This was a pretty good action thriller which evolved into a less interesting to me legal courtroom thriller.
And I'll probably try another of his books. ( )

I've been devouring everything Robert Dugoni has written ever since I picked up a copy of [b:Wrongful Death|3861996|Wrongful Death (David Sloane, #2)|Robert Dugoni|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1385446963s/3861996.jpg|3907152] and met him at a book signing. When I heard he was returning to the world of David Sloane with a spy book focused on his friend Charlie Jenkins, I could not wait to get a copy. I figured the author's skill at writing thrillers would serve him well. I was not disappointed.

Charlie is approached by his former CIA station chief and reluctantly recruited into what is supposed to be a few quick trips to Russia to gain some valuable intel. It will also provide some needed cash to keep his business afloat. His first trip is suspenseful, but successful. On the second trip, things go horribly wrong and we're off to the races.

As usual, the author's writing is clear and vivid. The characters, locations and action come alive, even when they fall into some obvious spy novel stereotypes. The reader is kept on the edge of their seat, turning pages to find out what happens next. Then, about two-thirds of the way through, the story takes a bit of a left turn, changing from a spy novel to a legal drama. By this time, the story has the reader hooked and anxious to finish. But the change in pace is a bit jarring.

I won't say I saw the end coming. But I feel like I picked up on most of the clues to the underlying mystery as they were dropped along the way. This didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story. But I like it when spy novels keep me guessing a little more. Even so, I enjoyed this book and recommend it.

Disclosure: Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for providing a free copy of this book in return for my honest review. ( )

I struggled through this book. It's like a bad spy novel that turns into a worse Grisham story. The premise that the CIA needed a 65 year old former spy without any context or conversation other than someone stopping by to talk with Jenkins. We never completely conclude and catch the 8th Sister,
and then his Russian counterpart just quits and then later leaves him a life's fortune. Good thing he has a friends that can support his family in his house for months and then mount a million dollar trial for no costs.

I am a huge fan of his Crosswhite series. This fell flat for me. ( )

I'm going 3.5 on this but rounding up because I enjoyed it more than a 3 and Goodreads doesn't allow for 1/2 stars...

There was a lot I liked about this book. The main character is a former CIA agent - a 64 year old Black man (which made me very happy because there aren't enough non-white protagonists in mainstream thrillers written by white people) - who is reactivated to help save some agents who don't know they're being targeted. The Seven Sisters.

As one would expect from a book in this genre, everything is not what it seems and there's lots of killing and hiding and backstabbing. That was pretty fun. Then it slows down and we get to go through a sort of drug out courtroom thing.

That's when the head scratching and eye rolling started in earnest. Seriously, I had figured out a big part of the mystery but while the rationale and methods behind it were revealed, I felt lost much of the time. There was SO MUCH going on and some of it was so convoluted that I wanted to throw up my hands and be done.

I'm no stranger to Mr. Dugoni's books and know that there's a good chance I'll get frustrated at some point while reading but I still keep coming back. I suppose it's because his characters are interesting and I like his writing voice. So far I've ready the Tracy Crosswhite series (which reminds me that I still have the latest book in the series to read) and [b:The 7th Canon|29904287|The 7th Canon|Robert Dugoni|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1466240743l/29904287._SY75_.jpg|50278266]. This guy's been around a long time and has written loads of books.

Even though this is the first in a series, I recognize the name David Sloan from another series that I haven't read so I'm betting anyone who's read those will be surrounded by old friends. They seem like nice and interesting people so I might visit them, too. I can't seem to quit Dugoni. ( )

This was my first book by Robert Dugoni, but it definitely won't be my last. It was a nice combination of espionage (mostly the first part), legal drama (second part), a bit of family drama mixed in along with some very likeable characters.

Charles Jenkins isn't really cut out to be a spy - at least not anymore. Mainly, he's a bit old for that work, too honest, although he seems smart enough. But somehow, he got sucked in to helping out with something that went badly wrong and took the rest of the book to get out of trouble.

In some ways, the problems seemed to all work out a bit too easily, but there were enough of them to make for an exciting, quick read. I'm looking forward to the 2nd book in the series, which I have ready to read. I like to read the first two books in a new series if possible, so it cements the characters into my memory a bit in case I want to read them all.

( )