Header Image

TLC Review: The Eighth Sister by Robert Dugoni

Title: The Eighth Sister
Author: Robert Dugoni
Year Published: 2019


Genre: Adult fiction
Pages: 458
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Location (my 2019 Google Reading map): USA (WA), Russia, Turkey, and Greece

FTC Disclosure: I was given a copy of this book for an impartial review

Summary (from the inside flap of the book): Former CIA case officer Charles Jenkins is a man at a crossroads: in his early sixties, he has a family, a new baby on the way, and a security consulting business on the brink of bankruptcy. Then his former bureau chief shows up at his house with a risky new assignment: travel undercover to Moscow and locate a Russian agent believed to be killing members of a clandestine US spy cell known as the seven sisters.


Desperate for money, Jenkins agrees to the mission and heads to the Russian capital. But when he finds the mastermind agent behind the assassinations—the so-called eighth sister—she is not who or what he was led to believe. Then again, neither is anyone else in this deadly game of cat and mouse.
Pursued by a dogged Russian intelligence officer, Jenkins executes a daring escape across the Black Sea, only to find himself abandoned by the agency he serves. With his family and freedom at risk, Jenkins is in the fight of his life—against his own country.
Add to Goodreads badge

Purchase Links: Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

Review: This is a good book! I planned on reading it over a week since it is long and I had a really busy work week, but I ended up finishing it in three days because I stayed up late to enjoy it.

Ostensibly this is a spy story and I don't read many of those; it's not my usual genre. However, my dad reads a ton of them so I am passing this on to him to read. I'll be interested to see what he thinks of it. I really enjoyed the intrigue, the mystery, the deception, and the family storyline. Charles Jenkins' family and friends figure in this story and they make all of the events seem much more reasonable and normal, which I liked. 

It would have been easy to make the Russians the bad guys in this book, especially right now given how things are in the news, but Dugoni managed to make them the enemy, but not, and human. To show both the US and Russia as flawed and forgiving is so important because it is never clear cut.

If you like a good international, CIA / FSB (the new KGB), court room drama book then this one is definitely for you.

Challenges for which this counts: 

Review Tour:
Monday, April 8th: Helen’s Book Blog
Tuesday, April 9th: Mystery Playground
Wednesday, April 10th: From the TBR Pile
Thursday, April 11th: Mockingbird Hill Cottage
Friday, April 12th: Audio Killed the Bookmark
Monday, April 15th: Jathan & Heather
Tuesday, April 16th: Jessicamap Reviews
Wednesday, April 17th: Wining Wife
Thursday, April 18th: Amy’s Book-et List
Tuesday, April 23rd: Lori’s Reading Corner – spotlight
Wednesday, April 24th: Books and Cats and Coffee
Thursday, April 25th: Kahakai Kitchen
Friday, April 26th: The Baking Bookworm
Monday, April 29th: Cheryl’s Book Nook
Tuesday, April 30th: Kritter’s Ramblings
Thursday, May 2nd: Thoughts on This ‘n That 

No comments