A simple plot knitted with some advanced scientific technology and of course, a long detailing of the application, use and breaking of codes … Cryptography.
The author has done a good attempt to explain how a cryptographer works, the origin of cryptography and nations security threat if the codes are not decrypted on time. The whole plot revolves around a secret US based Government organization named NSA (National Security Agency), whose primary function is to decode all the digital communications be it be personal emails of common people also and for facilitating the decoding faster and effectively, they have built an giant code breaking machine.
However, the approach of the NSA to the personal data of people was interpreted as spying by a Japanese computer giant and he wanted the NSA officials to publicly apologize for their spying act being also unconstitutional. In an approach to put pressure on the NSA, he declares to have made an unbreakable algorithm, which even the giant code breaking machine of NSA cannot decode.
Thus starts the attempt to get the key to the unbreakable algorithm by NSA. The story involves an intelligent mathematician lady, who is expert in decoding such mathematical algorithm, a professor who is no way linked to the NSA but was consulted for breaking codes if it involved other languages and other people working in the NSA, who of course have no role in decoding but in raising alarm and questing others act.
The whole story gets mingled up when the Japanese giant is killed and a ring from his finger gets in the hand of an unknown person. The professor is sent by NSA secretly to trail the key code, which might have been engraved in the ring, but all his attempts turned futile when he finds that it is not the key code. Rest, the story follows with various permutation and combination by all the NSA giants to ultimately break the code and in the series of activities an senior official of NSA was found to have been engaged in killing the Japanese genius.
The novel starts with interesting note, well plotted with vivid explanations to the concept of cryptography and attempt to decode the communication of people for the security of the nation, involving a little suspense and thrill. But somewhere down the story line, the end can be easily found out. Rather, that is the reason, after a certain point of time you can feel that the novel has lost the suspense and thrill. The author has done exclusive study on the subject, which is clear from the detailed working of NSA but the inclusion of the love story of the main characters was not up to the mark……rather a cheap and comic depiction. The thrill was lost somewhere in between. There were few gaps in the story line and connecting characters. Yet, the overall impact was good and the book will keep you tied down till the end, and that’s the reason, I have not revealed the end……..