Digital Fortress

Author/Guide: Dan Brown

Why a Booktrail?

2000s: A code so complex that if released would cripple U.S. intelligence…could about to be unleashed.

ISBN: 978-0552159739
Genre: Technothriller, Thriller

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What you need to know before your trail

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…

Locations

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Travel Guide

America – Washington DC

Most of the book is set here given the code breaking systems and government agencies involved.

Susan flies into the airport here and an NSA driver whisks her off to Fort Meade

Fort George G. Meade is a US army installation located in Maryland, which contains the headquarters of United States Cyber Command, the National Security Agency, and many more. It takes its name from George G. Meade, a general from the U.S. Civil War, who served as commander of the Army of the Potomac.

Spain – Seville

Partly set in Seville, this part really does float around the various tourist attractions in the city and evoke the scent and beauty of the oranges

The patio, Jardin de los Naranjos, was famous in Seville for its twenty blossoming orange trees. The trees were renowned in Seville as the birthplace of English marmalade

Giralda – It’s a 419 foot tower with a spiral staircase and this is the setting for a particular scene in the book.

Santa Cruz – the oldest section of Seville is also part of the scene – no road between buildings, “Only narrow walkways built in Roman times. Becker gets lost in its narrow caverns.