Liz's Reviews > The Eighth Sister

I'm not a big fan of spy thrillers, but I'll read anything that Robert Dugoni writes. This stand alone novel has Charles Jenkins, a mid 60s retired CIA agent forced to come out of retirement to raise enough money to save his security business. He is sent to Moscow to discover who is killing the members of a US spy ring.
Dugoni once again reeled me in immediately. He does a superb job of painting the Russian atmosphere - the FSB and Putin's power, the Russian character, even the weather. He's also done his research when it comes to how the spy industry works and effortlessly instructs the reader as well. The book moves at a fast pace, like an action movie. There are a lot of close calls. Nothing is as it should be and Jenkins is constantly running to stay one step ahead. The second part of the book becomes more legal procedural than spy thriller, but it's equally engaging. This might not hold together completely, but it's so much fun I didn't mind. (It's best that one not think too hard about some of the plot points.)
I enjoyed the characters, not just Jenkins, but Federov and Paulina. Once again, Dugoni has proven he can handle any genre he decides to take on.
My thanks to netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for an advance copy of this book.