Set after the events of Burner (2023), Courtland Gentry has finally settled down alongside Zoya Zakharova in Central America in hopes of living a quiet life. But for Gentry, the former CIA operative known as the Gray Man, things are never that easy. For starters, Gentry and a quiet life go together like toothpaste and orange juice. It’s not an altogether pleasant or natural pairing, something he’s well aware of, which keeps him on edge as the lovers try to live their best lives under new identities. But if Court has been on edge, his super-assassin spidey senses go nuts when he has reason to question whether or not Zoya, a former Russian operative who later joins the CIA, is hiding something from him.
As it turns out, Zoya is hiding something from Court, and for good reason. Her past, which is every bit as complicated as his, has somehow followed her to Guatemala. After a secret appointment with someone from her previous life, she finally comes clean to Court, who had doubled back after an earlier meeting and caught her red-handed. Zoya explains that an old contact found her and came to Central America to offer her a job, one that involves her helping to extract a Russian scientist from a deadly situation. Ready to turn down the offer and move, Court wants to bug out, leave Guatemala, and put down roots elsewhere, knowing it’s just a matter of time until more bad news comes knocking. Proving Court’s instincts correct, it’s later revealed that the Russians, who have a capture-or-kill order out on both Zoya and Gentry, have tasked their most lethal operator, a contract killer known as Lancer, with eliminating the couple no matter the cost. Right off the bat, after hitting their apartment and chasing Court and Zoya to a nearby marina, Lancer almost succeeds in his efforts. But after a nail-biting gunfight, where Greaney still manages to cut the tension with well-placed dry humor by way of the sarcastic Gentry, the duo escapes and goes back on the run.
Elsewhere in the world, a number of random deaths begin to pile up. There’s an accident in Japan, a drowning in Seoul, and a home invasion in Boston. That’s just the beginning, but to those in the know, these acts are anything but random. They were targeted, with someone carrying out hits on a specific list of people involved in programs related to AI and robotics. The question, one that people way above Gentry’s pay grade are asking, is why? All signs seem to point to a billionaire who’s proven hellbent on building an autonomous weapon unlike anything else the world has ever seen. What, exactly, he plans to do with it is anyone’s guess, though the answer may lie with the Russian scientist Zoya was asked to exfill, whose name is also on the kill list.
With the clock rapidly ticking down and scientists on the cusp of producing a weapon that’ll have the biggest impact on the way wars are fought since the creation of gunpowder, it’s once again up to Courtland Gentry to connect the dots and save the day . . . but with the battlefield rapidly changing around him, the Gray Man has his work cut out for him, and Mark Greaney dials the action all the way up, leading to a high-powered final act that’ll leave readers’ palms so sweaty they may have trouble holding onto their books and e-readers.
If you’re a fan of Tom Clancy or Vince Flynn and haven’t yet read Mark Greaney’s Gray Man novels, move that straight to the top of your to-do list in 2024. For newcomers, this is the perfect story to serve as a gateway drug to the rest of the series. The Chaos Agent is Greaney as his very best, and when he’s clicking on all cylinders, watch out because the competition doesn’t stand a chance. With AI getting a lot of attention from various media outlets and personalities—hell, even Elon Musk is warning about the dangers artificial intelligence could present—it’s inevitable that thriller writers, many of whom race to beat future headlines, will touch on the topic in their new books. And we’re seeing that now as numerous authors roll out different story ideas and concepts related to the fast-evolving science behind AI and robotics. Without spoiling anything, Greaney’s take on all of this, and more specifically, the way he envisions AI and robotics could one day be weaponized, is both the most fascinating and terrifying of them all. Hopefully, we’re still many years away from any such weapons being developed in the real world, but if and when that does happen, we can only hope the Gray Man is really out there, ready to kick ass and take names to stop the bad guys. Bottom line: Mark Greaney has quickly established himself as one of the premier writers in the game today. If his name is on the book’s cover, you’re in for an exciting read, and that is certainly the case here.
Lightning-fast and packed full of intense, high-flying action, Mark Greaney outdoes himself with The Chaos Agent, a real contender for best thriller of the year and an absolute must for fans of Robert Ludlum, Vince Flynn, and Jack Carr.
Book Details
Author: Mark Greaney
Series: The Gray Man #13
Pages: 556 (Hardcover)
ISBN: 0593548140
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: February 20, 2024
