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
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
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