Mark Greaney

Gray Man by Mark Greaney

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS:
-PRINT: COPYRIGHT: (2009) July 12, 2022; ISBN: 978-0593547595; PUBLISHER: Berkley; Media tie-in edition; PAGES: 464; UNABRIDGED (Paperback info from Amazon.com)
-DIGITAL: COPYRIGHT: August 29, 2009; PUBLISHER: Berkley; Original edition; PAGES: 417; UNABRIDGED
* (This version) AUDIO: COPYRIGHT: August 30, 2010; PUBLISHER: Audible Studios; DURATION: 11:11:00 (approx.); Unabridged; (info from Amazon/Audible)
-FEATURE FILM OR TV: Netflix 2022, Starring: Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas.

SERIES: Gray Man #1

MAIN CHARACTERS: (list not comprehensive)
Courtland (Court) Gentry – Protagonist. 36 year-old American, former CIA in a secret division of the Operations Directorate until a burn notice went out on him. Now doing similar work in the “private sector”, know as “the Gray Man”.
Mr. Lloyd – Lawyer for the LaurentGroup
Kurt Riegel – 52-year-old president of Security Risk Management Operations for the LaurentGroup
Donald Fitzroy – Gentry’s boss
Maurice – A known associate from Gentry’s CIA days
Claire Fitzroy – Don Fitzroy’s granddaughter
Kate Fitzroy – Claire’s twin
Phillip Fitzroy – Don’s son

SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
-SELECTED: Don (hubby) saw it advertised somewhere and thought it sounded like it could be good.
-ABOUT: A man who is very good at what he does, and having done it in one particular case, has prompted someone in a position to engage numerous assassins around the world to terminate him.
-LIKED: I was reminded of the first Bourne Identity story, where the protagonist initially knows he has enemies, but not who they are or why.
-DISLIKED: It’s probably too violent for me to follow the series. This first one was likely unique in that most of the time the action revolves around the protagonist trying to stay alive. Henceforth, I am guessing the Gray Man will be doing what he does best as the aggressor. I’m completely ignorant about weapons, military jargon, and the like, and got the impression the best audience for this is the folks who are familiar with it all.
-OVERALL: I would recommend it to those who like action themes and like, or at least, don't mind violence.

AUTHOR:
Mark Greaney
From “ABOUT THE AUTHOR” in the digital version of this book:
“Mark Greaney has a degree in international relations and political science. In his research for the Gray Man novels, including Mission Critical, Agent in Place, Gunmetal Gray, Back Blast, Dead Eye, Ballistic, On Target, and The Gray Man, he traveled to more than fifteen countries and trained alongside military and law enforcement in the use of firearms, battlefield medicine, and close-range combative tactics. He is also the author of the New York Times bestsellers Tom Clancy Support and Defend, Tom Clancy Full Force and Effect, Tom Clancy Commander in Chief, and Tom Clancy True Faith and Allegiance. With Tom Clancy, he coauthored Locked On, Threat Vector, and Command Authority.”

NARRATOR:
Jay Snyder
From Wikipedia:
“James Hadley Snyder, known professionally as Dan Green, is an American voice actor, voice director and screenwriter. He is best known for being the voice of Yugi Muto/Yami Yugi for Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, the anime series version of Yu-Gi-Oh!, as well as all of the character's U.S. series appearances.”

LOCATION(S)
Multiple

TIME(S)
Present day (2009)

GENRE
Fiction; Espionage Thrillers; Political Thrillers; Action; Suspense

SUBJECTS:
Assassinations; Military; Weapons; Arms; Emergency Medicine; Assassins; Hand-to-hand Combat

DEDICATION:
“For Edward F. Greaney Jr. and Kathleen Cleghorn Greaney
Mom and Dad, I miss you both”

SAMPLE QUOTATION:
From “Chapter 3”
““Why are you here?” Fitzroy’s voice held none of the paternal charm of their earlier conversation.
“I am here because you are his handler.”
“His what?”
“His handler You vet his contracts, supply his logistical needs, assist him with intelligence, collect from the payers, and forward compensation to his bank accounts.”
“Where did you hear this nonsense?”
“Sir Donald, had I the time, I would offer you every courtesy you deserve, we could verbally fence, and I would feint and you would parry and we’d both strut around the room until one of our swords scored a killing strike. Unfortunately, sir, I am under a tremendous pressure, which forces me to dispense with the customary pleasantries.” He sipped his coffee again and made a little face at the bitterness of the brew. “I know the assassin was the one called the Gray Man, and I know you run him. You can ask me how I know this, but I will just lie, and our relationship in the next few hours depends upon our ability to speak frankly.”
“Go on.”
“As I said, the Gray Man crossed into Iraq but missed his extraction, because he foolishly engaged a superior insurgent force in a firefight He killed or wounded ten men or more. Saved an American National Guardsman and recovered the body of another. And now he is on the run.”
“How do you know the Gray Man was the assassin of Dr. Abubaker?”
“There is no one else in the world who would be sent on that mission, because there is no one else in the world who could pull off that hit.”
“And yet, you say, he made a foolish mistake.”
“More evidence I am right. The Gray Man was once an operative for the U.S. government. Something went wrong, he was targeted by the CIA, and he went into hiding from his former masters. His soured relationship with Langley notwithstanding, the Gray Man is still very much an American patriot. He could not ignore a helicopter crash and eleven dead Americans without finding a measure of retribution.”
“That is your proof?”
Lloyd smoothed the drape of his suit coat. “It has been known by us for some time that the Gray Man had accepted a contract for the Abubaker hit. When the good doctor died as a result of foul play, there was no need to speculate as to the identity of his killer.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Lloyd. I am an old man; you will have to connect the dots for me. What are you doing in my office?”
“My company is prepared to offer you a threefold increase in contracts if you will only assist us in the neutralization of the Gray Man. Without going into unnecessary detail, the president of Nigeria is asking us to help him bring justice down on his brother’s killer.”
“Why LaurentGroup?”
“That would involve unnecessary detail.”
“You will find it to be quite necessary if this discussion is to continue.””

RATING:.
4

STARTED READING – FINISHED READING
8-20-2023 to 8-23-2023… (mere)

While I truly liked the first book in the series, this one seems to be an attempt to cram as much as possible into a single book. And for me this backfired.

So, first thing first - Gray Man is assassin. He has no second thoughts about ending anyone's life but in this book he is so worried about the state of affairs in Sudan that he makes so many crazy moves and decisions, although he knows nothing will be changed.

He is patriot and joins his former CIA team (that also threatens to kill him, but hey its just talk between men in this line of work, just a way they jab at each other - or is it?), but he is also a mercenary who decides to work for a person he does not like at all (of course this guy is Russian), no wait he is actually philanthropist at heart who for a maybe 3 hour session while browsing the materiel on his new target, learned so much about Sudan that he fully understands everything that happens there and what is the appropriate way to handle the situation, because naughty Chinese and Russians are just exploiting Sudan, while Gray Man, in the intermezzo between blowing people apart, and working with equally simple-minded Canadian activist from [no less] the International Criminal Court, knows exactly what to do to bring peace and justice to this land (or as things move on, it becomes clear that this will just make Gray Man feel good because he knows nothing will change, but hey, that is not the subject here).

So, if you ever watched movie Sahara (or read the source book) and wondered what the **** is going here, this book has a same plot (ecology is replaced with state politics) about group of assassins roaming Sudan, completely inapt (although they are all very hush hush, like the Thuraya satellite phone very much (I was expecting commercial pages on this device in the book) and trained to do head stands while discharging missiles) trying to do something that they very much know makes no sense at all - but hey, they have the job to do and they will do it no matter what (remember Omega squad from Canadian Bacon?).

I know this is action thriller, equivalent to good old action movies, rational reasoning not exactly something to be found in there, but I like these when they are not so preachy on international matters and don't portray 7-year-old-GI-Joe approach to world politics (which seems to be something grown men and women tend to do in real politics these days, so maybe this was inspire by true events?). If Gray Man was acting on his own I would be OK with it, but suddenly resurfaced patriotic feelings and really pathetic cliche portrayal of Russians and Sudanese characters (did I say this reminds me of GI Joe (old school one, because some of the comics I read are actually more serious spy work than this book :))?) were truly making more damage than help. Some actions (like decision to present himself as Bosnian student on the way from Egypt to a port in Sudan across the Arab peninsula) - what was the author thinking?

I like action, but lets keep some of the Gray Matter active in it. Will continue with the series, but I hope that stories dont get more and more weird as was case here.… (mere)