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43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If trouble ever comes my way, I want The Gray Man on my side!, September 29, 2009
This review is from: The Gray Man (A Gray Man Novel) (Mass Market Paperback)
Anyone looking for an action thriller hero need look no further than here, to Court Gentry. After running afoul of his bosses in the CIA and being put on that agency's shoot-on-sight-list, Gentry has been earning his living doing what he has been trained to do, he takes out targets he is paid to terminate. Anyone associated with hired assassins knows about The Gray Man. This man has the uncanny ability to simply fade into the background. His targets never see him coming and the investigations afterward never find any connection to anyone. The reputation of this man grows to legendary proportions because of his complete anonymity, nobody is ever completely sure of who he actually is. There is only one man who positively knows the identity of this operative, his handler Sir Donald Fitzroy of Cheltenham Security Services. At least that's what Sir Donald thought. Someone literally wants The Gray Man's head delivered on a platter and there is no limit to the amount of money they are willing to spend to achieve that goal. What follows is an incredibly exciting journey from Iraq to a chateau in Normandy with danger, destruction, and death all along the route. A bounty has been put on The Gray Man's head and paid assassins have been invited to join in the hunt to see who can deliver him, dead or alive, to the chateau before the time limit runs out.
I had to keep reminding myself that this is a debut novel for author Mark Greaney. The plotting for this book is outstanding. The pace started out with an exciting episode and just never let up. The man behind the legend was very slowly revealed so that he did seem to be a shadowy figure, a ghostly figure, someone who could fade in and out simply because there was no substance to him. Over time this very talented author lets the reader come closer and closer to the main character to glimpse his intelligence, his efficiency in doing his work, and his moral code. It may sound unusual to consider that a person who kills for a living would have a moral compass but Court Gentry does. And it is believable. Characters are well defined and clear, the dialogue is crisp and clean and well suited to each character. This author did a wonderful job of describing both locations and weaponry used in the story and it is very obvious that he is familiar with both subjects. While there are a large number of professional killers involved in tracking Gentry down, I think this was necessary to represent the "contest" nature of the hunt. I really like that Greaney finished off the story by tying up loose ends, nothing was left unresolved. And yet, could it possibly be that The Gray Man isn't finished yet? I certainly hope not.
I do not assign 5 star ratings to books lightly. They have to earn that designation from me. This book would probably get an even higher rating from me if the Amazon system would allow it. I found the book to be well written, well plotted, and very, very exciting.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Full on action thriller, October 19, 2009
This review is from: The Gray Man (A Gray Man Novel) (Mass Market Paperback)
A very strong action thriller from a debut author. The emphasis here is very much on the action as hitman Court Gentry takes down a guy with powerful friends, as a result a significant bounty is put on his head as hit teams are drafted in from all over the world.
There are lots of elements in here that I had seen before, the paranoia of Ludlum's thriller, the hit man from Tom Cain's "Accident Man" and the action from Matthew Reilly's "Ice Station". This is not a twisting thoughtful thriller, it is page turning action as our hero fights his was through Europe to a bloody climax in France.
It's a hard genre to come up with anything very new or unique, and to be honest the author doesn't. But what he has come up with is a very entertaining page turner that doesn't pretend to be anything it isn't. And what differentiates it from a generic pulp action thriller is that it is well researched and well written. If there are minor flaws it is that our hero is fairly indestructible and slightly light on character, but the book's strength is in the pace and the action.
I read this on the back of two other thrillers and this was a massive improvement and I very much enjoyed it. It's not subtle and it's 'in your face' with pace and violence and it will be interesting to see how the author takes the character forward in what I hope will be many future books.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Non-stop storyline keeps you turning the page, excellent debut!, October 10, 2009
This review is from: The Gray Man (A Gray Man Novel) (Mass Market Paperback)
This debut novel grabs you from the opening chapter. Court Gentry is not your typical sympathetic figure, he kills people for a living after all, but you can't help but feel for the "Gray Man." A non-stop storyline keeps readers turning the page to figure out what tragic event will befall the Gray Man next. A interesting twist at the end of the novel leaves readers wanting for the next installment!
Great for readers of Vince Flynn, Robert Ludlum, Michael Connelly, John Sandford, or James Rollins.
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