Robert Ludlum's trademark skills of intricate plotting, breakneck pacing, and high-wire drama are all on display in this gripping thriller. After his twin brother dies in a plane crash, Ben Hartman reluctantly takes his place in the investment firm started by their father, a Holocaust survivor. But then an old college buddy tries to kill Ben on a crowded Zurich street, setting off a chain of events that ultimately leads Ben into the thick of a worldwide conspiracy. Behind it is Sigma, a multinational cartel built on the rubble of World War II by industrialists and financiers bent on exploiting wartime technology and protecting their wealth from the threat of communism.

Accompanied by a beautiful American justice department agent, Ben eludes the assassins on his trail and follows Sigma's tentacles across Europe, to Brazil, Washington, and finally to a sanitarium known as the Clockworks in the Austrian Alps, where the horrifying agenda of a perverted new world order is revealed. Ludlum, who died between the writing and publishing of this book, was a master of the genre he helped popularize, and The Sigma Protocol shows him at the peak of his craft. --Jane Adams


From Library Journal
Anna Navarro, special agent for the Justice Department, has been assigned to investigate the deaths of several eminent men, all advanced in age and all connected to a mysterious group called Sigma, founded in the last years of World War II. An accident brings her together with Ben Hartman, an American investment banker who is in Zurich investigating the death of his twin brother and finds himself the target of an assassination attempt. Who is Sigma, and why are some of its members being killed? More importantly, what grand project is in the works? Readers may find the answer to these questions simplistic: Sigma is a partnership of high-ranking statesmen and industrialists, put together not only to spirit wealth out of Germany at the end of the war but also to stop communism's spread. Sigma's goal is to make the world safe for capitalism, a corporation whose board of directors is in charge of Western history itself. Unfortunately, Ludlum's latest novel (he died in March but left outlines for more posthumous thrillers) is not one of his better efforts. Even the sparks that eventually fly between Anna and Ben seem tepid.- Ronnie H. Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
Published posthumously, this is one of Ludlum's best. Once again we have an intricately woven conspiracy plot, which reveals a legacy of corporate double-dealing. In this tale of a financial cabal--a collaboration of the Nazis and some of the best-known names in financial circles--Ludlum disabuses us of the myth of Allied innocence during WWII. Paul Michael is more than up to the frenetic pace of the plot. He turns in a stellar performance of all the characters, especially of Ben Hartman, the hapless businessman whose na•vetŽ is challenged when he meets a former friend on the street, prepares to shake his hand, and notices a gun pointed directly at himself. So begins this international thrill ride, with twists and turns continuing to the last. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
Robert Ludlum's thrillers are generally consistent: their characters are wooden and their dialogue is clumsy, but their plots are compelling and well researched. They appeal to readers looking for action, not artistry. However, near the end of his career, he seemed to be developing a smoother style, an ability to create characters that felt real and dialogue that didn't sound so obviously contrived. His last novel, posthumously published, is actually quite good, a convoluted tale about a plot to kill off a number of people who, many years ago, were part of a conspiracy involving Nazis, Swiss gold, and a lot of deadly shenanigans. (There are, however, questions about the novel's provenance: Ludlum died in March, and final revisions were made in June, casting some doubt on who was responsible for the book's craftsmanship.) At the heart of the story are Anna Navarro, a mid-level government intelligence operative suddenly assigned to a case of toplevel importance, and Ben Hartman, a businessman who learns several surprising things about his own family, including the unpleasant history of his parents and the rather startling truth about his twin brother's death. As usual, Ludlum keeps things moving with plenty of gunplay and running about. Uncharacteristically, he also lets things slow down from time to time, long enough for us to get to know the players in this complicated story. After so many Ludlum novels that seem like carbon copies of one another, it's refreshing to see something different. First The Prometheus Deception (2000), and now this: proof of either a memorable swan song or a capable editor. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM OUR EDITORS

American investment banker Ben Hartman waited four years to return to Zurich after his twin brother died there. But his return precipitates much more than sad memories. Soon after he lands in Switzerland, Hartman is shot at by an old college chum. Before he (or we) can understand the situation, Hartman is a target and a fugitive. Once again, Robert Ludlum has crafted a high-adrenaline thriller.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"American investment banker Ben Hartman arrives in Zurich for a ski holiday, the first time he's been back to Switzerland since his twin brother died there in a tragic accident four years earlier. But his arrival triggers something far more sinister than his brother's fate. When Ben chances upon Jimmy Cavanaugh, an old college friend, Cavanaugh promptly pulls out a gun and tries to kill him. In a matter of minutes, several innocent bystanders are dead - as well as Cavanaugh - and Ben has barely managed to survive. Plunged into an unspeakable nightmare, Hartman suddenly finds himself on the run." "Department of Justice field agent Anna Navarro is being stalked around the world by a relentless killer, managing to survive the killer's attacks only by a combination of luck, skill, and her own quick wits. These attacks are somehow related to her current assignment: investigating the sudden - and seemingly unrelated - deaths of a number of very old men throughout the world. The only thing that connects them is a file in the CIA archives, over a half-century old, marked with the same puzzling code word: Sigma. But someone or something is always seemingly one step ahead of her, the survivors are rapidly dwindling, and her own life is in ever-increasing danger." Brought together by accident, Ben and Anna soon realize that their only hope for survival lies with each other. Together they race to uncover the diabolical secrets long hidden behind the code word Sigma, secrets that threaten everything they think they know about themselves, everything they believed true about their friends and families, and everything they were ever taught about history itself. For behind Sigma lies a vast deception that is finally coming to fruition, and the fate and future of the world is in their hands.

FROM THE CRITICS

Book Magazine

Financier Ben Hartman is waiting for his car in front of a ritzy Swiss hotel when he spies an old chum from his school days. Minutes later, Ben is sprinting through the streets, and his old "friend" is in hot pursuit, gunning down innocent passersby as he tries to take Ben out. So begins this brick of international intrigue from the late Robert Ludlum. In the grand tradition of 1970s airport bookstore bestsellers, the action jumps from continent to continent, with sinister conspirators spending preposterous amounts of time and energy trying to kill Ben and the shapely U.S. government agent who takes his side. It's one of those books in which the hero is just about to get an explanation for what's happening when the person he's talking to is silenced by an assassin's bullet. The plot ultimately involves an ancient castle, medical experiments and the type of villain usually found in James Bond books. Reading this leaden tome isn't made more fun by the hopelessly hokey dialogue and the permeating sense of déjà vu. —Chris Barsanti

Library Journal

Anna Navarro, special agent for the Justice Department, has been assigned to investigate the deaths of several eminent men, all advanced in age and all connected to a mysterious group called Sigma, founded in the last years of World War II. An accident brings her together with Ben Hartman, an American investment banker who is in Zurich investigating the death of his twin brother and finds himself the target of an assassination attempt. Who is Sigma, and why are some of its members being killed? More importantly, what grand project is in the works? Readers may find the answer to these questions simplistic: Sigma is a partnership of high-ranking statesmen and industrialists, put together not only to spirit wealth out of Germany at the end of the war but also to stop communism's spread. Sigma's goal is to make the world safe for capitalism, a corporation whose board of directors is in charge of Western history itself. Unfortunately, Ludlum's latest novel (he died in March but left outlines for more posthumous thrillers) is not one of his better efforts. Even the sparks that eventually fly between Anna and Ben seem tepid. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/01.] Ronnie H. Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

AudioFile