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A review by rainbowbrarian
The Eighth Sister by Robert Dugoni
3.0
Read this as part of Dad and Daughter Book Club. Spy stories aren't normally my genre, but this was good :)
I was not a fan of the MC being 65 and having a new baby, I kind of find that dynamic creepy. When your kid graduates high school you're gonna be 80. Will you even live to see her grown up? But he was a good dad to CJ. I wished Alex were a bigger part of the story, she was a former agent but she kind of gets shelved with pregnancy complications so she doesn't get to do anything really meaningful other than stand by her man and sound worried.
However, I did get pulled into the story. I was compelled by the escape from Russia story, not quite as much with the second half which is him fighting to clear his name in the trial. Sort of felt like I was getting a book that was a spy novel only to find out it was half court room drama.
I am of two minds about the tiny queer inclusion. First, okay, well you acknowledged queer people exist. But then, seriously it's now and all you do is say "hey queer people get fucked over in Russia", here's your token dead gay ballet queer. And shocker, dead gay tragedy. *eyeroll* Could we maybe have had ANY OTHER queer people at all. Anywhere?
It was cool to have a black man be the secret agent spy, because I feel like pretty much ever other CIA spy story it's yet another white guy. It would have been even cooler if the author was a person of color. Because Charles Jenkins, a black man, is the MAIN character. Points off to the audio book team for that one.
I was not a fan of the MC being 65 and having a new baby, I kind of find that dynamic creepy. When your kid graduates high school you're gonna be 80. Will you even live to see her grown up? But he was a good dad to CJ. I wished Alex were a bigger part of the story, she was a former agent but she kind of gets shelved with pregnancy complications so she doesn't get to do anything really meaningful other than stand by her man and sound worried.
However, I did get pulled into the story. I was compelled by the escape from Russia story, not quite as much with the second half which is him fighting to clear his name in the trial. Sort of felt like I was getting a book that was a spy novel only to find out it was half court room drama.
I am of two minds about the tiny queer inclusion. First, okay, well you acknowledged queer people exist. But then, seriously it's now and all you do is say "hey queer people get fucked over in Russia", here's your token dead gay ballet queer. And shocker, dead gay tragedy. *eyeroll* Could we maybe have had ANY OTHER queer people at all. Anywhere?
It was cool to have a black man be the secret agent spy, because I feel like pretty much ever other CIA spy story it's yet another white guy. It would have been even cooler if the author was a person of color. Because Charles Jenkins, a black man, is the MAIN character. Points off to the audio book team for that one.