The Sisters - by Robert Littell (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Legendary CIA agents Francis and Carroll were once called "the Sisters Death and Night" by their colleagues. As the duo approaches retirement, some within the Company say that they are past their prime. To shift the balance of power in America's favor, Francis and Carroll hatch a plan worthy of their former triumphs: awaken an infamous KGB assassin thought to be living in New York and manipulate him into carrying out a master plot to assassinate the president of the United States.

They first deceive the Potter, former head of the KGB, into revealing the identity of his most notorious student. After realizing that he has betrayed his best sleeper agent--the man he thinks of as a son--the Potter races to stop his protégé from committing the Sisters' operation.

Called "the plot of plots" by the New York Times, The Sisters is a spy classic swirling with brilliant puzzles, shocking double-crosses, and resonant questions about ideology.

Review Quotes

"About a third of the way into Robert Littell's latest Cold War thriller, The Sisters, it dawns on the reader what the author is really up to this time. And it seems all at once so clever, outrageous and cynical that first your breath is taken away and then, when you remember it's only a story, you giggle. The giggle is embarrassing to confess, but I blame it completely on empathy with the mad, fascinating characters who populate this book."
--The New York Times

"First-class entertainment."
--The Washington Post

"Engrossing . . . Right up there with the novels of Le Carré, Deighton, and the rest of the best."
--People

"Artfully constructed, well-written, and has more switchbacks than the road up Pike."
--The Detroit News

"A masterful espionage novel . . . A tale full of intrigue, double agents, and betrayal."
--The San Diego Tribune

"A thrill-a-minute ride that leads to an astonishing conclusion."
--The Pittsburgh Press

"Witty, gritty, ingeniously plotted...full of twists and surprises, The Sisters is an engaging,
intelligent thriller."
--Fort-Star Worth Telegram

"A sinister, twisting rollercoaster ride, the fastest since Day of the Jackal."
--Joseph Wambaugh, author of The Delta Star and The Glitter Dome

"What Elmore Leonard is to mysteries, what Isaac Asimov is to science fiction, and what Stephen King is to horror--well, that's what Robert Littell is to the novel of intrigue. He's a first-rate writer."
--Susan Isaacs, author of Almost Paradise

"Littell brilliantly weaves quirky characters and puzzle-piece vignettes into an intricate, bizarre and highly entertaining tale."
--Publishers Weekly

Praise for Robert Littell

"I don't know of anyone who seems to have more fun spinning out complicated spy stories than Robert Littell . . . A Littell spy novel is always elaborately detailed, fun to read--and then just when you are being handed a few laughs, it blows up in your face."
--The New York Times

"Besides being hugely entertaining, The Company is a serious look at how our nation exercised power, for good and ill, in the second half of the twentieth century."
--The Washington Post Book World

"Reads like a breeze . . . guaranteed to suck you right back into the Alice-in-Wonderland world of spy vs. spy . . . A ripping good yarn--entertaining, chilling, insightful."
--Newsweek

"Since his Cold War classic, The Defection of A.J. Lewinter, Littell has been steadily creating his own subgenre, the counter-thriller, witty and highly original tales that play off the clichés of the Cold War thriller and subvert them."
--Joseph Finder, The Washington Post

"Beautifully plotted . . . with a clever, ironic twist at the end . . . Littell's craftsmanship shines through."
--Chicago Tribune

About the Author

Sarah Weinman is the author of the nonfiction books The Real Lolita, Scoundrel, and Without Consent, and the Crime & Mystery columnist for the New York Times Book Review.