, the reader, Bruce Sabbath, keeps up a cracking pace as the mystery deepens and disaster follows disaster.'

From the Inside Flap
Before the phenomenal runaway bestseller The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown set his razor-sharp research and storytelling skills to work on the most powerful intelligence organization on earth - the National Security Agency (NSA), an ultra-secret, multibillion-dollar agency many times more powerful than the CIA.

When the NSA’s invincible code-breaking machine encounters a mysterious code it cannot break, the agency calls its head cryptographer, Susan Fletcher, a brilliant and beautiful mathematician. What she uncovers sends shock waves through the corridors of power. The NSA is being held hostage...not by guns or bombs, but by a code so ingeniously complex that if released it would cripple US intelligence.

Caught in an accelerating tempest of secrecy and lies, Susan Fletcher battles to save the agency she believes in. Betrayed on all sides, she finds herself fighting not only for her country but for her life, and, in the end, for the life of the man she loves.

From the underground hallways of power to the skyscrapers of Tokyo to the towering cathedrals of Spain, a desperate race unfolds. It is a battle for survival - a crucial bid to destroy a creation of inconceivable genius...an impregnable code-writing formula that threatens to obliterate the post-cold war balance of power. For ever.

From the Back Cover
When the National Security Agency’s invincible code-breaking machine encounters a mysterious code it cannot break, the agency calls in its head cryptographer, Susan Fletcher, a brilliant, beautiful mathematician. What she uncovers sends shock waves through the corridors of power. The NSA is being held hostage – not by guns or bombs, but by a code so complex that if released would cripple U.S. intelligence.
Caught in an accelerating tempest of secrecy and lies, Fletcher battles to save the agency she believes in. Betrayed on all sides, she finds herself fighting not only for her country but for her life, and in the end, for the life of the man she loves…

Customer Reviews

Hard to believe its the same author!
Having read 'The Da Vinci Code' and 'Deception Point', both of which I thoroughly enjoyed, It is difficult to believe this is Dan Brown and not a 'Bay Watch' script writer trying to make a few quid on the side.

Unlike the rest of his books, the plot here is paper thin (close to none existent) and the pace is incredibly slow (up until the last couple of chapters). What really kills it is the obviously poor research into IT, Computers, Viruses and Encryption - I cringed the whole way through the book.

If you like Dan Brown because you've read his other books, do yourself a favour and avoid reading this one as it will only spoil your opinion of the author.

Doh! Why didn't I read these review first?
Welcome to my latest gift to my local Oxfam charity shop. At least this time I've learned my lesson. I can add little to these reviews because they have mainly all said it before. I only wish I'd read them before buying this book.

I can confirm: one-dimensional characters, generally unfinished and un-edited feel to the writing, obvious technical deficiencies. I think this is a screenplay or "treatment" that I've read and not a novel.

What I can add, is that if you really want to understand the working of hacking, counter-hacking, cryptography and cryptanalysis I can recommend both "The Cuckoo's Egg" by Clifford Stoll and "Codebreakers" edited by F Hinsley and Alan Stripp. Both are non-fiction books but a helluva lot better read than this thin junk.

Unconvincing
I saw the book in the airport and thought it would make a good holiday read. I was very disappointed.
So predictable and obviously written by somebody who knows nothing about computers. I admit I am in IT but. People do not crawl under computer consoles with soldering irons (30 years ago may be). Since when did you spend a billion dollars on a computer and if it was working hard, it over heated, took all the power from the building, turned the lights off and stopped the doors working. I would fire the designer and the hundreds of people it would have taken to design it. Has nobody heard of Health and Safety in the USA. It was careless plot devices like this which turned it from an average thriller to pathetic.

I cetainly do not feel the need to read any other of his books.