After spending years on the run from the Central Intelligence Agency, Courtland ‘The Gray Man’ Gentry has finally come back inside to resume his career as one of America’s premier intelligence operators.
It’s been a long time since Court Gentry has worked for the CIA, and much has changed since then. What hasn’t changed, though, is his lethal skill set that makes him both a force to be reckoned with and an elite super soldier capable of operating behind enemy lines with no backup or help.
This time around, Court is tasked with locating a high-ranking Chinese hacker named Fan Jiang who defected from his team of bodyguards and vanished. Fan possesses intimate details of the Chinese’s digital security structure and its weaknesses, making him a prime target for enemy foreign intelligence services.
Court’s arrival in China doesn’t go unnoticed, though, and his mission becomes infinitely more difficult when it’s made known that the Chinese are holding Donald Fitzroy, a former colleague and friend of Gentry’s (who was also contracted to find Fan), captive.
Using Fitzroy, whom they promise to hurt if Court snatches Fan on his own, as leverage to force his cooperation, Gentry teams up with the Chinese to find their missing computer genius. But as Court tries to buy time to figure out how to grab Fan and save Donald Fitzroy simultaneously, the Russians enter the picture, once again complicating matters even further.
The Russian team of operators in search of Fan is led by Zoya Zakharova, who heads up a team of elite and ruthless soldiers. Zoya ends up being a complex and fascinating character who adds a new layer to the story, providing a subtle change of pace from the nonstop action–though she can (and does) throw down too.
From the moment Court touches down in Hong Kong, it’s full steam ahead. Greaney turns up the heat as the bullets start flying immediately, pausing only when Gentry uses his bare hands to take care of business.
Readers will find themselves glued to their reading chairs as Court tracks Fan Jiang all over Asia while taking on a couple of Chinese hitmen, a team of Russian operatives, and a Vietnamese gang–all of which are after the same thing and willing to kill anyone who gets in their way.
Famous also for penning a handful of the Jack Ryan novels under the Tom Clancy brand, Greaney’s fan-favorite spy franchise has earned him a loyal following, and for good reason. Gentry is one of the genre’s most compelling (and violent) action heroes, comparable to a younger version of Mitch Rapp (Vince Flynn’s fictional super-spy), but slightly edgier.
From start to finish, Gunmetal Gray impresses with a well-laid-out plot and enough action to satisfy even the pickiest thriller fans. Between the Clancy books and the Gray Man series, nobody is on a hotter streak right now than Mark Greaney.
Book Details
Author: Mark Greaney
Series: The Gray Man #6
Pages: 512 (Hardcover)
ISBN: 0425282856
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: February 14, 2017 (Order Now!)