The Sigma Protocol
A Novel
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3.9 • 53 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Now comes The Sigma Protocol, a new breakneck novel of intrigue, conspiracy, and terrifying deception.
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 in Zurich 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 of 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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In what will likely be Ludlum's first (but not last) posthumous blockbuster, a world-altering scheme masterminded by an ex-Nazi cohort of Mengele overcomes the ethical and moral resistance of the world's most respected and powerful business and political leaders. Navigating a byzantine labyrinth of foreign locales and deploying a huge cast of plotters, the thriller veteran again pulls out all the stops. Anna Navarro, a U.S. homicide specialist for the enigmatic Internal Compliance Unit is sent to look into a spate of mysterious deaths around the world. All the victims are very old wealthy men, and all are connected to the secretive corporation Sigma A.G., founded in Switzerland during WWII. When her only living lead is murdered moments before Anna lands in Switzerland, she crosses paths with Ben Hartman, a New York financier who is dodging the killer who murdered his twin brother, Peter, when Peter discovered that their father, Max, was part of Sigma. Ben is framed for murder and flees to Vienna on the trail of Sigma; he joins forces with Anna when she is set up by her handler. Together, the two elude hit men in Vienna, Paris, Argentina and elsewhere. As they close in on Sigma's secret, Max appears, and the plot hurtles to a dizzying conclusion. Ludlum (The Prometheus Deception, etc.), who died in March 2001, displays once again his dazzling prose and ability to juggle an amazing number of plot lines. His relatively amateur protagonists evade the pros with believable subterfuge and outside help, and the able Anna is a welcome lead. This is a clean launch of the '80s spy novel into a thrilling action/adventure web of intrigue meant for the 21st century. Major ad/promo.
