Ludlum,
Robert. The Sigma Protocol. St. Martin’s. Nov 2001. c528p.
ISBN 0-312-27688-5. $27.95. Fiction.
Anna Navarro, special agent for the Justice Department, has
been assigned to investigate the deaths of several eminent
men, all advanced in age and all connected to a mysterious
group called Sigma, founded in the last years of World War
II. An accident brings her together with Ben Hartman, an
American investment banker who is in Zurich investigating
the death of his twin brother and finds himself the target
of an assassination attempt. Who is Sigma, and why are some
of its members being killed? More importantly, what grand
project is in the works? Readers may find the answer to these
questions simplistic: Sigma is a partnership of high ranking
statesmen and industrialists, put together not only to spirit
wealth out of Germany at the end of the war but also to stop
Communism’s spread.
Sigma’s goal is to make the world safe for capitalism, a corporation whose
Board of Directors is in charge of Western history itself.Unfortunately, Ludlum’s
latest novel (he died in March but left outlinies for more posthumous thrillers)
is not one of his better efforts. Even the sparks that eventually fly between
Anna and Ben seem tepid.