The Sisters by Robert Littell

Complexity is Littell’s trademark in his fasincating CIA-based novels. And that’s what I like about them. Nothing is straight forward, nothing is what it seems, and everything has purpose and meaning, although perhaps not the purpose or meaning that they say. The Sisters was originally published in 1986 so the battle is with communists, but Littell's knowledge of Soviet Russia and the Cold War mentality of the CIA ring very true. Great characters—all with their own twitches including a young women named Kaat who collects words that begin with the letter ‘a’—and imaginative spins on the world as we know it—or perhaps only think we know, Littell delivers a bizarre world of spies and spying. Sign on and, of course, tell no one what you know.