Burner

Greaney took a turn as Tom Clancy's collaborator, but since then he has done well with a series of actioners featuring Court Gentry, known as the Gray Man, a former CIA spook who has devoted his life to helping screwed-over people achieve justice. The Gray Man's role as a kind of maskless Lone Ranger sounds a bit over the top, but Greaney makes it work here by focusing on hideous reality: the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Espionage often begins with a hurt person seeking revenge, and this time it's a banker whose family has been destroyed by the kleptocracy that rules modern Russia. The banker has files documenting slimy transactions between the Russian government and Western moneymen. Gentry is asked to see that the info gets to the right people before a scheduled global meeting legitimizes Russia's occupation of Ukraine. To do so, he connects with old love Zoya, a vodka-swilling, coke-snorting spook who scoffs at the humanitarian stuff, and the Russian Luka, who hopes that returning the files will land him a desk job where nobody's shooting at him. A nice mix of fantasy and reality.

Bestseller Greaney's solid 12th Gray Man novel (after 2022's Sierra Six) finds former CIA officer Court Gentry (aka the Gray Man) sinking the yachts of wealthy criminal Russians on the behalf of an ex-pat Ukrainian oligarch, a freelance job Gentry considers honorable in the face of Moscow's war on Ukraine, but next is locating his lost lover, former SVR operative Zoya Zakharova. In Zurich, Swiss banker Alex Velesky meets with Russian financial planner Igor Krupkin, who wants to strike at Russia because his son died while fighting in Ukraine. Krupkin has two phones loaded with state secrets regarding money that Russia has used to finance secret illegal operations in the West. He wants Velesky, who also hates Russia, to give one phone to the owner of a forensic accounting firm and the other to a shady lawyer so the material can be organized and made public. Gentry and Zoya are hired independently of each other to retrieve the phones. The two plots run parallel until the missions intersect and the two lovers are reunited and face almost impossible odds. Impressive spycraft and action scenes that are intense without being cartoonish make up for the drawn-out plot. Series fans will be satisfied. Agent: Scott Miller, Trident Media Group. (Feb.)

The Gray Man dodges death and whups the bad guys for the 12th time in this nonstop thriller. A banker steals records from his Swiss employer, hoping to expose corruption. He stores the information on a burner phone, and everybody wants it--not least the Russians and the CIA. Court Gentry, the man of many monikers--the Gray Man, Violator, and Six--is pulled off his job of blowing up "oligarchs' big toys," i.e., their mega-yachts, to help find the phone. He's ex--CIA, and now he's a freelancer, "only taking contracts he thought to be principled." There's excitement even before the main plotline as limpets spread shock waves under the sea. Meanwhile, he pines for his erstwhile lover Zoya Zakharova, the ex--SVR agent who'd once tried to kill him until their hormones kicked in. Now she feels adrift, her only companions being bottles of vodka and lines of cocaine. And wouldn't you know, a phone call pulls her from her stupor. If you're not too damn drunk, a voice tells her, we need you to find a phone with stolen banking information before anyone else gets their hands on it. Paraphrasing Casablanca: Of all the plotlines in all the thrillers in all the world, Zoya walks into Violator's. But the two assassins meet under the most incommodious of circumstances. Hmm. Do they kiss or kill? Hint: This isn't a romance novel. Readers will have great fun as Gentry manages to survive, sometimes in implausible ways. You'll think he is done for on a Swiss train until you see there are 200 pages to go and remember that he's the series hero. So no spoilers there. But that train ride provides the story's most riveting action until the blazing finale. Series fans already know that the CIA, specifically Suzanne Brewer, has a kill order out for Gentry. Brewer has always been a scheming antagonist, but now she truly reveals the darkness of her character. Not much is predictable but for the actions of CIA agent Angela Lacy, who has never shot anyone before and is loath to do so now. Alert readers will be thinking, Come on Angela! You can do it! Hardcore action here. Greaney and the Gray Man are on their game. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Greaney took a turn as Tom Clancy's collaborator, but since then he has done well with a series of actioners featuring Court Gentry, known as the Gray Man, a former CIA spook who has devoted his life to helping screwed-over people achieve justice. The Gray Man's role as a kind of maskless Lone Ranger sounds a bit over the top, but Greaney makes it work here by focusing on hideous reality: the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Espionage often begins with a hurt person seeking revenge, and this time it's a banker whose family has been destroyed by the kleptocracy that rules modern Russia. The banker has files documenting slimy transactions between the Russian government and Western moneymen. Gentry is asked to see that the info gets to the right people before a scheduled global meeting legitimizes Russia's occupation of Ukraine. To do so, he connects with old love Zoya, a vodka-swilling, coke-snorting spook who scoffs at the humanitarian stuff, and the Russian Luka, who hopes that returning the files will land him a desk job where nobody's shooting at him. A nice mix of fantasy and reality. Copyright 2023 Booklist Reviews.

Bestseller Greaney's solid 12th Gray Man novel (after 2022's Sierra Six) finds former CIA officer Court Gentry (aka the Gray Man) sinking the yachts of wealthy criminal Russians on the behalf of an ex-pat Ukrainian oligarch, a freelance job Gentry considers honorable in the face of Moscow's war on Ukraine, but next is locating his lost lover, former SVR operative Zoya Zakharova. In Zurich, Swiss banker Alex Velesky meets with Russian financial planner Igor Krupkin, who wants to strike at Russia because his son died while fighting in Ukraine. Krupkin has two phones loaded with state secrets regarding money that Russia has used to finance secret illegal operations in the West. He wants Velesky, who also hates Russia, to give one phone to the owner of a forensic accounting firm and the other to a shady lawyer so the material can be organized and made public. Gentry and Zoya are hired independently of each other to retrieve the phones. The two plots run parallel until the missions intersect and the two lovers are reunited and face almost impossible odds. Impressive spycraft and action scenes that are intense without being cartoonish make up for the drawn-out plot. Series fans will be satisfied. Agent: Scott Miller, Trident Media Group. (Feb.)