Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Best of 2024 ezine!

Summary and Reviews of The SIGMA Protocol by Robert Ludlum

The SIGMA Protocol by Robert Ludlum

The SIGMA Protocol

by Robert Ludlum
  • Critics' Consensus (4):
  • Readers' Rating (3):
  • First Published:
  • Oct 1, 2001, 528 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Oct 2002, 672 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Book Summary

Ben and Anna race to uncover the diabolical secrets long hidden behind the code word Sigma, secrets that threaten everything they think they know about themselves, their friends and families, and everything they were ever taught about history itself.

American investment banker Ben Hartman arrives in Zurich for a ski holiday, the first time he's been back to Switzerland since his twin brother died there in a tragic accident four years earlier. But his arrival triggers something far more sinister than his brother's fate. When Ben chances upon Jimmy Cavanaugh, an old college friend, Cavanaugh promptly pulls out a gun and tries to kill him. In a matter of minutes, several innocent bystanders are dead - as well as Cavanaugh - and Ben has barely managed to survive. Plunged into an unspeakable nightmare, Hartman suddenly finds himself on the run.

Department of Justice field agent Anna Navarro is being stalked around the world by a relentless killer, managing to survive the killer's attacks only by a combination of luck, skill, and her own quick wits. These attacks are somehow related to her current assignment: investigating the sudden - and seemingly unrelated - deaths of a number of very old men throughout the world. The only thing that connects them is a file in the CIA archives, over a half-century old, marked with the same puzzling code word: Sigma. But someone or something is always seemingly one step ahead of her, the survivors are rapidly dwindling, and her own life is in ever-increasing danger.

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

Chapter One

Zurich

"May I get you something to drink while you wait?" The Hotelpage was a compact man who spoke English with only a trace of an accent. His brass nameplate gleamed against his loden-green uniform.

"No, thank you," Ben Hartman said, smiling wanly.

"Are you sure? Perhaps some tea? Coffee? Mineral water?" The bellhop peered up at him with the bright-eyed eagerness of someone who has only a few minutes left to enhance his parting tip. "I'm terribly sorry your car is delayed."

"I'm fine, really."

Ben stood in the lobby of the Hotel St. Gotthard, an elegant nineteenth-century establishment that specialized in catering to the well heeled international businessman--and, face it, that's me, Ben thought sardonically. Now that he had checked out, he wondered idly whether he could tip the bellhop not to carry his bags, not to follow his every move a few feet behind, like a Bengali bride, not to offer unceasing apologies for the fact that the car that was to ...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

Book Magazine - Chris Barsanti
Reading this leaden tome isn't made more fun by the hopelessly hokey dialogue and the permeating sense of déjà vu.

Booklist - David Pitt
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....

Publishers Weekly
Ludlum displays once again his dazzling prose and ability to juggle an amazing number of plot lines...

Library Journal
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.

Reader Reviews

johnny cash

An excellent piece of work. the writing of it was quite profound but in the end ludlum comes through with a thriller. A must read.
rafael sarhi

this is an awesome book
alejandro ulloa

I like it

Write your own review!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked The SIGMA Protocol, try these:

  • Prince of Fire jacket

    Prince of Fire

    by Daniel Silva

    Published 2006

    About this book

    More by this author

    Gabriel Allon's team successfully track down the terrorists who bombed the Israeli embassy in Rome; but when they do the plot takes a stunning twist, putting their lives and those of hundreds of innocent bystanders at risk.

  • Dark Voyage jacket

    Dark Voyage

    by Alan Furst

    Published 2005

    About this book

    More by this author

    Set in May 1941 Dark Voyage is taut with suspense and pounding with battle scenes; it is authentic, powerful, and brilliant.

We have 5 read-alikes for The SIGMA Protocol, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member.
More books by Robert Ludlum
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes

Books with similar themes


Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Small Rain
    Small Rain
    by Garth Greenwell
    At the beginning of Garth Greenwell's novel Small Rain, the protagonist, an unnamed poet in his ...
  • Book Jacket: Daughters of Shandong
    Daughters of Shandong
    by Eve J. Chung
    Daughters of Shandong is the debut novel of Eve J. Chung, a human rights lawyer living in New York. ...
  • Book Jacket: The Women
    The Women
    by Kristin Hannah
    Kristin Hannah's latest historical epic, The Women, is a story of how a war shaped a generation ...
  • Book Jacket: The Wide Wide Sea
    The Wide Wide Sea
    by Hampton Sides
    By 1775, 48-year-old Captain James Cook had completed two highly successful voyages of discovery and...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
In Our Midst
by Nancy Jensen
In Our Midst follows a German immigrant family’s fight for freedom after their internment post–Pearl Harbor.
Who Said...

Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Big Holiday Wordplay 2024

Enter Now