The Sigma Protocol

This is my first Ludlum and it was what I expected and not. As I expected it had lots of twists, villains, backstabbing, a weak female lead, unbelievable heroics and narrow escapes. I had not expected zero swearing and little sex. Anna Navarro was useless for almost anything else so why not use her requisite ‘beauty’ to jog the story along? Nope. Let her bumbling incompetence be the guide. For an agent that is supposed to be so esteemed and successful, she makes a lot of mistakes. It was annoying. And the lack of swearing made the characters seem somehow less believable. Not a ‘shit’ was uttered even at the most extreme moments.

Of course Ben Hartman, an Ivy League pretty boy has all the innate skill to defeat international show more assassins. He is always more alert than he should have been and spots trouble before it begins. As if any normal person would behave this way. And of course, in the end they have to get away in a helicopter and having had one lesson where the pilot did most of the work, he can get them off the mountain and safe. Or so they think, there is a stow-away passenger who then tries to kill them. They defeat him of course. By this time, they are sleeping together and are now engaged to be married. How quaint.

The narrator was awesome I have to say. Every character (well almost, some of the Austrians sounded the same) sounded different. He can do French accents, mild Georgia southern accents, Austrian, Swiss, Paraguayan – you name it. He was excellent. Made it much more interesting to listen to than it would have been to read – it also gave some things away that wouldn’t have been so apparent in the printed version. There were some places where they heard just a voice before seeing the person and this narrator gave them their original accents so I could tell who they were. If I had been reading the book, I probably wouldn’t have caught it so soon. show less

This is the first Ludlum book I've read, and I enjoyed it, for the most part. It had a little bit too much bad guy monologging that I tended to skim, but I got the jist of it. I like spy/espionage/intrigue stories, and Ludlum is one of the best.

Ludlum is one of my favorite writers. Apart from the (original) Bourne-trilogy this book is absolutely a favorite :-)

Many storylines, interesting and at times scary scenario's and ideas are bundled in this book. Maybe the end is far-fetched or even impossible, but who am I to comment on that?
If only a part of the after-WW II-world depicted is true, then, who knows, maybe the ending might also be partically be true.... I absolutely hope not, but you never know....

Recommended!

This is my first Ludlum novel and as a spy novel it is not bad though I like Fredrick Forsyth better. I find that Ludlum's novels are fast paced enough but you hardly remember a name in the plot before they die on you. It is a long read for me...I could not read the book for more than an hour at a time as I was getting imagination overload and I needed a break. Some are saying his writing is formula, there is an annoying repetition in this book...someone dies with each meeting...every one of the new scenes in the book has an assassination. After a while you really don't want to read the scene because you know what is going to happen. It does has a Jason Bourne feel to it which is only one character of his (not this book) but this show more constant quite predictable killing got annoying, so we shall see as I read a couple more if this is common to his writing. Nice read but perhaps a little fast paced for me in places...I like plots to develop...not thrown in your face. show less

Same old formula, pair of incredibly attractive and talented victims manage to avoid the clutches of an international Nazi conspiracy while everyone around them is assassinated. Better writing than Ludlum's earlier works--dialog is much better than Bourne.

Typical Ludlum thriller in which a wealthy American gets sucked into a world of espionage and international conspiracy. Well-paced and wryly characterised, this made a great travel read.

Sigma is the group of industrialists who secretly control this world, where conspiracy theories are real. The action starts with Ben’s near assassination, but Ben has no idea who would want to kill him or why. Meanwhile, Anna is the government agent sent to discover why men named on an old list are suddenly dying. Eventually, they both find their answers lead to Sigma. The Sigma Protocol was the first book by Ludlum I had read, and I really enjoyed it. The plot was interesting with lots of action, the characters were very likeable, and the ending leaves you wondering if Sigma is really stopped.

Sigma Protocol.doc