The Eighth Sister
Robert Dugoni
Thomas & Mercer.
Back in the 1970s Charles Jenkins quit the CIA in disgust when an operation in Mexico turned bloody. Since that time he’s put his expertise to use by running his own firm providing security for businesses. With a much younger wife, a young son, and another child on the way, the last thing sixty-four year old Charles needs is for a major client to stop paying the bills—yet LSR&C does exactly that. Stretched financially to the limit the future looks bleak for Charles and his family, which is why the sudden reappearance of his former CIA boss with a lucrative job offer looks like a godsend.
A deep-cover network of moles in the Russian government called the Eight Sisters have provided the CIA with intelligence for decades. Someone has exposed the network, and the Russian FSB is disposing of the sisters one by one. Charles’ mission is to visit Russia in order to locate the Eighth Sister head of the network and bring her to safety. Things go badly wrong when he encounters FSB officer Viktor Fedorov. Pursued across Russia and into Turkey, Charles escapes only to face betrayal from his own government and arrest for treason. The fight is on to prove his innocence and to expose the government’s shady dealings before Charles is imprisoned for life.
The Eighth Sister is a taut thriller in the fine tradition of spy stories. Charles Jenkins is a great well-drawn Everyman character faced with difficult decisions to preserve and protect his family that anyone can understand.
