Erstwhile CIA operative Court Gentry, now a freelance mercenary, has a tall order in bestseller Greaney's excellent seventh Gray Man novel (after 2017's Gunmetal Gray): first he has to kidnap the mistress of Syria's tyrannical president, Ahmed Al-Azzam, to enlist her aid in toppling his murderous regime, then rescue her infant son left behind in Damascus. As cover, Court joins a mercenary force supporting Al-Azzam. Greaney brilliantly contrasts Court's pro bono humanitarian mission with the greedy mercenaries who fuel the Syrian civil war. Court, whose nom de guerre denotes a moral ambiguity, is not without avarice himself, but the mercs' depravity and lack of esprit de corps disgust him. When related missions out of his control are compromised, Court undertakes the suicidal task of eliminating Al-Azzam. Greaney's steady escalation of the risks that Court faces, and the exceedingly clever ways he tackles them, make this entry in the exemplary Gray Man series a can't-miss. Agent: Scott Miller, Trident Media Group. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Seventh in the high-powered Gray Man series (Gunmetal Gray, 2017, etc.).The Islamic State group is about to execute Courtland Gentrythe Gray Manand leave his body floating with others in a bloody lake. Then the story backs up a week to show how he got into this unholy mess. Gentry is ex-CIA, now an assassin for hire. He meets in Paris with Dr. Tarek Halaby, head of the Free Syria Exile Union, or what's left of it. All the brave members are dead, Halaby says, and he jokes that perhaps Gentry would like to kill the Syrian president for him. "A mission into Syria," they both agree, is "a fool's errand." Which naturally means he'll go there. Halaby hires him to rescue the model Bianca Medina from an imminent IS attack, part of a plan that Halaby hopes will "deal a serious blow to the Syrian regime and hasten the end" of the cruel civil war. A stunning beauty who's protected by bodyguards in a Paris hotel, Medina is the lover of Ahmed al-Azzam, the brutal Syrian president and "most horrible man in the world"and also, as she tells Halaby after Gentry brings her back to his safe house, she's secretly the mother of Jamal, Azzam's only son. Azzam's wife, Shakira, aka "the First Lady of Hell," knows about Bianca and wants her dead. (Thus the IS attack, which she manipulated.) Halaby isn't sure if Shakira knows about Jamal (she does), but he's sure she'll kill the boy if she does. Bianca is itching to return to Syria to be with Jamal, who's been left behind with a bodyguard, but Gentry, against his own better judgment, agrees to go get him. If there's "one shot in hell" to snatch the child from the evil dad, "that shot was the Gray Man," a sharpshooter who will gladly kill Azzam if only he can get close enough. So, as anyone who follows the series knows, plenty of blood spills. Whether any of that blood is Assad'soops, Azzam'sis for the reader to find out. Court Gentry claims to kill only for cash, yet he mostly nails just the bad guysdeep down, he has a moral code. Readers of the great Tom Clancy will salivate over this fast-moving and well-plotted yarn, which is part of a consistently appealing series in which each assignment is billed as the most dangerous ever.Somehow, Greaney cranks out one winner after another. That's a lot of work for the Gray Man and plenty of pleasure for thriller fans. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Greaney delivers nonstop action in this latest novel featuring the former CIA operative, now freelance assassin, known as the Gray Man. His latest assignment seems straightforward at first: kidnap the mistress of the Syrian president. Matters are complicated, though, when it turns out the mistress has given birth to a son, the only heir to the dictator's throne, and the ruthless Syrian first lady and her trusted assassin plan to kill the heir's mother. Greaney, author of some of the novels carrying on the late Tom Clancy's brand, should be required reading for fans of black-ops thrillers by Brad Taylor and Vince Flynn.--Ayers, Jeff Copyright 2018 Booklist