Book post: Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

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Title: Digital Fortress
Author: Dan Brown
Number of pages: 544
Genre: thriller
Book Number/Goal: 25/50
My Rating: 3/5

Review: The NSA spies on defends the people with the help of a secret supercomputer capable of breaking any encryption, but this practice comes under threat when a rogue hacker develops an unbreakable encryption algorithm and intends to make it public.

Despite the computer-related setting, the book is unexciting. It's full of infodumps, out of the necessity of explaining computer stuff to readers of all backgrounds; some of these passages sound too naive and some are technically incorrect, including the main plot devices. I'm not an obsessive nitpicker and always prefer plot to authenticity, but the plot also doesn't shine. It lacks drama and emotional involvement because there's nothing at stake for the main characters, except for their lives, jobs and egos, but it's impossible to root for them because who cares if a few boring people get destroyed if they work against free speech?

Otherwise, it's light reading and flows easily. I didn't suffer through it, but wasn't thrilled with it either. It appears to be the author's first novel - good to know that the subsequent ones are so much better!

Book post: American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

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Title: American Psycho
Author: Bret Easton Ellis
Number of pages: 416
Genre: thriller
Book Number/Goal: 26/50
My Rating: 2.5/5

Review: A young and successful investment banker leads a double life as a serial killer, raping and/or torturing all kinds of victims (mostly young women) because he can't resist the bloodlust.

Great premise, lousy implementation. Most of the book consists of excruciatingly tedious descriptions of everyone's clothes, meals, furniture, gadgets, fitness procedures, music reviews etc, which are about as entertaining to read as shopping catalogues. The endless mundane conversations between the main character and his friends are not any better, though there are a few touching moments (such as Patrick's despair over losing a "contest" of business cards). The murder scenes, described in the same amount of detail, are the only bright spot in comparison, even though they feel dry and uninspiring because the character doesn't perceive them emotionally.

I believe the writing style is a device meant to show Patrick's obsessive-compulsive streak and the shallowness of his inner world (as well as his peers), but it becomes almost unreadable after the first few pages (but improves a little towards the end). It is not even educational because of the subject matter, though I learned some new words.

Don't waste time with it, watch the screen version - it's still partly tedious, but overall it's much more fun.

Book post: Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

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Title: Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Author: Jeff Lindsay
Number of pages: 288
Genre: thriller
Book Number/Goal: 27/50
My Rating: 4/5

Review: This book is what the 1st season of Dexter TV show is based upon. The main character is employed by police as a blood splatter analyst, and he's very good in his job because in his spare time he's a serial killer (but he has a moral code and only kills other serial killers).

I probably would've loved the book if I had not seen the show - in the TV version the characters are more fleshed out (in the book, all the characters except for Dexter are flat and sketchy), the plot is much more complex and contains some delicious episodes that almost turned me into a "shipper" even though I normally hate romantic relationships, and the ending is more dramatic. So it was slightly disappointing to read something that looks like a first draft in comparison. On the other hand, Dexter is more funny and eloquent in the book (his poetic musings would've sounded too unnatural when spoken from the screen), and there's a nice nightmares/split personality angle.

Definitely recommended for fans of Dexter series (even if it's inferior, one can never have enough of the background material!) but can be enjoyed by any horror fans.