Forty years ago, Russian specialist Charles Jenkins left the CIA in disgust after a botched op in Mexico City. Now, with his finances in disarray and his younger wife in the throes of a difficult pregnancy, the 64-year-old security expert finds his former station chief on his doorstep. Seven long-serving female spies in Russia are being hunted down by an eighth "sister," apparently a counterintelligence agent for the FSB (formerly the KGB). Three women have already died. Jenkins reluctantly agrees to help, though he knows if anything goes wrong the CIA will deny him aid and recognition. In Moscow, he tangles with a relentless FSB officer. This is only the first stage of what will turn out to be a desperate cat-and-mouse game with odds against him. Set in the new Cold War between Putin's Russia and the United States, Dugoni's 15th novel (after The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell) is a riveting tale of treachery. VERDICT With lean prose and spot-on local color, this plot-driven thriller pulses with tension and fraught escapes, the action capped by a courtroom drama as good as any from Grisham. A must-read for fans of legal thrillers and/or spy novels.—Ron Terpening, formerly of Univ. of Arizona, Tucson

Forty years after leaving the CIA, Charles Jenkins, the hero of this nail-biter from Edgar finalist Dugoni (The 7th Canon), is living in Camano Island, Wash., with his pregnant wife and nine-year-old son. Since Charles is threatened with losing his debt-ridden security consulting company and his home, he agrees to be reactivated when his former CIA station chief, Carl Emerson approaches him. He is sent to Moscow, tasked with finding the woman responsible for the elimination of three of seven Russian women known as the Seven Sisters, who were chosen from dissident parents and trained from birth to infiltrate Russian institutions and provide the United States with valuable intelligence. Charles must identify this assassin, the Eighth Sister, so the CIA can take action before the remaining four agents are harmed. He quickly discovers that the Eighth Sister is not as Carl portrayed. Someone has set both her and Charles up, putting both in grave danger. Dugoni delivers an exceptionally gripping spy thriller that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (Apr.)