MIDNIGHT BLACK by Mark Greaney

5 stars

Courtland Gentry, the world’s top assassin also known as the Gray Man, Violator as well as Sierra Six, is ferociously back in action trying to rescue his love, Zoya Zakharova, from a penal colony deep inside rural Russia.

Zoya, a former Russian intelligence office turned CIA agent with the call sign Anthem, had been captured in Cuba at the end of The Chaos Agent (2023) and presumed dead. It turns out that Zoya is still very much alive, having been given back to Russia in a trade, though she’s suffering from malnutrition and overwork as a seamstress in the brutal gulag where she’s being held. Only Gentry amidst deep heartbreak has held out hope that Zoya was alive and has gone almost mad is his quest to find her.

Gentry’s convinced Zoya’s being held in Russia and has been marauding with unremitting violence through Central Europe trying to both learn more about Zoya’s whereabouts as well as find a safe way to get into Russia, which has been heavily blockaded due to the Ukrainian war and economic shutout by the West.

The dramatic, unrelenting, heart-pulsing action scenes pile up as does the violent fighting and high body count in Gray Man’s lethal wake. Court comes off as both hero rescuer of Zoya as well as heartless anti-hero to anyone who gets in his way. Even though he’s used to being a lone ranger as an off the book assassin, as well as being hunted by the CIA who betrayed him, Court continues to secretly rely on his former CIA boss and friend, Matt Henley, who’s been kicked to a CIA outpost in South America, and Zach Hightower, who’s been working as an assassin for hire fighting off Russian undercover agents in Central Europe. Court also gets entangled with a former Soviet oligarch who’s fled to Europe, put his huge resources to work in supporting Ukraine, and willing to finance a mission to free the main Russian opposition leader from a penal colony near where Zoya is being held.

Greaney brilliantly dives deep in the Ukraine-Russian war as well as Putin’s authoritarian regime. The book explores the massive casualties and economic toll the war has taken on the Russian citizens who cannot get any clear information about what’s going on and live in daily fear of all the state police enforcers. Men of fighting age are drafted, conscripted, persuaded or forced to join the army, often poorly trained, barely outfitted and sent up as fodder to fight the land battle with Ukraine. The soldiers mostly do not want to be there, and their families are bereft as tens of thousands of coffins come back from the front. At the same time young children get swept into ideological brainwashing to set up the next generation of expendable fighters. A thinly veiled Putin relies on enormous wealth, the bribing of the powerful who bend to his will, and the fear and ignorance of the populace to exert brutal control. Each of Russia’s internal police agencies battle each other, with a villain emerging in a crafty Lieutenant Baronov who believes whole-heartedly in the regime and wants to bring the West to their knees. The deeply detailed insights makes all of Russia feel claustrophobic and oppressive, even contrasted with the spots of powerful bravery by Russian resistance fighters who willingly sacrifice their lives and endanger their families in their efforts to spur regime change. Powerful insights, especially given the intense research Greaney puts into his books.

Meanwhile, prepare to hold your breath in suspense during most of the novel, and to root for the Gray Man as he throws his entire life on the line in hopes of rescuing Zoya.

Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.