Midnight Black by Mark Greaney

Published by ‎ Berkley on February 18, 2025

Readers who have followed the Courtland Gentry novels know that Gentry was a CIA assassin before he became an independent contractor. Since then, when the CIA isn’t trying to kill Gentry, it sometimes hires him to do a job.

At the end of the last novel, Gentry’s lover was captured by Chinese agents. Zoya Zakharova was a Russian agent before she defected and starting shagging Gentry. China barters her to Russia, where she spends some time in a Moscow prison before being transferred to an isolated woman’s labor camp in Mordovia. Also housed in that camp is Nadia Yarovaya, the wife of Natan Yarovoy, who is housed in a men’s prison a few kilometers down the road. Yarovoy is a surrogate for Alexei Navalny, a popular dissident who might threaten the Russian president’s tenure if he were to run in an election. The president is Vitaly Peskov, a surrogate of Vladimir Putin.

The CIA is confident that Zoya was executed, but Gentry believes she’s alive. Gentry intends to find a way into Russia so he can rescue Zoya. Each Gray Man novel sends Gentry on a more unlikely mission than the last, but I have to admire Greaney’s ability to make them seem plausible. Or perhaps I get so caught up in the action that I just don’t care about the plot’s unlikely nature.

The novel begins with Gentry causing mayhem in Bulgaria and Romania as he tries to get smuggled into Russia. By the time he makes a plan that succeeds, Gentry has the support of old boss, the former deputy director for operations at the CIA, Matthew Hanley. Thanks to his past involvement with Gentry, Hanley is now the deputy station chief in Columbia. The new DDO, Trey Watkins, put him there.

The coincidence of Gentry heading to a prison near the one that holds Yarovoy is too good for Watkins to pass up. Hanley persuades him to use Gentry as an asset and to enlist the military support of Ukraine in an attempt to liberate Yarovoy from one prison and his wife from the other. Much of the fighting will be done by an armed organization of Russian dissidents that is funded by an oligarch who would like to see a regime change. Watkins turns to series regular Zach Hightower (who is serving a relaxed confinement in a CIA safe house) to train a Russian assault team.

With that background, the story should almost write itself in the reader’s mind. Fortunately, Greaney did the writing instead, assuring that the reader will be treated to an escalating series of action scenes, culminating in military assaults on two prisons, pitched battles between Russian dissidents and FSB agents, chases, shootouts, explosions, daring escapes, and all the fun of a James Bond movie. Few writers can pull off such an ambitious plot, but Greaney never gives the reader time to question Gentry’s ability to survive while killing dozens of bad guys.

An interesting subplot pits the FSB, the GRU, and the SVR against each other. Another follows Zoya as she attempts to escape before realizing that she’s being played.

Greaney builds suspense through relentless action. That the reader will be confident of a favorable outcome never makes the story less exciting. The moving parts are described in such detail that the reader might feel like a participant in the final assault. Midnight Black is another fine entry in a thriller series that never disappoints. It might, in fact, be the best Gray Man novel to date.

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Sentinel by Mark Greaney

Published by Berkley on June 25, 2024

I give Mark Greaney credit for writing some of the best action scenes in the thriller industry. Still, I’m a bigger fan of his Gray Man series than his Armored books. The Gray Man is antisocial, justifiably paranoid, and a bit of an asshole. That’s why I like him. Josh Duffy is friendly, likable, dependable, and has as much personality as a GI Joe action figure. The only trait that makes him seem human is his PTSD, and that only manifests itself in nightmares that have no impact on his work. He’s too boring to make me look forward to his next adventure.

Duffy works for the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security. His wife is a State Department Political Officer. They begin the novel in Washington D.C., where Duffy protects a European Union official when a riot breaks out at a protest attended by her daughter.

Duffy and his wife are then jointly assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Ghana. They get to take their kids because Ghana is a relatively stable democracy so what could go wrong? Duffy expects the assignment to be dull, but a Chinese intelligence officer is working to orchestrate a coup that will increase China’s influence in western Africa. The agent has enlisted the services of a South African mercenary who once worked with (and was despised by) Duffy. They were employed as “private security,” a polite term for mercenaries, in Afghanistan and Syria.

The South African in turn enlists the services of Russian mercenaries who work for Wagner. The Chinese agent has also recruited rabble rousers from Togo and other surrounding nations. Unbeknownst to the South African, the Chinese agent also employs Islamic terrorists, with whom the South African would not ordinarily work. It’s good to know that people who overthrow democracies have principles.

Duffy is assigned to a team protecting the US ambassador during a trip with Ghana’s president and a UN representative as they make political appearances in Ghana. Duffy's wife is part of the diplomatic team because of course she is. The trip takes them to a hydroelectric dam that the South African has just captured in stage one of the coup. Bad weather causes them to arrive a day early, upsetting the coup timetable. Shootouts and explosions ensue.

From that point onward, the novel is a series of action scenes, primarily involving Duffy and a Ghanian cop as they try to keep the dam from being blown up while protecting diplomats and Duffy's wife. They also need to prevent the South African from recovering a laptop computer that would provide embarrassing evidence of Chinese involvement in the coup.

The novel's credible atmosphere is obviously the product of meticulous research. The action is fast but perhaps a bit too predictable. When, for example, the South African kidnaps Duffy’s kids (thriller fans will see that coming from the second they learn the kids are traveling to Ghana), Duffy’s plucky daughter displays the kind of bravery that triller fans are used to seeing from the children of action heroes. While the story holds no surprises, it generates excitement through constant motion. I can easily recommend it to action novel fans, but Sentinel lacks the spark that Greany brings to his Gray Man novels.

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The Chaos Agent by Mark Greaney

Published by Berkley on February 20, 2024

While Gray Man novels are about action, not deep thought, The Chaos Agent might be seen as a cautionary tale about the consequences of misusing Artificial Intelligence — specifically, by creating autonomous weapons that are guided by an AI. The concept of autonomous AI weaponry has been familiar to fans of science fiction novels and Terminator movies for decades, but The Chaos Agent offers a credible and timely look at how AI killing machines might threaten the world at a time when political leaders are asking whether it would be wise to regulate AI technology.

Granted, most of the concern about AI has involved pranksters creating deepfake videos and students using ChatGPT to write term papers. Autonomous weapons — machines that make their own decisions about when and how to engage in battles — could pose a greater existential threat than most other unfortunate uses of AI.

Court Gentry, aka Violator, aka the Gray Man, is traveling in South America with his dangerous lover Zoya Zakharova. They’re trying to stay under the radar of the many people who want to kill them. That plan is thwarted by a drone that happens to be watching a Russian who is watching Zoya. The Russian wants Zoya’s help to exfiltrate an agent in Mexico who has information about autonomous weapons. Zoya would like to help but Court wants none of it. He is nevertheless sucked into danger when the drone sends his picture to a bad guy who identifies him as a target.

More immediate targets are scientists and engineers who are being killed in countries around the world. Different intelligence agencies have different theories about how they are connected. Their connection to weaponized AI will be apparent to the reader, but why they need to be assassinated is less obvious.

One threat leads to another as Gentry is targeted by a former CIA assassin. After a series of action scenes, Gentry agrees to help the CIA get to the bottom of the murders and to thwart the risk of giving a tactical advantage to whichever nation is the first to develop autonomous weaponry. Machines that fight on their own initiative are faster and deadlier than humans operating weapons. As science fiction and thriller fans know, an AI that can train itself to adapt to changing battlefield conditions will eventually decide that the best tactic to assure its own survival is the eradication of all humanity. Gentry decides it might be wise to prevent that from happening.

One of the scientists who has been targeted is Anton Hinton. He has a lab in Cuba and a strong security team, but he strengthens the team by hiring Zack Hightower. Series fans will recognize Hightower as a former CIA paramilitary guy who once worked with, and later worked against, Gentry. Hightower and Gentry are fated to reunite in Cuba.

The plot is intelligent, although it is largely an excuse for action scenes. That isn’t a complaint. Shootouts, explosions, chases, crashing trucks through fences, all the good stuff that looks cool in movies is just as fun on paper, given Mark Greaney’s cinematic writing style. Greaney is one of the best action writers in the business.

Gray Man novels are a cut above most tough guy action novels because the plots are tight, intelligent, and surprisingly credible. And if a plot element might not be credible, Greaney makes the storyline seem plausible in the moment, even when Gentry is shooting at four-legged war machines that would be at home in a Star Wars movie. The Chaos Agent is an entertaining action story, but if it makes people think about the risks of using AI as a weapon, the novel will have served a higher purpose.

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Burner by Mark Greaney

Published by ‎ Berkley on February 21, 2023

A UN summit in New York will finalize an agreement between the West and Russia to restore Russia’s most favored nation status in exchange for Russia’s agreement to end its war with Ukraine. While Ukraine is not a party to the agreement and will likely fight on its own to regain its lost territory, the agreement does not require Russia to restore the land it seized. This is a bad deal for Ukraine, but the West wants Russian oil and gas. I can understand that premise, but when he plotted Burner, Mark Greaney probably didn’t know that western nations would get by just fine without Russian oil. Maybe the novel’s prediction will still come true, but those who hope for justice in Ukraine will be outraged if it does.

Court Gentry is certain that nobody in power cares about outrage against injustice. Power invites the kind of corruption that has always plagued Gentry, both during and after his tenure with the CIA. Gentry is still subject to a CIA kill order. His current CIA nemesis, Suzanne Brewer, pauses the longstanding order whenever she needs Gentry’s services. She sends a desk jockey, Angela Lacy, to meet with Gentry after tracking him to his boat in the Caribbean, where Gentry is fulfilling a contract from a wealthy Ukrainian to sink yachts owned by Russian oligarchs. Angela has no idea that man she’s meeting is the Gray Man.

A Russian who handles financial transactions for Russian spy agencies has copied those transactions to a phone. Having had his fill of Russian deviltry, the Russian gives the phone to the Swiss banker who processed those transactions. By matching the data in the phone to the bank records, a smart forensic accountant will be able to trace payment recipients in western nations who are taking bribes from Russians. It turns out that their numbers are plentiful. Naturally, those folk want to stop the banker before the records are made public.

The Swiss banker, Alex Velesky, is a Ukrainian who has no love for Russia. He sends the bank records to the cloud and plans to deliver the password and the phone to Ezra Altman, a forensic accountant employed by DOJ who has spent years building a database of suspicious Russian financial transactions.

Velesky must overcome several obstacles. First, Brewer has hired Gentry to recover the phone after telling Gentry that the phone includes evidence of CIA financial transaction in Russia that, if exposed, would place CIA operatives in danger and imperil national security. Second, Zoya Zakharova has been hired by a rival bank (or so she thinks) to recover the phone so that the bank can use the data to poach some of Russia’s banking business. Third, the Russians have tumbled to Velesky’s plan and have sent their best man to recover the phone.

Series fans will recall that Gentry and Zoya have a thing going on. They’ve both been deceived about the nature and purpose of their missions and, naturally enough, they will eventually stop fighting each other and start fighting together. The fighting includes the stuff from which thrillers are made — gun battles, knife fights, jumps between rooftops, even the overused crawl across the top of a train car while the train is in motion. Thankfully, there isn’t a ridiculous fistfight on top of the train, as Greaney avoids crossing the line that separates improbable realism and impossible movie stunts.

While Burner is fundamentally an action novel, Zoya’s alcoholism and substance abuse (and Gentry’s fears and frustration with Zoya’s addictions) add depth to the characters. Greaney sets up Lacy to play a courageous role despite Zoya’s skepticism that she has what it takes. He also sets up an ending that demands sacrifice in the name of principle — the kind of principles for which Russians and their corrupt counterparts in the US and Europe have no use. All of that makes Burner a saccharin-free “feel good” story, although a fair amount of indiscriminate death precedes the relatively happy outcome.

Greaney is one of the best action thriller writers in the business and, unlike too many novelists who write about tough guys, he doesn’t depend on divisive politics and gun worship to attract an audience. Series fans won’t be disappointed, while new readers can easily enjoy Burner without reading all the Gray Man novels that precede it.

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Sierra Six by Mark Greaney

Published by ‎ Berkley on February 15, 2022

Most Gray Man novels are pretty good. Some are really good. Sierra Six is on another level. It’s the best Gray Man novel I’ve read, in part because it humanizes Court Gentry. Or, at least, it proves that Gentry was once human.

Gentry’s life has changed over the course of the series. Once he was a CIA lone-wolf operative, essentially an assassin. Then he became part of a CIA paramilitary team. Then he was chased by the CIA and marked for assassination. He became a mercenary before he made an uneasy alliance with the CIA. He’s still a mercenary as Sierra Six opens and the fickle CIA wants him dead again.

The story follows two branches, one in the present, one twelve years in the past. In the present, Gentry has been hired through the dark web to plant microphones outside the Turkish embassy in Algeria. He assumes he’s been hired by the Indian government for a mission that India can deny if it goes haywire. The mission goes haywire after Gentry sees a man he thought had died twelve years earlier. Gentry ignores the mission for which he was hired in favor of his own mission: to kill the dead man.

Gentry’s revised mission goes haywire when the man he wants to kill, Murad Khan, eludes him and orchestrates the capture of his handler, a woman named Priya. Gentry adds freeing Priya to his to-do list, along with killing Khan. (Yes, there is a scene in which Gentry screams the name Khan. Yes, I immediately pictured William Shatner as Gentry. Yes, that makes me an aging nerd.)

To achieve his goal, Gentry needs to ask his former boss, Matt Hanley, for information. Hanley, a character who will be familiar to series readers, has been relegated to Palau as punishment for his friendship with Gentry. Another CIA character who will be familiar to readers, Suzanne Brewer, is now in charge of killing Gentry, but that ongoing storyline is only collateral to the main action.

Hanley’s information leads Gentry to a retired CIA station chief named Ted Appleton who is now living in Mumbai. Appleton is initially a character of ambiguous loyalty as Mark Greaney makes the reader guess whether he’s on Gentry’s side.

The story that takes place in the past explains Gentry’s animosity toward Khan. It also explains how Gentry transitioned from being a solitary assassin to a member of Sierra Golf, a CIA paramilitary team. That team and its leader, Zack Hightower, will be familiar to series fans from earlier books. The story explains Gentry’s training and early missions before Gentry tackles Khan’s plan to detonate dirty bombs at US military bases in Afghanistan.

Both stories are filled with action. The earlier story’s action culminates in a helicopter chases, which is a refreshing change from most thriller chase scenes. A helicopter piloted by Gentry chases down three other helicopters flying toward three different destinations while his paramilitary team tries to shoot them out of the sky before they can deliver their deadly cargo. Is that even possible? Probably not, but unlikely action scenes never stop me from enjoying James Bond movies.

The story set in the present culminates with Gentry trying to prevent Khan’s detonation of another dirty bomb, this one in Mumbai. Among other improbabilities, Gentry has to climb a crane and leap into a partially constructed building during a monsoon. We ask a lot from our action heroes, don’t we?

While working with Sierra Golf, Gentry finds himself attracted to a bright analyst in Afghanistan named Julie who, like Gentry, lacks social skills (she freely admits she’s somewhere on the spectrum). In the present, Gentry bonds a bit with Priya. Gentry’s intense desire to protect both women, and in particular his emotional response to Julie, gives Gentry the heart that makes it possible for empathic readers to connect with him. Unlike Hightower, who measures his morality by whether he kills more bad people than good people, Gentry (at least during his early days with Sierra Golf) has reservations about that moral equation.

Mark Greaney generally avoids overt political discussions, or at least he avoids having politics intrude on Gentry’s life apart from the scolding Gentry receives when he tries not to kill the innocent. Gentry is usually too busy avoiding death to give much thought to philosophical questions.

I appreciated the character development we see in Sierra Six and, of course, I enjoyed the nonstop action in the parallel stories. Action novel fans who haven’t read any of the Gray Man novels can easily read Sierra Six as a standalone. As an adrenaline rush, it’s one of the best high-octane stories I’ve read in recent memory.

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