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The Cove is a small town Sally escapes to after the murder of her father. She doesn't remember what happened that night, but she very well may have killed him. Or perhaps her mother killed him. Either way, both she and her mother are safest if Sally runs away. At least that's what she thinks. An FBI agent named James Quinlan easily tracks down Sally and begins to work his magic on her trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle leading up to her father's murder. In the meantime, strange things happen in The Cove which can't easily be explained and James finds he has another mystery on his hands.
My description probably sounds boring, but this book was anything but. The pace is quick, which I've discovered I prefer in books. The mysteries are plentiful and kept me guessing. Sometimes I had aspects of it figured out and other times I was shocked to discover the truth. Overall, it was a pretty good suspense book with a little romance thrown in for good measure.
Review Date: 12/2/2005
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The National Security Agency has been working for years on a method to intercept and crack any code or encrypted message sent via E-Mail across the globe. They finally developed a machine so powerful that it can decode even the toughest messages in just a matter of minutes. The machine is dubbed TRANSLTR.
The existence of TRANSLTR is threatened when a bitter, crippled Japanese programmer threatens to release an encryption method that TRANSLTR can't crack: Digital Fortress. Digital Fortress is placed up on the web, encrypted in itself so that only those with the passcode can unlock it. The NSA learns the programmer is working with a partner as a safety measure. If he should die, the partner will publish the passcode within 24 hours.
The programmer is found dead in Spain and the NSA must race the clock to obtain both passcodes before it is too late.
The whole idea that keeping Digital Fortress out of the hands of the public was a life or death situation seemed a little too weighty for me. I believe the basic idea of Digital Fortress is that the encryption was constantly revolving, making it impossible for a computer to guess when the correct passcode had been entered. Anyone in the computer world knows that everything has a workaround. It may be that Digital Fortress would make TRANSLTR extinct, but necessity is the mother of invention and people would eventually figure out how to break into a file encrypted by Digital Fortress.
Therefore, the book seemed a little bloody to me. People were taking the issue WAY too seriously.
If you put the absurdity of the subject matter aside, I still enjoyed the book. I'm really starting to like Dan Brown's work. I've also read the Da Vinci Code and both books are filled with information you may not have previously known (such as where the term "sincerely" really comes from). They were also both written in real-time. I absolutely love books written in real-time. No skipping ahead three months and losing a portion of the person's life. No thought or detail left unattended.
It was a good, dark read that I really enjoyed. I can't wait to delve into some of Dan Brown's other works.
Review Date: 7/5/2005
This book was so amazingly bland that I can't accurately describe my feelings for it. Through the entire book I found myself hoping to finish it so that I could put it aside and start another, more interesting book. I have never in my life disliked a main character as much as I disliked Carrie Bell.
She was selfish, pure and simple. When her best friend and fiance broke his neck in a diving accident, she ran off to New York and began making something of her life. She began following her dreams and exploring her emotions. In New York, unlike her hometown of Madison, Wisconsin, she was known to care about people every now and then. Be happy every now and then. In Madison, she cared about no one, least of all herself. She abandoned her friends and her fiance.
I have absolutely no idea how she could feel so numb towards someone who was not only her lover, but her friend. The whole book amazed me. There were no surpises. No plot twists. No caring for the character. I was more interested in the tale of her friends than her own tale. It's like watching an interesting movie through a very bland character's eyes.
The third book on my new reading plan and I hated it. I can only hope few books like this follow. I will never again trust the New York Times Bestseller list.
Review Date: 7/5/2005
Another Chick-Lit book. In this one a girl named Jackie is dumped by her boyfriend via email. The description sounded promising. Jackie knows what she really wants and sets out to find it, only the problem is that she doesn't.
There were too many scenes at the club. So many in fact that sometimes I felt like I was reading the same chapters over and over again.
The book was good, but Jackie spends too much time focusing on men. Too much time pining. For once I'd like to read a chick lit book that involved a strong, independant woman. Although Jackie comes together somewhat in the end, I still felt she was weak.
All in all it was a fun read and gave my mind a little break. Very enjoyable and mostly not annoying.
Review Date: 7/5/2005
An overweight person reading a book about an anorexic. I really know how to pick them, don't I? After I found out I was reading a book about an anorexic, I thought I was going to hate the book. Admitedly, it is a fluff chick-lit style book. Something about me actually liked it though. I found myself feeling emotions (albeit rarely GOOD emotions) towards the characters and I'll take moving books where I can find them.
Review Date: 7/5/2005
An overweight person reading a book about an anorexic. I really know how to pick them, don't I? After I found out I was reading a book about an anorexic, I thought I was going to hate the book. Admitedly, it is a fluff chick-lit style book. Something about me actually liked it though. I found myself feeling emotions (albeit rarely GOOD emotions) towards the characters and I'll take moving books where I can find them.
Review Date: 7/5/2005
I realated a little too well with this book, since when I started my online journal in 1999, quite a few bits were big fat lies. I'd make up friends and lovers. I had no idea that what I wrote would actually touch people. Like Anna, I sort of got a large dose of reality when I found myself falling for someone I met through my journal, riddled with guilt that he'd never forgive me for all the lies I told. Luckily, when I told him the truth, Mark forgave me completely. Shortly thereafter I took down my archives and started over again with the truth.
Review Date: 7/5/2005
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