The Sigma Protocol

By: Robert Ludlum

Narrated by: Paul Michael

Length: 19 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Do you think you know what really happened after World War II? You don't. Sigma made sure of that.

American investment banker Ben Hartman arrives in Zurich, the first time he's been back to Switzerland since his twin brother died there in a tragic accident four years ago. But when Ben chances upon Jimmy Cavanaugh, an old college friend, Cavanaugh draws a gun and tries to kill him. In minutes, several innocent bystanders are dead, as well as Cavanaugh, and Ben is on the run, plunged into an unspeakable nightmare.

U.S. Department of Justice field agent Anna Navarro is being stalked by a relentless killer, managing to survive only by a combination of luck, skill, and her own quick wits. The attacks on her are somehow related to her current assignment: investigating the sudden, seemingly unrelated deaths of a number of very old men around the world. The only thing that connects them is an ancient CIA file bearing the code word Sigma.

Brought together by accident, Ben and Anna realize that their only hope of survival lies with each other. Together they race to uncover the long-hidden diabolical secrets of Sigma - secrets that threaten everything they think they know, everything they believed about their friends and families, everything they were taught about history itself. For behind Sigma lies a vast deception that is finally coming to fruition - and the fate of the world is in their hands.

©2001 by Myn Pyn LLC (P)2001 by Audio Renaissance, an Imprint of Renaissance Media, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Ludlum's trademark skills of intricate plotting, breakneck pacing, and high-wire drama are all on display in this gripping thriller." (Amazon.com)
"A memorable swan song." (Booklist)

Disjointed and Not up to Par

I had real difficulty following the story line with this book. I typically enjoy Ludlum books, but this one was very slow through the first 75% of the story. I forced myself to finish it and it did get much better in the last quarter. His character development of the main guy wasn't that good either. In just a matter of days, he goes from being a complete knucklehead concerning "spy stuff", to a highly aware, self sufficient operative. Really, didn't it take Bourne a few years of training to develop his "Spy Sense". This guy seemed to get it just because the story line needed him to have it at that time. You might want to put this one on your "Listen if I really can't sleep" list.

Started great . . . then all downhill

I understand that, to enjoy a novel like this, one must suspend disbelief. Usually, I am pretty good at that . . . but this novel asked me to both suspend disbelief and intelligence.

Unfortunately, even if I could have suspended disbelief, most of the plot "twists," well, weren't. For the most part, the plot became fairly predictable. I am no genius, but what was surely supposed to be the biggest surprise in the novel, I saw coming from miles away.

I have enjoyed many of Ludlum's novels, but this one was very disappointing. The novel started fast and wonderfully, but fell miserably short of its initial promise.

Tedious

This book has to be the longest, most cliche ridden piece of propaganda about the evil, diabolical Germans, Austrians, and Swiss (whites and Christian); and the wonderful, always heroic, brave and ever-so-honest Jews. I wasted lot of time on a very long piece of propaganda which seemed to have been written in 1944 by some hack pulp fiction writer.

Great Book

Another great story. Well read.