Helpful Score: 2
Well, despite the fact that the book begins with a sextuple homicide and footchase through Zurich, this book took awhile to get into. However, once the plot got started, it was very engaging. Plenty of action and suspense, but well-plotted and not random. I figured out the "main" mystery and the big final "twist" about 100 pages before they were revealed, but that didn't detract from the overall enjoyment of the book. Definitely worth a read.
Helpful Score: 1
NY Times Bestseller. Excellent Thriller.
Helpful Score: 1
The usual Ludlum edge of your seat story.
Helpful Score: 1
Gripping and compelling. Keeps readers on edge of seat
Helpful Score: 1
In Zurich, Switzerland, American investment banker Ben Hartman has arrived on holiday when he chances upon old friend Jimmy Cavanaugh---a madman who's armed and programmed to assassinate. In a matter of minutes, six innocent bystanders---and Cavanaugh---are dead. But when his body vanishes, and his weapon mysteriously appears in Hartman's luggage, Hartman is plunged into an unfathomable nightmare, and suddenly finds himself on the run.
Helpful Score: 1
This unabridged tape set made me want to sit in my car after my commutes! The thriller starts with a series of unexplainable circumstances that quickly gathers pace! I was completely caught up in the story, even talking to the characters!
The narrator provides an amazing array of character voices and brings you right into the story.
The narrator provides an amazing array of character voices and brings you right into the story.
Helpful Score: 1
fast paced international best seller always gripping tale to the very end
Helpful Score: 1
"In Zurich, Switzerland, American investment banker Ben Hartman has arrived on holiday when he chances upon old friend Jimmy Cavanaugh - a madman who's armed and programmed to assassinate. In a matter of minutes, six innocent bystanders - and Cavanaugh - are dead. But when his body vanishes, and his weapon mysterios appears in Hartman's luggage, Hartman is plunged into an unfahomable nightmare, and suddenly finds himself on the run. Meanwhile in Washington, D.C., Anna Navarro,, field agent for the the Department of Justice, has been asked to investgate the sudden - seemingly unrelated - deaths of eleven men throughout the world. The only thing that connects them is a secret file, over a half-century old, linked to the CIA, and marked with the same puzzling codename: Sigman
Helpful Score: 1
I really liked this book. From the first chapter, I was eager to see what would happen next. Exciting, well written book!
Helpful Score: 1
Fun, easy read with some interesting twists and turns. Great fast-paced "man-on-the-run" adventure.
from Amazon.com review:
Amazon.com
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
Product Description
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 in Zurich 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 of 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.
Amazon.com
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
Product Description
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 in Zurich 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 of 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.
Ludlum is a fun read, and listening is great also. Love his stories.
This is a very tightly woven mystery.
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?
Good read
Good book, lots of action. Don't normally read hardbacks but like Robert Ludlum and ordered hardback by mistake.
Another convulated adventure by Ludlum. It takes place in Switzerland and Washington. This is a must read and I'm not going to ruin it for you by telling you what it is about.
Great writing; great story. Really enjoyed it!
