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A review by rlisaacs
The Gray Man by Mark Greaney
4.0
More a 4.5 rating. I really enjoyed this book.
Nothing like the Netflix movie in terms of plot. Let's get that out of the way right now. Some of the concepts are the same, but the book is way better. But I don't want to get completely into just a review of differences between the two. Suffice to say, the book was better. The Gray Man, himself, is amazing. Just a really good human being, in my opinion, who has the ability to do some amazingly bad stuff, but who only does those things to really bad people. Loved it. Am definitely going to read the next one.
And honestly, I hope I get to see Clair Fitzroy again. She was adorable. She was smart and clever for her age. And I just loved the small role she played in making the ending of this book finally come about.
If you keep reading, you're just here for the rambling thoughts I have about this book. Just FYI.
One thing I partially didn't like... but I also did... was how some things that happened were literally just luck. But it's luck paired with an amazing amount of skill as well, and that's why I don't completely dislike it. For example, there's one part where he figures out he's being tailed. The only reason being, is that the people who are meant to find him, end up accidentally walking into the same coffee shop he did a few minutes earlier. That's it! Then he makes them, and from there it's a job of getting away from them. But it was that moment of luck that provided him the opportunity to make them in the first place.
There are a lot of other instances like this, where luck plays a factor. But it's a small dose of luck, that then combines with our Gray Man's amazing skill set to eventually give him the upper hand. Small though that hand may sometimes be.
And again... it's a very small part of this story, so I want to warn you about that. I'm blowing it a bit out of proportion. But I just loved Claire and her relationship to Court (or as she knew him, Jim). It's small. The time they spent together was limited prior to this book taking place. We know it, in reality, wasn't much. That's explained to us. But still, when all hope seems to be vanishing from the situation, she's the thing that becomes his driving force to want to complete the mission. To get back up and keep on trying. So though their time was brief, a connection was made strong enough for these two to care about one another. Enough to get a basically dying man to make his way back to his feet and get back in the fight again. I loved it. I really hope I get to see her again in future books.
Anyway, that's really all I have to say. The Gray Man is an amazing human being. He's a machine. He refuses to die. And his moral compass agrees perfectly well with mine. Look forward to the next book.
Nothing like the Netflix movie in terms of plot. Let's get that out of the way right now. Some of the concepts are the same, but the book is way better. But I don't want to get completely into just a review of differences between the two. Suffice to say, the book was better. The Gray Man, himself, is amazing. Just a really good human being, in my opinion, who has the ability to do some amazingly bad stuff, but who only does those things to really bad people. Loved it. Am definitely going to read the next one.
And honestly, I hope I get to see Clair Fitzroy again. She was adorable. She was smart and clever for her age. And I just loved the small role she played in making the ending of this book finally come about.
If you keep reading, you're just here for the rambling thoughts I have about this book. Just FYI.
One thing I partially didn't like... but I also did... was how some things that happened were literally just luck. But it's luck paired with an amazing amount of skill as well, and that's why I don't completely dislike it. For example, there's one part where he figures out he's being tailed. The only reason being, is that the people who are meant to find him, end up accidentally walking into the same coffee shop he did a few minutes earlier. That's it! Then he makes them, and from there it's a job of getting away from them. But it was that moment of luck that provided him the opportunity to make them in the first place.
There are a lot of other instances like this, where luck plays a factor. But it's a small dose of luck, that then combines with our Gray Man's amazing skill set to eventually give him the upper hand. Small though that hand may sometimes be.
And again... it's a very small part of this story, so I want to warn you about that. I'm blowing it a bit out of proportion. But I just loved Claire and her relationship to Court (or as she knew him, Jim). It's small. The time they spent together was limited prior to this book taking place. We know it, in reality, wasn't much. That's explained to us. But still, when all hope seems to be vanishing from the situation, she's the thing that becomes his driving force to want to complete the mission. To get back up and keep on trying. So though their time was brief, a connection was made strong enough for these two to care about one another. Enough to get a basically dying man to make his way back to his feet and get back in the fight again. I loved it. I really hope I get to see her again in future books.
Anyway, that's really all I have to say. The Gray Man is an amazing human being. He's a machine. He refuses to die. And his moral compass agrees perfectly well with mine. Look forward to the next book.