Sisters - Hardcover

Littell, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0553050974 ISBN 13: 9780553050974

Publisher: Bantam, 1986

Synopsis

An astonishing thriller from the author of The Company A classic among espionage aficionados, The Sisters features what the New York Times called "the plot of plots." Centering on Francis and Carroll, two enigmatic and extremely dangerous CIA legends dubbed "the Sisters Death and Night," The Sisters masterfully unveils an abyss of artful deception. By luring the Potter, a former head of the KGB sleeper school, into betraying his last and best assassin living secretly in the United States, Francis and Carroll set off a desperate race against time as the Potter tries to stop his protégé from committing the Sisters' exquisitely planned, world-shattering crime.

About this title

About the Author

Robert Littell was born, raised, and educated in New York. A former Newsweek editor specializing in Soviet affairs, he left journalism in 1970 to write fiction full time. Connoisseurs of the spy novel have elevated Robert Littell to the genre's highest ranks, and Tom Clancy wrote that “if Robert Littell didn’t invent the spy novel, he should have.” He is the author of fifteen novels, including the New York Times bestseller The Company and Legends, the 2005 L.A. Times Book Award for Best Thriller/Mystery. He currently lives in France.

From Publishers Weekly

On the heels of Littell's 2002 bestseller The Company comes this reissue of a gripping spy thriller originally published in 1986. It is the height of the Cold War, not long after the Cuban missile crisis. Francis and Carroll, dubbed "the sisters Death and Night" by their associates, are two odd yet powerful veteran CIA operatives with vague responsibilities ("If you mentioned the Sisters in an interoffice memo, almost everyone tucked away in the Company's cradle-to-grave complex knew who you were talking about. But only a handful with `eyes-only' authorizations in their dossiers had an inkling of what they actually did for a living"). In one of their clandestine brainstorming sessions, the Sisters devise a plot to commit what they consider to be "the perfect crime," although the motives for this crime are largely unclear. They set their plot in motion by deftly manipulating the "Potter," the former head of the Russian KGB's espionage school, into revealing the identity of his most talented student, the "Sleeper," a spy still hiding in the United States awaiting KGB orders. Armed with his identity, the Sisters covertly send the Sleeper on a treacherous and near impossible assignment in the U.S. The Potter, wishing to atone for his betrayal, escapes from the Sisters' clutches and embarks on a cross-continent trek to save his protege from committing a crime that could change the future of the world. On his journey, the Potter is joined by Kaat, a mortuary hair stylist and the Sleeper's ex-lover. The unlikely pair blindly race across the country after the Sleeper, while desperately trying to evade those who would kill them to protect his mission. Littell brilliantly weaves quirky characters and puzzle-piece vignettes into an intricate, bizarre and highly entertaining tale.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bantam
• Publication date: 1986
• ISBN 10: 0553050974
• ISBN 13: 9780553050974
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 312