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Summary: The Wild West moves to Switzerland
Review: Robert Ludlum transforms "Verhuete Laerm!" idyllic Switzerland into a wild west shoot-out backdrop where bullets buzz around the peaceful citizens in the streets of Zurich. Yes, the plot moves at a breakneck pace and overdone brutality is the author's key ingredient. With political correctness, the old ... who are suckling the secret of eternal youth must meet their overdue demise. Go ahead and read it and don't say I didn't warn you! Gerborg
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Summary: predictable and preposterous
Review: If you want to waste time reading a book you've read before--probably many times before--then this one is for you. It's 600+ pages of formulas and cliches. All-powerful industrialists conspiring to rule the world. The high-tech creation of a new master race. A one-man rescue and destruction of the Evil Empire ensconed in an impregnable Alpine castle. A mind-numbing progression of traps, blackmail and false identities, all of which are easily anticipated by the reader (but not by our heroes). This book has it all--unfortunately.
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Summary: Surreal
Review: I picked up this Ludlum at the airport on the way to Switzerland. Prior to beginning the book, I had had no idea that the story was set in the Switzerland/Austria region . I felt myself really drawn to the descriptions of the places and people, so that even though some were ficticious names and places, there were enough real places mentioned to lend to the "believability" of the piece and give "a ring of truth" to it all. It made it seem just a bit surreal to leave the Zurich Flughafen(airport) and head towards "St. Gallen".. and pass signs to "Chur" on the way.Wow!! I'd just been there in the book...I like that Mr. Ludlum does enough research on the places that he takes you to, so that you can really see it in your mind's eye
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Summary: Great Read... But a Repeat of Aquitaine Progression?
Review: An outstanding read that will keep you up well into the early hours if not the morning! Looking back 15 years, there is a certain similarity to The Aquitaine Progression. But that certainly doesn't mean you shouldn't read the Sigma Protocol -- it's one of Ludlum's best!
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Summary: Not his best work
Review: I'm a big Robert Ludlum fan however, the Sigma Protocol hardly compares to any of his previous works. Too much random hodge podge and not enough meaning to the story. Weak dialogue and too many irrelevant characters.
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Summary: Switch to Vince Flynn for a storyline that holds together
Review: The Ludlum formula still works but this book doesn't do it justice. The writing is incoherent and the story is irrelevant for our times. As a long time Ludlum fan, I am very disappointed; I found this book to be annoying, not suspenseful. For anyone just discovering Ludlum, I'd suggest his earlier works. For anyone just discovering international thrillers, I'd suggest Vince Flynn.
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Summary: Entertaining But . . .
Review: I'll have to agree with the first reviewer (see Makes Michael Crichton Look Like Shakespeare), but seeing how this was my first Ludlum novel, it was still entertaining.Except, for what I call the Dean Koontz Soliloqy. (And mind you, I LOVE his novels, but he does this in almost every book). Without giving away any secrets of to the Ludlum novel, lets just say that there's an interesting character brought in towards the end who is barely alive. Ludlum goes on to tell us that although this person can barely speak, he writes a multi-page soliloqy, using words that are difficult to read in English, let alone, be said by a person who can barely talk above a whisper. And it goes on, and on, and on. Totally unbelievable. (Dean Koontz usually does this trick with young precocious children). I have never heard anyone utter dialogue so unweildly unless they were delivering a well rehearsed biographical speech. It is very unconversational and it really puts the brakes on the momentum of the story. Had it been paraphrashed, it might have worked. (I.E. " the (character) went on to tell Ben and Anna about his involvement. Early in (the character's) life, . . ." and so on. I'll try another Ludlum novel soon. I really liked the story itself, but overall, because of the presentation, I give it a "C".
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Summary: A Good Read
Review: Overall, despite the slow pace in places, 'The Sigma Protocol' is an enjoyable read which stands above many of the other spy-conspiracy thrillers that are out there. If you have never read a Ludlum before, you could do a lot worse than to try this one, which is certainly an improvement on his previous novel, 'The Prometheus Deception'. If anyone wants to read a really good book try Paul Omeziri's Descent into Illusions.
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Summary: 5 stars, really?
Review: This book is so implausible and in-conherent, that I find it shocking that there are this many people giving it a 5 star. Although pieces of the book can be brilliant and vivid at times, overall it is the type of story that has a grand and larger than life scheme but never has the substance to back it up. Your money would be better spent on ice cream.
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Summary: A Flashback to when Ludlum wrote TRUE thrillers...
Review: ...'The Sigma Protocol' is like taking a time machine back to when Ludlum could do no wrong when it came to writing books which took your average everyday person (or maybe above average spy) and placed them in impossible situations against a global conspiracy which threatened peace on either part of or all of the planet. I am happy to say that whether or not a shadow writer helped to fine tune whatever script Ludlum left before he passed away makes no difference to me. All the elements of what made him my all-time favorite thriller author are still in place in 'The Sigma Protocol'. Fast pacing. Incredibly choreographed chase scenes that rival ANYTHING ever put on film...oh, and the bodies pile up. Make NO mistake about that...when it comes to reading a book by Robert Ludlum, you can ALWAYS expect bullets to be flying, many of which hit their targets, producing dead folk left and right. While this may not sit well with those who are allergic to graphic violence, it was always one of the things that I enjoyed about these books. Are some of the characters less than two dimensional? Yes...but you can say the same about pretty much all of his books. Some of the dialogue can sound forced and Ludlum always put way too many !!exclamation points in his stories, and sometimes the swearing got waaay out of hand to the point that it no longer served any purpose because the characters were using it so often that it no longer made a difference to the story. All this aside, taking the novel as a whole, 'The Sigma Protocol' is another winning entry in Ludlum's long list of adventures in global conspiracies!! I very much look forward to 'The Janson Directive'!!
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