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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
A typical Gray Man novel. I admit they get a bit more unbelievable with each one. Still entertaining, especially now that Court finally has a love interest, sort of. But as is stated in this book, he's been at this for thirty years which puts him at or near 50. I don't care how well trained and conditioned you are, nor how much experience you have, he does things that I don't find physically possible for a man of that age. There's a reason most professional athletic careers are over by mid-30's. Physical decline is inevitable, except in the case of Court Gentry. He gets bumped, bruised and broken and is still able to pull of feats that a man in his physical prime would struggle with. Or find impossible. So, he must be the luckiest man who ever lived. Detracts a bit from the story as those thoughts are always at the back of my mind. Still an entertaining read for the genre overall though.
It was awesome to be back riding with The Gray Man. This is a "CIA mission" book vs a "freelance mission" book and I think that has become y preference. The reason for that is that Greany has built a really cool cast of secondary characters that either don't appear or barely appear in the freelance books. Specifically the character of Zach Hightower has been developed by Greany since the early books to be an absolute riot. I love it when he is on the page. Greany is doing himself a disservice if he doesn't at some point write a Hightower spin off or novella.
As for this particular book Greany was back hitting all the right notes that I felt were missing a little in the last CIA book. The story had a lot of tension and stakes and was interesting. Greany does a really good job of making his plots and settings pretty original. He seems to be aware that those of us reading in the genre can easily recognize a recycled Middle East terrorism plot, and he goes out of his way to give us something more interesting. He does that really well while utilizing his own in-world characters and history in those plots to make the characters and story more interesting. While characters may never been the focus of a book in this genre, Greany does them better than his contemporaries and he deserves credit for that. Mission Critical benefits from all those aspects and fans of The Gray Man, like me, will probably say it's the best since Back Blast.
As for this particular book Greany was back hitting all the right notes that I felt were missing a little in the last CIA book. The story had a lot of tension and stakes and was interesting. Greany does a really good job of making his plots and settings pretty original. He seems to be aware that those of us reading in the genre can easily recognize a recycled Middle East terrorism plot, and he goes out of his way to give us something more interesting. He does that really well while utilizing his own in-world characters and history in those plots to make the characters and story more interesting. While characters may never been the focus of a book in this genre, Greany does them better than his contemporaries and he deserves credit for that. Mission Critical benefits from all those aspects and fans of The Gray Man, like me, will probably say it's the best since Back Blast.
Mission Critical, the eighth novel in the Gray Man series, is another high-octane, action-packed and nail-bitingly tense thriller from an author who has swiftly become a favourite of mine due to the consistently superb ride on which he takes his readers, and I would go so far as to say this is his best work to date. Here, Greaney crafts another hard-hitting, propulsive story and delivers a plethora of shocks and surprises with considerable aplomb. He also puts a fresh, modern spin on the espionage tales of old by drawing his storyline from timely, topical issues and is adept at playing on current fears of Cold War resurgence and Russian political interference, masterfully weaving them into the fabric of this exhilarating plot.
As always, Greaney proficiently moulds a series of gripping action scenes and is one of the best in the genre in that respect. Unusually for a plot-driven spy thriller such as this, we also get excellent characterisation; you can really see the evolution of protagonist Gentry and the journey he has been on throughout these right complex instalments. He has that often stereotypical sarcasm and cockiness associated with those we deem to be heroic, and he may even be about to receive some attention from a possible love interest. I am already looking forward to the ninth instalment, and if the past is anything to go by it's highly likely to be the best yet.
Many thanks to Sphere for an ARC.
As always, Greaney proficiently moulds a series of gripping action scenes and is one of the best in the genre in that respect. Unusually for a plot-driven spy thriller such as this, we also get excellent characterisation; you can really see the evolution of protagonist Gentry and the journey he has been on throughout these right complex instalments. He has that often stereotypical sarcasm and cockiness associated with those we deem to be heroic, and he may even be about to receive some attention from a possible love interest. I am already looking forward to the ninth instalment, and if the past is anything to go by it's highly likely to be the best yet.
Many thanks to Sphere for an ARC.
adventurous
medium-paced
adventurous
medium-paced