The sisters of Robert Littell's eponymous "The Sisters" are two long time extremely successful CIA agents, Francis and Carroll, "minor legends in the Company." Over the years, the two, once labeled by a Company PhD. as "the sisters Death and Night" have developed an agency of two within the Company and have managed to plot their own operations with minimal oversight.
The novel opens with the acceptance of their proposal for a vague "odds and ends" operation to the Deputy Director.
Some of the pleasure in reading Littell's novels comes from the constant search for clarification. Littell puts us in the dark but allows a narrow beam of information to keep us stumbling in pursuit of what is intended and what is really happening. We learn enough about the sisters to access their capabilities, and we know they have a plan, so nefarious that it must be carried out by the Soviets, and we know that they anticipate a spectacular success if the plot comes to fruition.
Along the way we meet fascinating characters: the Potter, Feliks Arkantevich Turov; his ditzy wife, Svetochka, who speaks of herself in the third person, the Blind Man, very much in charge; Oskar, an operative; Appleyard, the sound effects sweeper and his partner, Ourcq.
"The Sisters" is a tortuous journey, often puzzling and sometimes amusing, occasionally touching and never dull.

Interesting historical thriller - a version of an alternative Kennedy Assassination. ( )

At first I thought that I wasn't going to like The Sisters by Littell but it began to get interesting and at about 50 pages in it became a page turner for me because I really wanted to know what came next. Saying much more without spoilers is a bit difficult; however, the Sisters is the nickname for a pair of CIA agents who became known as the sisters of Death and Night for their work there. Another pair are the Potter and the Sleeper, a Soviet trainer of sleepers and the one he considers his last and best trainee. There are also the two "Cousins", high in the Soviet spy hierarchy, and "the Canadians", a pair of Soviet agents working out of Canada. There are conspiracies and betrayals and road trips and Walt Whitman's poetry all leading to ... and that would be a major spoiler! I think I'll put this one back on the shelf.

Robert Littell's spy stories vary somewhat in quality. This story of 'The sisters Death and Night', Spy/Counterspy, sleepers and assassins is a solid B- in 'my' book! ( )

A wonderfully nuanced story of a cold-war espionage chess game between the CIA and KGB with substantial consequences. The sisters are two CIA officers whose job is to concoct plots. They come up with what they consider the perfect crime, using the unwitting former head of the KGB sleeper school. Nothing is as it seems though and the plot is twisted enough to maintain suspense until the end. ( )