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The Sigma Protocol

The Sigma Protocol

List Price: $7.99
Your Price: $7.19
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Early Ludlum
Review: I stopped reading Robert Ludlum several books back as they were tedious and boring. Based on reviews I picked this one up and couldn't put it down. Reminded me of the early books with the non-stop action and suspense. I for one will miss Mr. Ludlum,
he gave me many hours of entertainment. I hope he left a few stories unpublished.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Ludlum's Last?
Review: While Robert Ludlum's books may not great literature they are great reads. The Sigma Protocol is another book that keeps you up late at night wanting to find out what will happen next. And alot of things happen to Ben Hartman, mostly it's many people wanting to kill him. While the plot tends to go a bit overboard it is still a very exciting ride. Ben Hartman is a lot like David Webb(Jason Bourne) because he has no idea why people want to kill him and why people he meets get killed. While very violent it is an excellent book which I highly recommend.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sigma Protocol is Classic Ludlum!!!
Review: Although it is not known how many additional finished or nearly finished transcripts exist, if any, following the death of Robert Ludlum, I was happy to have at least had the opportunity to enjoy the Sigma Protocol. This latest work was really quite good and very difficult to put down. This book grabs the reader early and does not let go, leading on more than one occasion to fits of yawning in the morning because I had stayed up too late reading the night before. All in all, the Sigma Protocol provides all of the action, suspense, frequent plot twists, and unexpected events that Ludlum aficionados have come to love in the conspiracy-thriller genre. This is clearly Ludlum's best effort in years. My only hope is that there is another work of this quality from Ludlum in the pipeline.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Ludlum's Back
Review: Not really, of course. Mr. Ludlum died before The Sigma Protocol was published, but fortunately for his reading fans the book was edited and published. It is vintage Ludlum with fast paced action from the opening to the final page. Ben Hartman is an unlikely hero who is plunged into a world of deception where in true Ludlum fashion "nothing is as it seems." Ben is an investment banker who just happens to be in great shape. Although he is a complete amatuer in the world of espionage he manages to stay alive as the world around him begins to change with the appearance of an old "friend" who pulls a gun on him.

Ben's twin brother's death in Switzerland four years earlier had been ruled an accident. His brother had been searchig for the members of the Sigma Protocol and was getting close to the truth.
Read the book to find out what really happened to Peter and how Ben finally finds a partner to help him solve the mystery and stop the killings.

Sigma Protocol is as good as some of Ludlum's earlier books. Hopefully, there are other manuscripts waiting to be published.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Ludlum's Swan Song
Review: Robert Ludlum, one of the most popular authors of best selling thrillers passed away early this year. With 23 novels, over 200 million copies in print, Ludlum's contribution to the genre of action thrillers is indeed worth reckoning.

I pay my humble tributes to this talented writer who has kept book lovers like me hooked to his writings for over 20 years.

As a reviewer and a critic, I have found Ludlum taxing the gullibility of his readers with his bizarre, outrageous plots, implausible storylines, and his constant fixation on "conspiracy by a super-secret, ultra powerful, underground organisation" which has been repeated so many times that it has become a bore.

Nevertheless, as a reader, Ludlum has never ceased to fascinate me with complex plots, twists and turns, fast paced action, violence, heroics, nerve wrecking drama,intrigue,nail biting suspense, and his ability to keep the adrenaline pumping, readers on tenterhooks, making his books "unputdownable"!

This book, the last of the author is another such thriller about a secret organisation SIGMA.

Ben Hartman, a young business tycoon from America on a holiday in Europe, gets caught in a web of intrigue and suspense when suddenly he is being persued by a gang of ruthless killers. He finds that his twin brother, who had died years ago in Europe in an 'accident', was privy to some secrets. His investigations make Ben aware of SIGMA. Ben decides to keep digging till he unravels the truth.

Anna Navarro, a beautiful young woman, is an agent of US Government investigation agency, on a mission to investigate a string of deaths in Europe of once powerful, influential, old men, discovers that a group of people are being systematically eliminated by an unknown assassin/s.She also finds that all the victims are members of an organisation SIGMA.

Ben and Anna, after a series of confrontations, decide to join forces and gang up to find out the truth. SIGMA in the meanwhile has managed to make both of them pariahs and wanted criminals being chased by law-enforcement agencies all over the world. Both of them are on the run now, SIGMA as well as security agencies are on the look out for the couple.What then happens doesn't need any great imagination....better you read it for yourselves.

The novel keeps you glued and makes an interesting reading. DON'T TRY TO THINK OR ANALYSE! Enjoy it, just as one enjoys mindless action thriller fillums of Dharmendra et all. This book too has its own share of incongruities, unexplained incidents and unanswered questions....don't bother , just enjoy!

After having read so many of Ludlum (nearly all of them),one thing that bothers me is that, even though Ludlum names many well known persons, Corporations, agencies and incidents, how come nobody has even tried to sue him?...What if, some of his wild theories are true?...One shudders to think of the possibilities!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: He went back to what worked best.....
Review:

This book reminds Ludlum fans WHY he was once THE VERY BEST at the spy/suspense/thriller genre! I've read every one of his books (some more than once), and I am here to tell you this last one (?) harkens back to the BOURNE IDENTITY. Once I started it, I could NOT put it down, even though it meant reading all throughout the night and into the next morning.

The plot centers around a man who tries to put the ghost of his twin brother to rest on an overseas trip...however, everywhere he turns, there is confusion, danger and death. An old college buddy tries to gun him down in broad daylight....his brother may or may not be dead....and no one or nothing is what it seems. In other words, this book is VINTAGE LUDLUM!

I agree ... the present tense on the jacket .... he is dead. If there are indeed 11 outlines on the boards, I certainly hope they'll do us fans a favor and reveal WHO ghosted the work(s).

Although he steadfastly maintained he never had any 'spy' experience, he must have been either (1) hooked up with someone who LIVED the world of espionage or (2) he did more than 'voice overs' to put his kids through college. He simply knows too much.

I didn't like a lot of Ludlum's later works -- they were just too contrived and sometimes way beyond the realm of possibilities -- but with THE SIGMA PROTOCOL, the master returned home for one last triumph!

Enjoy!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sigma Protocol: Fact or Fiction?
Review: Wow! You've got to be kidding me? What a story. Ludlum has left us with an awesome, I mean awesome story. This goes right between 1984, and Brave New World, it's that good. If you love the "what if" or "what might have been" concepts, then, The Sigma Protocol is for you. As a reader, don't busy yourself trying to figure out how the story ends, you're just wasting, valuable time, just keep reading. Besides, this thing has so many left turns, and it's so unpredictable, that your head will spin. But, it's worth it. Enjoy!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The last Ludlum (?)
Review: I've been a fan of Robert Ludlum's ever since the original publication of "The Scarlatti Inheritance", many years ago. Sure, I know that his plots are often preposterous, the characters wooden, and the dialogue often quite stilted, but I really don't care! The man told a terrific story, one that kept me interested from beginning to end. Along the way I was given a glimpse of many interesting places in Europe (especially) and around the globe. The books were entertaining, and that's all I really ask from this genre. I either heard of read that there many be a few more Ludlum-completed works around, for publication in later years. That's some consolation to such a faithful reader as myself. If, and when, they are published, I'll read them.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: great book, but preachy ending
Review: This is the first book I've read by Robert Ludlum. And from the likes of it, I'd be encouraged to read more (there's always The Bourne Identity which comes out in theaters next summer to start with). The author's technique of covering multiple story threads occuring at the same time was well used. You could picture the scenes to a mental movie quite vividly. He doesn't give the protagonist in the story unbelievable traits. In fact, he makes the male protagonist (Ben Hartmann) downright sensitive with her interactions with the female protagonist (Anna Navarro). There were lots of twists and turns in this story, until the last few chapters. What seemed really suspenseful at the beginning, quickly degenerated into preachiness in the last few pages as the author explains the logical reasoning behind the sinister plot to preserve the world's leading industrial/political icons. The story is mainly set in Europe around Switzerland. I like the fact that the author describes his surroundings and interactions with people in these countries in their native vocabulary (usually in italics), then explains them again in English for the benefit of the reader. I'd like to think I learned a thing or two about those countries he mentioned.

All in all, it was a fascinating read. Pick up a copy today!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: One of the few Ludlum novels I did not finish
Review: I made it to a little past 400 pages and my increasing lack of interest finally got to me.

The main characters get less sympathetic. The turns in the plot become more gratuitous. The narrow escapes from death become more far-fetched. Little mistakes in the writing become more annoying. The idea of a secret organization pulling the strings on the major events of the world gets more silly in the 21st century.

Nevertheless, I will miss further writings by the author. I wish the publishers had paid him more respect by noting his passing in the book's flyjacket rather that referring to him as a living author.


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