A review by mojoshivers
The Eighth Sister by Robert Dugoni
4.0
My oh my, was this an intriguing read. I wanted to classify it as a spy novel in the vein of Le Carre with an intriguing plot line about seven sleeper agents living in Russia but in the service of the U.S., as well as the man sent to suss out who was killing them one by one. More importantly, this man had the more difficult task of discovering who in the U.S. who had sold out the names of the so-called Seven Sisters.
But from that set-up the novel took the first of its great twists. Instead of being about the search for the identity of the killer, the so-called Eighth Sister, and the mole who sold them out, the middle section details how our hero is found out and has to make a very clever escape from Russia through Turkey and Greece, all the while being pursued by a dogged FSB agent.
Then for its big finish the novel spins again and becomes a courtroom drama. It turns out the hero has been set up. His visits to Russia under the guise of investigation are now being used to say he’s a traitor, that he was not authorized by the US to conduct this operation, and that he’s making this whole story to hide his treachery. It literally goes from a Le Carre novel to a Grisham novel before your eyes, which is fascinating to me.
I’ve never seen a spy plot involving traitors, sleep agents, and a government willing to double-cross one of its end up being resolved in a court of law. It blew me away how you could spool out the connecting threads between a CIA business front, one of its agents conducting his own operation to wash his dirty money through that business, and pinning the blame when it all comes out on the main character all as evidence in a case.
It’s kind of like an episode of Law & Order, except the Law part was far more gritty and involved a lot of spy craft and the Order part was far more hairy as the government as usual would do everything in its power not to appear weak, foolish, or anything less than in control in relation to allowing a mole to grow rich underneath its nose the whole time—even if it meant selling out an honest man.
But everyone gets vindicated in the end. Normally I don’t buy the happy ending, preferring something more bittersweet. But this ending? I would’ve been pissed if it had involved people getting away with the crap they tried to pull. Completely pissed.
But from that set-up the novel took the first of its great twists. Instead of being about the search for the identity of the killer, the so-called Eighth Sister, and the mole who sold them out, the middle section details how our hero is found out and has to make a very clever escape from Russia through Turkey and Greece, all the while being pursued by a dogged FSB agent.
Then for its big finish the novel spins again and becomes a courtroom drama. It turns out the hero has been set up. His visits to Russia under the guise of investigation are now being used to say he’s a traitor, that he was not authorized by the US to conduct this operation, and that he’s making this whole story to hide his treachery. It literally goes from a Le Carre novel to a Grisham novel before your eyes, which is fascinating to me.
I’ve never seen a spy plot involving traitors, sleep agents, and a government willing to double-cross one of its end up being resolved in a court of law. It blew me away how you could spool out the connecting threads between a CIA business front, one of its agents conducting his own operation to wash his dirty money through that business, and pinning the blame when it all comes out on the main character all as evidence in a case.
It’s kind of like an episode of Law & Order, except the Law part was far more gritty and involved a lot of spy craft and the Order part was far more hairy as the government as usual would do everything in its power not to appear weak, foolish, or anything less than in control in relation to allowing a mole to grow rich underneath its nose the whole time—even if it meant selling out an honest man.
But everyone gets vindicated in the end. Normally I don’t buy the happy ending, preferring something more bittersweet. But this ending? I would’ve been pissed if it had involved people getting away with the crap they tried to pull. Completely pissed.