Wasn’t able to read this one digitally but I did order a copy of the book so will be reviewing it after I’ve read it. I’m really excited for it as I’ve only heard great things about it.

The Gray Man does it again. Violater, Romantic, and Anthem come together again for a fun, nerve-wracking adventure.

Court goes a bit crazy when he does not accept Zoya is dead and he tries to get to Russia to save her. Credibility stretched to max. But this is Grey Man so that is what he does. On/off the grid and making insane decisions to rescue Zoya. A decent adventurous book but not exceptable.

Give a copy by netgalley opinions are my own.

This series just keeps getting better. The Grey Man goes on a quest to rescue his lover who was captured by the China and given to Russia. The bad guys are bad and the good guys walk a fine line. Some familiar players are back and there are new characters. This series is best read in order so you know the background. I started it late but am now reading in order. Ukraine and Russia as locales are timely with current affairs. Lots of gun fire and technical jargon make this action packed. A long read but riveting.

Copy provided by the pub loans NetGalley

Midnight Black picks up six months after the end of The Chaos Agent. Court is searching for a way to get to Russia to find Zoya. He insists she’s alive even in the face of evidence that she isn’t. He has no idea where she might be, but that won’t stop him.

This is a different Gray Man book. The entire story focuses on Court trying to find a way to Zoya. It is filled with action, and all the terrific supporting cast shows up. There are a lot of characters from the various alphabet organizations in Russia, and it’s hard to keep them straight. But they are all bad guys so it really isn’t that important. The war with Ukraine is front and center, but this deals with the everyday people fighting, not the politics. It is sobering to think of those fighting for their lives in that political nightmare.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to fans of spy thrillers and jail breaks.

Not family friendly due to profanity and violence.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This might be the best Mark Greaney book ever, and that is saying something! The Gray Man is on a mission to rescue his girlfriend from a Russian prison and there is nothing that will stop him from getting her back to safety. This novel kept me on the edge of my seat, and I am amazed at how the tension and excitement in Mark's books get bigger and better each time he adds to this series. This series is an instant pre-order each and every year. If you have not read any of his books, I highly recommend you read these chronologically. Not doing so will cause you to miss out on a lot of back story information. Go get this one!

"Midnight Black," the latest book in. Mark Greaney's Gray Man series, is a great example of explosive, action packed storytelling. The story takes readers on a relentless journey as Court embarks on a mission to rescue Zoya, from a seemingly escape-proof Russian gulag. The allusion to urrent day events makes it seem almost realistic. Mark's signature blend of high-stakes action, espionage, and suspense makes this book an absolute must-read for fans of the series and newcomers alike.

Thank you NetGalley & Berkley for the ARC!

Edgy, propulsive, and charged!

Midnight Black is a sinister, action-packed thrill ride featuring the tenacious former CIA contract agent Courtland Gentry who, after his lover and one-time Russian spy Zoya Zakharova is captured and imprisoned in Russia, will do whatever it takes, no matter who or what stands in his way, to find her and free her.

The writing is compelling and tight. The characters are skilled, persistent, and resourceful. And the plot is an intense, suspenseful tale filled with twists, turns, mayhem, coercion, politics, power, obsession, espionage, secrets, revenge, and murder.

Overall, Midnight Black is an addictive, tortuous, fast-paced tale by Greaney that’s another fantastic addition to the Gray Man series with its multilayered characters, intricate storyline, impressive body count, consistent sense of urgency, and satisfying conclusion.

Published by ‎ Berkley on February 18, 2025

Readers who have followed the Courtland Gentry novels know that Gentry was a CIA assassin before he became an independent contractor. Since then, when the CIA isn’t trying to kill Gentry, it sometimes hires him to do a job.

At the end of the last novel, Gentry’s lover was captured by Chinese agents. Zoya Zakharova was a Russian agent before she defected and starting shagging Gentry. China barters her to Russia, where she spends some time in a Moscow prison before being transferred to an isolated woman’s labor camp in Mordovia. Also housed in that camp is Nadia Yarovaya, the wife of Natan Yarovoy, who is housed in a men’s prison a few kilometers down the road. Yarovoy is a surrogate for Alexei Navalny, a popular dissident who might threaten the Russian president’s tenure if he were to run in an election. The president is Vitaly Peskov, a surrogate of Vladimir Putin.

The CIA is confident that Zoya was executed, but Gentry believes she’s alive. Gentry intends to find a way into Russia so he can rescue Zoya. Each Gray Man novel sends Gentry on a more unlikely mission than the last, but I have to admire Greaney’s ability to make them seem plausible. Or perhaps I get so caught up in the action that I just don’t care about the plot’s unlikely nature.

The novel begins with Gentry causing mayhem in Bulgaria and Romania as he tries to get smuggled into Russia. By the time he makes a plan that succeeds, Gentry has the support of old boss, the former deputy director for operations at the CIA, Matthew Hanley. Thanks to his past involvement with Gentry, Hanley is now the deputy station chief in Columbia. The new DDO, Trey Watkins, put him there.

The coincidence of Gentry heading to a prison near the one that holds Yarovoy is too good for Watkins to pass up. Hanley persuades him to use Gentry as an asset and to enlist the military support of Ukraine in an attempt to liberate Yarovoy from one prison and his wife from the other. Much of the fighting will be done by an armed organization of Russian dissidents that is funded by an oligarch who would like to see a regime change. Watkins turns to series regular Zach Hightower (who is serving a relaxed confinement in a CIA safe house) to train a Russian assault team.

With that background, the story should almost write itself in the reader’s mind. Fortunately, Greaney did the writing instead, assuring that the reader will be treated to an escalating series of action scenes, culminating in military assaults on two prisons, pitched battles between Russian dissidents and FSB agents, chases, shootouts, explosions, daring escapes, and all the fun of a James Bond movie. Few writers can pull off such an ambitious plot, but Greaney never gives the reader time to question Gentry’s ability to survive while killing dozens of bad guys.

An interesting subplot pits the FSB, the GRU, and the SVR against each other. Another follows Zoya as she attempts to escape before realizing that she’s being played.

Greaney builds suspense through relentless action. That the reader will be confident of a favorable outcome never makes the story less exciting. The moving parts are described in such detail that the reader might feel like a participant in the final assault. Midnight Black is another fine entry in a thriller series that never disappoints. It might, in fact, be the best Gray Man novel to date.

RECOMMENDED

Book #14 in the GRAY MAN series of thrillers. This series is one of today's best thrillers. Mark Greaney introduced us to the Gray Man in 2009 and the character has matured while working his way through many challenges that would have killed a lesser man. The community of supporting characters push him to be smarter, stronger. In book #13, Court (gray man) takes an emotional step towards becoming more than a targeted weapon. Then......Anthem is gone.
Court's emotional connection to Anthem will lead him to find and plan a risky rescue that takes the story to a Russia prison in the middle of winter. He will move every roadblock placed in his way. Greaney has outdone himself with this excellent thriller.

This story is full of non-stop action, political espionage, black ops, loyal friends, and danger. The Gray Man is like a one-man wrecking ball as he attempts to find a way into Russia so that he can rescue his lover, Zoya. He holds fast to the belief that she is alive even though everyone else thinks she is dead. Of course, there were plenty of obstacles prior to getting to Russia and the danger/challenges did not end once there.

While this is the first book I've read from this author, it didn't take much to understand the relationships between the main characters - and it has me wanting to go back and read the previous books. I liked that there was a listing of characters at the beginning of the book so I could familiarize myself with some of the names in advance. This is one of those stories that will keep your attention from the first page to the last.

Thank you to NetGalley, Berkley Publishing Group and the author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I am known for loving police detective series. This is one subgenre over: the international assassin series. I jumped into the fourteenth (!!) book in the series with no context, but Greaney gave me more than enough of a summary woven into the first few chapters to feel comfortable. We follow The Gray Man, Court Gentry, as he fights his way through Europe, attempting to get into Russia and save his partner, Zoya.
The majority of this book’s plot was different men in positions of power trying to coordinate around Gentry’s insane efforts. Most of them were trying to stop him, some were willing to help, and others were just caught off guard. Even with an insane list of characters, Greaney kept the plot moving forward, and I never felt lost or confused as 200 different people with vaguely Russian names pushed the story towards the finale. And if there’s one thing spy thrillers get right every time, it’s the huge finale with guns ablazing and scheming aplenty!
Overall, I enjoyed the book! I even considered reading more of the series, but my extremely long TBR list had some things to say about that. Also, I kept reading Court Gentry as Colton Gentry, which was an incredible but very different book!

Midnight Black by Mark Greaney
.
Midnight Black is the 14th book in the Gray Man series but can be read as a standalone.

I’ll start by saying this is the first book I have read in this series and it made me wish I had been reading this series all along.

Courtland Gentry is our main character, elite spy/assassin/can-get-out-of-any-sitch guy. And he is on a mission to get into Russia for just one person.

There are a lot of other people we read about and they either have history with Courtland and will somehow help him, or they have heard about Courtland and are determined to stop him.

Coming in not knowing ANY of these people, I was nervous that this 500+ page book would be hard to follow.

Spoiler:it was not. In fact, I flew through these pages like a spy thriller movie was playing in my head. It was super cool.

Pretty much after Courtland meeting the head of a gang and then driving his car off a parking garage building I thought to myself “this is gonna be good, I can tell” and I settled in.

It was suspenseful, it was fun, it had smart plotting, I was rooting for this whole team, I was seriously stressed out multiple times, and I loved ever minute of it.
.
4.5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 I would gladly read more books about the adventures of Courtland Gentry!

My head just wasn’t into this title. Unfortunate because it holds aspects I love in a novel. Cold War shinnanigans, adventure, a breakout!
Sometimes one just isn’t in the mood. I’m giving the title a middle of the road 3 star rating.
The problem is mine not the author’s.

Soon to be desecrated with a 2025 remake that is noticeably missing Colin Farell or Chris Sarandon, 1987's THE RUNNING MAN was based on the Stephen King book published five years previously, under his pseudonym Richard Bachman. Set in 2025, wink wink, the US economy is in shambles and violence is on the rise, wink wink, THE RUNNING MAN has its protagonist Ben Richards as a contestant on a reality TV show, trying to win a grand prize by evading a network paid team of ruthless hunter/killers trying to end the dream. The film version featured stalkers, among others, named Subzero, Captain Freedom, Dynamo, and Buzzsaw. With a nod to JOHN WICK, MIDNIGHT BLACK sees the thirteenth return of THE GRAY MAN, buzz-sawing through everyone in his way, driven to complete a deadly mission of utmost personal importance, a one-man op crusading for a lost cause. He's a lone American with a DEATH WISH, a maniacal killer hell-bent on a one-man invasion of Russia. Of course, with Russians involved, Court Gentry might be living on borrowed time.

Following the adventurous antics of THE CHAOS AGENT, Court Gentry is in no condition, either mentally or physically, to run the most difficult op of his entire career, albeit unsanctioned and unsupported. Much like Snake Plissken in 1981's ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, the most notorious assassin in the world seeks to break into a Russian penal colony, killing his way to the top of Russia's GRU top priority list as Enemy of the State #1. Seemingly gearing up to a Son Tay style raid in the heart of Russia, MIDNIGHT BLACK spends a lot of its time chronicling THE GRAY MAN'S inexplicable hankering to get into Russia, much like SPEED's Jack Traven and the bus wired to explode. In line with British Rail, he may be slow, but he'll get there. Taking wild chances in form of flashing money, threatening dangerous people, and throwing his skill set around as a calling card, the man also known as Sierra Six is on a reign of holy terror to get into Russia, to do what he's gotta do for love. Just. Got. To. Mister. Also a story of being on the run in a hyper-surveillance police state, MIDNIGHT BLACK is a mission with a thousand things that need to go right to be a success. And THE GRAY MAN has a newfound advantage in play: he doesn't care. Who lived or died.

Veiled homage to THE GREAT ESCAPE just without the Triumph TR, Bronson or McQueen, MIDNIGHT BLACK has echoes of RAMBO III, least of which is the fact that it's virtually one man against trained commandos. The most switched on, most capable, motivated, and most lethal tool in America's toolbox, Court Gentry is not God, 'cause God would have mercy. Deftly incorporating FAFO into the narrative, MIDNIGHT BLACK pays homage to Lynn Anderson and Alice Cooper, and vaguely references ESCAPE PLAN, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK and RUNAWAY TRAIN, while boldly stating that Russia is fighting a war with the entire West, not just one country. Thus about destabilizing the Tsarist Empire and trying to force an (fictional) end to the war that's been dragging on since 2022, MIDNIGHT BLACK is a fun novel with great characters. Standing out among them, Zack Hightower, an often hilarious dude who feels that he was modeled after some of the Dick Marcinko adventures' main hero, the ROGUE WARRIOR himself. The most entertaining and explosive duo since Crocket and Tubbs, Court and Zack enliven MIDNIGHT BLACK, taking action, intrigue, geopolitical strife, and violence right to the edge. Cube-jockeys, paper pushers and doubters beware, while an exercise in literary needling of the dude in the Kremlin, THE GRAY MAN is in full force for MIDNIGHT BLACK, loaded for bear and pulling out all the stops. Never doubt Court--he says what he means and means what he says. And then does as he promised.

Mark Greaney is a master of high-stakes storytelling, and Midnight Black is another relentless, adrenaline-fueled entry in the Gray Man series. This time, Court Gentry faces a mission that's as personal as it is impossible—breaking into a brutal Russian gulag to rescue his love, Zoya Zakharova.

Zoya, a former Russian intelligence agent, is sitting on intel the Kremlin desperately wants, and they’ll do whatever it takes to extract it. Court, fueled by love, rage, and his own brand of stubborn defiance, dives headfirst into the heart of enemy territory. What follows is a nonstop, breath-stealing gauntlet of prison breaks, ruthless enemies, and tactical brilliance. Greaney’s action scenes are as cinematic as ever—each fight, chase, and confrontation unfolds with precision and intensity. He writes fight scenes so sharp you’ll swear you can feel the bruises forming.

But Midnight Black isn’t just about bullets flying and bodies dropping (though there's plenty of both). At its core, this is a story about loyalty and the lengths one man will go to for the person he refuses to lose. Court's devotion to Zoya adds a raw, emotional weight to the chaos, making every risk he takes feel even more dangerous.

With its unrelenting pace, chilling stakes, and some of the most imaginative action sequences in the series, Midnight Black delivers exactly what fans crave. Some thrillers keep you turning pages; this one keeps your pulse in the red zone. Whether you've followed Court Gentry from the start or you're just jumping in, this is Greaney at full throttle—sharp, intense, and impossible to put down.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with an advanced copy of this book for review.

Thank you for the free book, @BerkleyPub! #BerkleyPartner

📚 #BOOKREVIEW 📚
Midnight Black (The Gray Man, Book 14) by Mark Greaney
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Pages: 518 / Genre: Action Thriller
Release Date: February 18, 2025

When we last saw The Gray Man in The Chaos Agent, Book 13, the love of his life, Zoya Zakharova, had just been captured by the Russians. Book 14 picks up 6 months later with Court Gentry, AKA The Gray Man, trying desperately to find a way into Russia to rescue her. While the premise is simple—rescue Zoya, the mission is not. He needs to figure out a way to sneak into Russia, bust her out of a maximum security prison, and get back home. That ends up involving a rebel alliance of Russians, the Ukrainian military, and the CIA plus the added mission of rescuing a Russian political dissident and his wife. That’s over 500 pages of non-stop action.

I really enjoyed this thriller. Between all the combat scenes, you also get a glimpse of what it’s like living in a police state and the passion for freedom that drives the rebels to risk their lives. This was a long book, but with so much going on, it went by quickly.

Every woman's dream is to be loved with like Court loves Zoya. At the end of the last book Zoya was kidnapped and taken to Russia. As far as the US intelligence agencies know Zoya is dead. Court knows differently and he _will_ rescue her. There is nothing that will get in his way. This is a great Gray Man Action book with a thread of romance. It is one of those books that you don't want to put it down because you want to find out what happens and then are sad when you get to the last page. Definitely a great read.

Amidst war a consummate black ops agent is both predator and prey

Courtland Gentry has been known by many names...Violator, Sierra Six, the Gray Man...in his career both inside and outside the CIA, where he had started years earlier. He and his former employer have more or less made their peace with one another, but a recent development finds them again at odds. Court's partner and lover (formerly one of Russia's best operatives) was captured by the Chinese during a mission months earlier; her captors returned her to Russia in exchange for the release of some of their own imprisoned countrymen. Zoya is in the eyes of Russian intelligence world the worst sort of traitor and as such her capture was highly sought. The usual fate of such a prisoner would be torture and death, and that is what the CIA believes has happened to Zoya...there is no way the Russians would let her live. Court does not believe that to be the case, and has been desperately trying to get himself into Russia to find out the truth of what has happened to the woman he loves so that he can find her and bring her safely home.. Getting into a country currently at war with neighboring Ukraine and one highly sanctioned by the US, he has been unable to buy or fight his way in, and is near his breaking point when his former boss points him to a last resort contact. When evidence then surfaces that Zoya is in fact alive and being held in a penal colony, Court finally gets a little help from the CIA and sneaks into Russia to establish contact with a resistance group based in Moscow. An ambitious plan to free an imprisoned opposition leader and his wife merges with the Gray Man's mission to rescue Zoya, in what seems a certain suicidal operation....how could anyone hope to mount such a colossal effort inside a police state as winter weather envelopes the remote penal colonies? Especially when there may be someone in Russia who is waiting to spring a trap?
In this, the 14th installment of the Gray Man series, protagonist Court Gentry remains a fascinating character. To most people who see him, he appears to be anything but a threat....average height, nondescript in looks, the sort of person who attracts no notice and about whom one would remember nothing about him after glancing his way (hence the Gray Man moniker). He is, however, a highly trained operative whose skills in survival, infiltration, combat and more are unequalled...if he is assigned a mission, it will be accomplished or he will die trying. Those who stand in his way are removed by whatever means necessary, often with lethality. In this story his mission is self-assigned; he refuses to believe that Zoya is dead, and he will not give up until he has found and rescued her regardless of how many people dismiss his conviction that she is alive. His journey has him in the Baltic region, in lawless areas affected by the ongoing Ukraine/Russia war. Organized crime mobs, warring intelligence units, remnants of an underground network that operated in the days of the Soviet Union, and the men and women of Ukraine and Russia who are willing to put everything on the line for the good of their country form the tapestry of the environment which Court must navigate on his quest. Mistrust and betrayal are everywhere, and those who fight against the system put not only themselves but their families at risk. I found the description of life in Russian cities, where the war effort demands more and more "volunteers" to head to the battlefield and where everyone and everything is under continual observation particularly chilling (though sadly it is probably quite accurate). Characters are fully realized, from a timid interpreter forced into frontline action to a professor in her 70's drawn back into the dangerous intrigue of an earlier time. This is not a quick read but is a highly rewarding one, with intricate plotting and detailed descriptions of place. Readers of the series will be sure to grab this latest installment, as should fans of authors like Brad Thor, Lee Child and Gregg Hurwitz. Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for allowing me early access to Midnight Black...it did not disappoint and I eagerly await the next chapter in this, one of my favorite series.

Court is back fighting his way across Europe into Russia. Another incredible Gray Man edition. Non stop action that keeps you on your toes from start to finish. What is next?