One thing I've learned about books by this author: It's not likely I'll be disappointed. No surprise, then, that this one earned yet another five-star rating from me. Here's the scoop:
Charles Jenkins is in his 60s now, married to a younger woman who's close to delivering their new baby. A former CIA case officer, he left the agency with a bad taste in his mouth after a case that didn't go as planned some 40 years ago. Now, he runs a security consulting business that appears to have a single client - a high-profile firm in Seattle that tends to be in arrears when it comes to payment for services rendered. Then one day, Charlie gets a surprise visitor: his long-ago CIA station chief, Carl Emerson, who begs him to take on an undercover job in Moscow (where, conveniently, Charlie's client has an office). The task is to determine the identity of the "eighth sister," a Russian agent who is behind the recent murders of a couple of members of a U.S. spy cell known as the seven sisters. They've operated successfully and secretly for many years until now; the hope is that Charlie will nail the eighth sister before she finishes off all the others.
Desperate to stop the red ink in his business, Charlie reluctantly takes the assignment without letting his wife in on his secret. But early on, he learns something is dead wrong; for openers, the woman he believes is behind the killings isn't the assassin. Even more frightening, what she tells him - if in fact she can be believed - forces him to doubt everything he's been told about the case so far.
Everything goes totally haywire when Charlie and the woman find themselves in the crosshairs of a Russian agent who wants them in jail (or better still, six feet under). But why? Nothing Charlie has said or done should have triggered that kind of response. Could it be that something or someone's gone afoul in the CIA? And if so, who? Everything ends up in a trial, during which a possible insight on that question (as an aside, especially relevant these days) is offered. When Charlie asks, "How do we get the government to lie?" the response speaks volumes: "We just get them to move their lips."
Fast-paced, exciting and another winner, this is a not-to-be-missed thriller. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy.
The Eighth Sister by Robert Dugoni (Thomas & Mercer, April 2019); 437 pp.
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