Ahead of The Last Agent‘s release day on September 22nd 2020, we chat with Robert Dugoni about this sequel, writing, book recommendations, and more.

Hi, Bob! Tell us a bit about yourself!

Well, not to sound too much like Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey, but I’m a man on the cusp of sixty with a wonderful spouse, two great kids and despite all the nonsense in the world at the moment, a wonderful life. I wake every morning and get to do what I love to do, which is to write and create stories.

When did you first discover your love for writing?

The Seventh Grade. Sister Kathleen gave us an assignment to write and deliver a speech on slavery. I chose the role of an abolitionist and I fell in love the minute I stood up to play the part I wrote. Sister Kathleen liked it so much she had me give the speech to the class next door and I was hooked. My mother, who was an English teacher, started handing me books like The Count of Monte Cristo, The Old Man and the Sea, Of Mice and Men, and To Kill a Mockingbird, and I thought reading those books were about the best way to spend one’s time.

The Last Agent is the sequel to The Eighth Sister and it releases on September 22nd! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

One hell of a ride!

Can you tell us a little about The Eighth Sister for those who haven’t read the first instalment?

In The Eighth Sister, a former CIA officer is lured back to Moscow by his past station chief to hunt down the person revealing the identities of seven women spying on Russia for more than 40 years and known as the seven sisters. Charles Jenkins soon recognizes that nothing is as represented, and he is running for his life. When he somehow makes it home, he is betrayed again, this time by the Agency he swore to protect, and he is tried for espionage in a nail-biting trial of betrayal and dirty tactics.

Where did the inspiration for the Charles Jenkins series come from?

My law school roommate. Charlie is 6’5” and 230 pounds, and I swore I would someday put him in a book. I got that chance in The Jury Master and he has populated the David Sloane novels. When I got the chance to give him his own series, I jumped at it.

Were there any challenges you faced while writing?

There are always challenges. I travelled to Russia for three weeks, but that was in 1998. So much has changed since the Putin dictatorship took control of the country. It has also changed physically. So I had to rely on Google maps and people who had recently travelled there. I also had to pick the brains of three former CIA officers for the espionage and spy related materials.

What piece of advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Study the craft! Study story structure and understand it backwards and forwards. Books are about great characters reacting to what is happening to them and around them. When you learn story structure, you can focus on making your characters memorable.

Your first published novel released in 2004. What has been your biggest takeaway since then?

You’re only as good as your last novel, so it has to be your best. You can never put out something that is not your best. You make a commitment to the reader, and you can’t break that trust.

With the current state of the world, what are you doing to cope with the changes we’ve had to make with our day-to-day?

I’m embarrassed to say that my life has changed very little. I work from home and it is just my wife and I. Our children are grown and working or in college. So we both work, then we try to do some fun things. Walks, golf, fishing. I’m hopeful for a vaccine because I think Covid-19 is very hard on the young and on the elderly.

Lastly, what are you currently reading and do you have any book recommendations for our readers?

I’m always reading others’ work seeking blurbs or books for research on the current topic I’m researching. I haven’t read a book I chose in quite some time, but I did read Barnegat Dark by Dan Waters. It’s part of a series on the Jersey shore with a great police detective. I was hooked on book one and Barnegat Dark is book three in that series.

Will you be picking up The Last Agent? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: Robert Dugoni, Author of ‘The Last Agent’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Read on to discover our picks and tell us in the comments below if you will be checking any of them out!

The Elizas by Sara Shepard | Goodreads

When debut novelist Eliza Fontaine is found at the bottom of a hotel pool, her family at first assumes that it’s just another failed suicide attempt. But Eliza swears she was pushed, and her rescuer is the only witness. She investigates what happened, but it seems everyone in her life are mixing up events from her novel with events from her life? Reality and fiction begins to blur between Eliza’s protagonist and Eliza herself.

My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie | Goodreads

An epic story of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton—a revolutionary woman who, like her new nation, struggled to define herself in the wake of war, betrayal, and tragedy. Haunting, moving, and beautifully written, Dray and Kamoie used thousands of letters and original sources to tell Eliza’s story as it’s never been told before—not just as the wronged wife at the center of a political sex scandal—but also as a founding mother who shaped an American legacy in her own right.

Digging In by Loretta Nyhan | Goodreads

Paige Moresco found her true love in eighth grade—and lost him two years ago. Since his death, she’s been sleepwalking through life, barely holding on for the sake of her teenage son. As Paige stares at her neglected lawn, she knows she’s hit rock bottom. So she does something entirely unexpected: she begins to dig. As the hole gets bigger, Paige decides to turn her entire yard into a vegetable garden. Paige knows nothing about gardening, but with the help of new friends, a charming local cop, and the transformative power of the soil, Paige starts to see potential in the chaos of her life. Something big is beginning to take root—both in her garden and in herself.

The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni | Goodreads

Sam Hill always saw the world through different eyes. Born with red pupils, he was called “Devil Boy” by his classmates; “God’s will” is what his mother called his ocular albinism. Sam believed it was God who sent Ernie Cantwell, the only African-American kid in his class, to be the friend he so desperately needed. Forty years later, Sam, a small-town eye doctor, is no longer certain anything was by design—especially not the tragedy that caused him to turn his back on his friends, his hometown, and the life he’d always known. Now, as he looks back on his life, Sam embarks on a journey that will take him halfway around the world.

The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer | Goodreads

Greer Kadetsky is a shy college freshman when she meets the woman she hopes will change her life. Faith Frank, dazzlingly persuasive and elegant at sixty-three, has been a central pillar of the women’s movement for decades, a figure who inspires others to influence the world. Upon hearing Faith speak for the first time, Greer–madly in love with her boyfriend, Cory, but still full of longing for an ambition that she can’t quite place–feels her inner world light up. Then, astonishingly, Faith invites Greer to make something out of that sense of purpose, leading Greer down the most exciting path of her life as it winds toward and away from her meant-to-be love story with Cory and the future she’d always imagined.

Macbeth by Jo Nesbø | Goodreads

Set in a dark, rainy northern town, Nesbo’s Macbeth pits the ambitions of a corrupt policeman against loyal colleagues, a drug-depraved underworld and the pull of childhood friendships. Get ready to helter-skelter through the darkest tunnels of human experience.

How To Be Safe by Tom McAllister | Goodreads

Recently suspended for a so-called outburst, high school English teacher Anna Crawford is stewing over the injustice at home when she is shocked to see herself named on television as a suspect in a shooting at the school where she works. Though she is quickly exonerated, and the actual teenage murderer identified, her life is nevertheless held up for relentless scrutiny and judgement as this quiet town descends into media mania. Gun sales skyrocket, victims are transformed into martyrs, and the rules of public mourning are ruthlessly enforced. Anna decides to wholeheartedly reject the culpability she’s somehow been assigned, and the rampant sexism that comes with it, both in person and online.

Bluff by Michael Kardos | Goodreads

At twenty-seven, magician Natalie Webb is already a has-been. Shunned by the magic world after a disastrous liaison with an older magician, she now lives alone with her pigeons and a pile of overdue bills. In a desperate ploy to make extra cash, she follows up on an old offer to write a feature magazine article―on the art of cheating at cards. But when she meets the perfect subject for her article, what begins as a journalistic gamble brings into question everything Natalie thinks she knows about her talent, and herself. Natalie is dazzled by the poker cheat’s sleight of hand and soon finds herself facing a proposition that could radically alter her fortune―to help pull off a $1.5 million magic trick that, if done successfully, no one will ever even suspect happened.

Dead Girl Running by Christina Dodd | Goodreads

Girl running…from a year she can’t remember, from a husband she prays is dead, from homelessness and fear. Tough, capable Kellen Adams takes a job as assistant manager of a remote vacation resort on the North Pacific Coast. There amid the towering storms and the lashing waves, she hopes to find sanctuary. But when she discovers a woman’s dead and mutilated body, she’s soon trying to keep her own secrets while investigating first one murder…then another.

Tin Men by Mike Knowles | Goodreads

Woody was working on getting high when the phone rang. Dennis was on a date — it was a date he paid for, but a date all the same. Os had blood on his hands from a little extracurricular law enforcement. All three men picked up their phones because they were cops, and cops are never really off-duty — not even when they’re crooked. Detective Julie Owen was savagely killed in her own bed, and the unborn child she was carrying is nowhere to be found. The grisly crime has the brass breathing down the necks of the three detectives tasked with finding Julie’s killer. Woody, Dennis, and Os each shared a bond with Julie that went deeper than the blue of their uniforms and have their own reasons to want to find the person responsible for her murder.

The Comedown by Rebekah Frumkin | Goodreads

A blistering dark comedy, The Comedown is a romp across America, from the Kent State shootings to protest marches in Chicago to the Florida Everglades, that explores delineating lines of race, class, religion, and time.

Family and Other Catastrophes by Alexandra Borowitz | Goodreads

Emily Glass knows she’s neurotic. But she’s got it under control. Sort of. Thankfully, she also has David, the wonderful man she’ll soon call husband—assuming they can survive wedding week with her wildly dysfunctional family. Emily’s therapist mother sees their homecoming as the perfect opportunity for long-overdue family therapy sessions. As the week comes to a tumultuous head, Emily wants nothing more than to get married and get as far away from her crazy relatives as possible. But that’s easier said than done when Marla’s meddling breathes new life into old secrets. After all, the ties that bind family together may bend, but they aren’t so easily broken.

Discover more April releases on our Goodreads list!

Any other April book releases you would recommend? Tell us in the comments below!

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