Book Reviews: The Gray Man by Mark Greaney

Synopsis

Mark Greaney might be writing for the one and only Tom Clancy now, but this is where he got his start: The Gray Man. So who is the Gray Man? A small creature from another planet? Perhaps a man who has avoided the sun for years? Alas, no. The Gray Man is a top level assassin, named so because of his nebulous missions and lifestyle that blur the line between right and wrong.

Court Gentry is a troubled man, this much is evident. Of course this would be expected of anyone who took other people’s lives for a living. Something would be even more messed up with someone if one had a perfectly normal disposition after offing a foreign leader in a disavowed mission.

Gentry has been burned by the CIA, and has only one man he can trust: Sir Donald Fitzroy. But after Fitzroy and his family are threatened by a team working for one of Gentry’s previous assignments, Fitzroy agrees to betray The Gray Man. Gentry shows his humanity by fighting through hired assassins to save Fitzroy and his family at their chalet.

Mixed Feelings

Let’s get this out there: Mark Greaney knows his stuff (and has a solid first name). Specs on weapons, exotic locales, what it’s like to survive—it’s all there. Gentry is a brilliant soldier, and Greaney’s homework pays off.

But there was one major flaw I couldn’t look past. The Gray Man is indestructible. I know Greaney works to show how battered he gets during his missions, but he can’t be stopped. He’s the Terminator. Now there’s nothing wrong with an indestructible protagonist in an action suspense story; we expect it. But when the rest of the story is grounded in the nitty gritty details of warfare realism, the juggernaut hero just seems so overdone in this book. He deals with a gunshot wound for the entire book, he’s stabbed and pushed into a river, and then he takes on an entire house full of highly trained mercenaries (who are waiting for him) in a state of complete exhaustion.

This book has amazing action scenes, highly detailed and accurate descriptions of warfare, and a deeply flawed hero. It’s brutal and relentless. Check it out; give it a try.

Verdict

As for me, I give it a 6 out of 10 in the Mark of Approval. But don’t fret. I gave Greaney’s next book in the series (On Target) a shot, and it was fantastic. The review will come shortly, and I can’t wait to read the next one. Who knows? Maybe one day I'll be lucky to have my book torn apart by Greaney.