good reader gone bad

Beautiful NSA cryptographer and her boyfriend save the NSA’s classified data from a fate worse than deletion. Mostly, I wanted to smack the main characters upside the head and get to the end of the book.

The author, Dan Brown, also wrote The Da Vinci Code, which I found entertaining for the historical references. Mr. Brown’s rollercoaster ride narrative style seems to be his trademark, but the ride is a little rough in Digital Fortress, his first thriller.

The mass-market paperback edition was published by St. Martin’s Paperbacks. ISBN 0312995423

Lily Marsden is a contract killer tired of her job. Joe Riley is a former cop looking for Lily after taking the blame for one of her kills. Mel Loomis, a Curly Howard look-alike, is going to take care of Lily the Vegas way for casino owner Ken Staley. Hi and Norm, the Vernon twins, want Lily dead for killing their brother Max. Delbert and Mookie want to beat the crap out of Joe Riley. And…, well, you get the picture. This is a fast-paced, tightly woven comic thriller with an ensemble cast, a specialty of author Steve Brewer.

Mr. Brewer has moved away from his New Mexico series characters Bubba Mabry and Drew Gavin to explore other back alleys of the American west. I hope he still has plans for Bubba, but I’ll follow him as he travels the west.

Bullets is by Steve Brewer. Published by Intrigue Press. ISBN 1890768502