An Amazon Charts, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal bestseller. A pulse-pounding thriller of espionage, spy games, and treachery by the New York Times bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite Series.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. … 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.
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What a page-turner! I have heard so much about Robert Dogoni’s thrillers and I’m sorry it took me so long to finally read one. It was a captivating story that covered espionage, law, family issues, and more. Looking forward to the next in the series.
This is an exciting new series from Robert Dugoni. Charles Jenkins,is a retired CIA case officer who is forced back into the game by personal and financial challenges. I have never been to Russia, but reading The Eighth Sister transported me there. I am looking forward to the sequel. Cheers Lynda L. Lock Isla Mujeres Mysteries.
I listened to the audible version of THE EIGHTH SISTER by Robert Dugoni on a flight from Boise to Minneapolis. I’m sure my seatmate wondered what the heck had me white knuckling the armrest between us. It’s a hard-hitting page-turner that gripped my attention from the get-go! I highly recommend this book.
Exhilarating…A tightly written, flawlessly executed espionage novel that takes the reader on a refreshingly unique, white-knuckle journey through the byzantine world of modern intelligence.
An excellent combination of the international and legal thriller genres. This book is what you might expect if you crossed “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold” with “To Kill A Mocking Bird.” It’s a super-fast paced read that starts off with Charles Jenkins (a 60 year-old, 6’5″ African American ex-CIA agent) being reactivated for a Russian mission. His assignment turns into a high octane chase across Russia as he flees from Victor Federov, an FSB agent determined to bring him back to the infamous Lubyanka prison for “questioning.” The lives of four of the remaining seven sisters are at stake. These are deep cover CIA spies in place for over forty years. Jenkins is betrayed by the agency and a close personal friend and finds himself branded a traitor facing a life sentence for espionage against the United States. The court scenes are authentic and tense. If you liked Dugoni’s Tracy Crosswhite series you will love Charles Jenkins. Dugoni once again displays his immense talent as one of the best mystery and thriller writers around today.
Could not put this book down once I started reading it. Real life characters who fight the system and corruption in order to survive and give hope. Fast moving action keep the reader reading.
I’ve been a fan of Robert Dugoni thrillers for years, and this one doesn’t disappoint. I’m not terribly keen on spies or legal thrillers, though (and this has both), but I enjoyed the story. I particularly liked the action-packed thrills in Russia, and not as much the legal process of the later portions of the book.
Fans of espionage thrillers will love this latest offering from Robert Dugoni. If you love a good Russian spy story like I do, you’ll love this series premiere featuring former CIA agent Charles Jenkins. Highly recommended!
The first in the Charles Jenkins series also includes David Sloane ( who has his own series), I found The Eighth Sister a little slow early on, but I soon forgot that issue and couldn’t wait to turn the next page and the next and the next.
Exciting beginning. The first half of the book was tremendously good, well written, I can’t say enough but the second half of the book let me down and didn’t seem to be connected to the first half except to explain it. There was too much explanation, too much trial and too many loose connections that never really got tied together. For fans of this writer though, I’d say go for it!
Robert’s got a knack for the police procedural and the legal thriller. As a former lawyer he brings great insights to the poker players on both sides of the court room.
But in the Eighth Sister, he creates a new genre – the legal spy thriller. I enjoyed the Gorky Park style Russian intrigue with the usual cat and mouse games but Dugoni ups the ante by delivering a more international flavor to game. I also loved the marriage of the two genres to see how a Spy left out in the cold struggles for justice when the deck is stacked high against him. I’m looking forward to the next one!
Mystery surrounds the sisters. Their identities are unknown even to each other. Trained from birth to penetrate Russia’s foreign intelligence service and report to the CIA, suddenly they are disappearing. Three of them are dead. What is it about this intrigue that appeals to ex-agent Charles Jenkins? What convinces him to come out of retirement, and away from the love of his family? He had left the CIA disillusioned; now he’s back in the midst of extreme danger.
Charles Jenkins, a character known from author Robert Dugoni’s riveting David Sloane series of legal thrillers, will now match wits against Viktor Federov. This FSB agent is very smart, a personality wrapped in many layers, ruthless, and very good at his job. He is the challenging opponent working for his government to thwart Jenkins when he travels to Russia to spy and investigate. The male and female spy characters are incredibly good at espionage. The little known aspects and tricks of their trade have become their way of life – of staying alive. The Russian setting is as captivating as the tale told. Winter is fast approaching, and so are the footsteps that are quickening behind the protagonist, and so is the tightening of the squad of spies surrounding the hero. The clock is ticking and it will take all his knowledge, creativity, and good luck for the hero to break the case. The question is, even if he’s successful will that be enough for him to get out and get to safety?
Bonus thrills abound as this international action thriller moves into the court room. When Sloane ends up having to take on governments, that’s when precedent is sometimes abandoned and the search for justice becomes a troubling case. Spies have few friends, or colleagues who are willing to step forward and help or testify, or even acknowledge their acquaintance, and a paper trail gets quickly buried.
Critically acclaimed author Robert Dugoni’s books are New York Times Best Sellers, #1 with the Wall Street Journal, and he is No. 1 Amazon Best Selling Author of The Tracy Crosswhite series. This series has sold over two million copies and has been optioned for television series development. But that’s not all! There’s also the best selling David Sloane series, and even more stand alone books including The Cyanide Canary – a Washington Post best book of the year. His website is robertdugonibooks.com. Along with multiple awards and award nominations, Robert Dugoni books are sold world-wide and translated into more than two dozen languages. With all this work, it’s amazing how much time Robert Dugoni gives back to the writing community through classes, workshops, and speaking engagements — he even appeared at October’s Write on the Sound (WOTS) Conference in Edmonds.
And for more from the author himself, join co-hosts Wendy Kendall and Carl Lee on the podcast A Novel Talk with Robert Dugoni.
Charles Jenkins is a retired American spy pulled back into action against the Russians 40 years hence. He’s like an African-American Jack Reacher : 6 feet 6, fit, honest, and smart but in trouble financially, complicated by having a wife, son , and unborn child , all of whom he cherishes. The thought of earning $50,000 is tempting despite his accurate sense that there is much more involved than he is asked to do. His story is action-packed, logically thought-out, believable, and addictive to read. Jenkins has more trouble back in the States when he escapes the Russians; the latter part of the book deals with plenty of engaging courtroom procedural activity that doesn’t disappoint. I feel this is the best Dugoni I have read yet.
This was another excellent Robert Dugoni book, and I enjoyed the thrill ride. I find his books remind me a bit of Dan Brown, but I think he (Dugoni) excels at storytelling and not rushing things along especially endings, which I appreciate. This book was another fine example of his style.
I liked the Charles Jenkins character, his family and friends. He isn’t your typical agent – not the hotshot young thing but a seasoned gentleman who gets tasked and pulled back into the CIA years after leaving. He opts to do a job for them, but it comes at a price, and he gets more than he bargained even though he is just trying to do the right thing.
I liked the spy thriller aspect of this book the most. The second half of the book was around a legal espionage trial, which typically isn’t my cup of tea. But I found myself engrossed in the case and wanting to see things righted in the end. And now I hope to read more about Charles Jenkins in the future…
It’s no accident that THE EIGHTH SISTER by Robert Dugoni is a great espionage thriller.
One of the perks of being a writer is that you sometimes get to meet other writers. That can prove very insightful.
I’ve read—and enjoyed—several of Mr. Dugoni’s earlier novels. However, THE EIGHTH SISTER is the first of his works that I read after he and I first met, and began corresponding. About books? Nope. About writing? Nope. About NBA superstar basketball players? Yep.
I’ve since come to learn that Mr. Dugoni is a student and serious thinker of virtually everything that crosses his path. Family. Friends. Law. Politics. Writing. Sports. You name it.
Mr. Dugoni studies writing, and what other writers say and do. He also teaches other writers what he has learned about how to be a writer. A great writer. (Confession: Mr. Dugoni and I recently shared the speakers’ podium at a writers’ conference, where he and I exchanged views not about the NBA but about writing thrillers.)
So, it’s no accident indeed that THE EIGHTH SISTER is a terrific read, both a terrific espionage thriller and a terrific legal thriller.
I could recite all of the common superlatives of a great novel, riveting, tense, fast paced, suspenseful, page turning, full of surprises, twists and turns and characters who come alive on the page and hold you hostage until the very end (and I just did say all that), but I’d rather put it this way: THE EIGHTH SISTER is a great story by a great writer and thinker that will entertain and prove well worth your time.
This is another great novel by Dugoni . He consistently writes great novels and they are all entertaining.
Another winner. The switch midstream from espionage/spy thriller to legal drama was unexpected but Dugoni’s books are so well researched and intricately plotted, it’s always a pleasure to discover what the next chapter holds.
A thrilling journey!
Robert Dugoni has brought another character to life in this intriguing story of spies and one man’s love and honor for his country. This was a page turner to the very end and even then I wanted more. This is for anyone that loves a great mystery with some history and knowledge of other countries tossed into the mix. I can’t wait for Book 2 to arrive!
A good story
Assuming the places described in Russia are accurate, a tremendous amount of research was conducted to describe various scenes in the story. His best work and I have read everyone of his books. I guess he has no time to practice law anymore.