Agent in Place (Gray Man)

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There is a reason the Gray Man is a highly sought after contract professional killer. He is a brilliant, top notch operative that is simply a fabulously developed character. Never a dull moment, you will always be guessing about what he will do next. Hired by a couple who represent a group of well-connected Syrians hellbent on toppling the regime of Ahmed al-Azzam, President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Court Gentry is given the information of a private apartment in Paris where Bianca Medina, the president’s twenty-six-year-old secret mistress, is currently staying. Once again Court is called upon, as they need him to go to Syria and snatch the child. Now, who would be crazy enough to go to Syria and snatch the son of the president? Well, that would be Court Gentry, who is not a typical man, and has abilities that most could only dream about. The prose and storytelling are not as dense and rich as one finds in Le Carre or Greene, but it is good cloak-and-dagger stuff. More cloak than dagger, to be sure, but there is some realistic violence and there are plenty of tense situations. Desperate to earn her cooperation, the Halabys try to retask Gentry with another job: spirit away Medina's infant son from Syria in what is considered a suicide mission, which Court initially refuses. He later rescues the Halabys from being tortured for Medina's whereabouts by two French police officers sent by Swiss bank consultant & Shakira's right-hand man Sebastian Drexler. Court then agrees to rescue Medina's son as well as his babysitter, named Yasmin, from Damascus after she allows him to do so.

For those who didn’t know, Greaney has flirted with Hollywood several times in the past. He opened up about all that, revealing that he read several different version of various scripts, which were all attached to a Gray Man movie at one point or another.

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However a group of "magicians" feel they can handle or neutralize the threat to their livelihoods with some sleight of hand - to make the audience see what they want to see and make it come crashing down. The action takes place in mainly three areas - the American Embassy where the main character Ben has a mysterious job, the KGB (and a hawkish True Believer sect within), and a Russian/American couple caught between the two. I've read quite a few Littell novels and I've always been puzzled with their inconsistency. He's written one of the books on my 'favorites of all time' shelf, The Company, but the rest of his output is up and down. I hear from readers all the time who think that’s my best book,” he said, “and I think that’s because it’s the one that has the most personal story for the hero. It’s sort of all about him finding these answers, his identity, and all that stuff. It’s all so personal, and it’s a lesson for aspiring writers. The more important you can make the stakes to the hero, not just life and death, but more important than life and death, the more your book will resonate with people.”

Supporters of the Free Syrian Army are in exile in Paris. They are well funded and are focused on bringing down Syrian President Ahmed Azzam (aka Bashar al-Assad). They learn that Ahmed has a mistress, who is a Spanish model and modeling in Paris. Arrangements are made with Court Gentry to kidnap Bianca Medina, as they know that she knows about a meeting taken in Tehran, that should the Russians discover, perhaps would end the dictatorship of Ahmed. Unusual, yes. But Courtland, as Greaney’s fans know, goes by several names. There’s “Sierra Six,” the “Gray Man,” and then, my personal favorite, his callsign. . . “Violator.”Travel the world with unlimited resources and loose rules with no one to report to….it all sounds horribly romantic to me, which I am sure in real life it is anything but. However a girl can dream.

Court calls Voland and informs him of the successful extraction, but the French intelligence officer tells him about what had happened in the safehouse. Gentry becomes livid, but later offers to assassinate President Azzam in an effort to salvage the failed operation. Voland agrees to let Gentry be his agent in place in Syria, as long as he arranges for the extraction of Jamal and Yasmin out of the country. Court then lets Jamal and Yasmin stay in the home of Syrian doctor Shawkat Saddiqi, who is a friend of the Halabys. Yes,” he told me before explaining his philosophy about stretching storylines. “I mean, with my first book, it wasn’t part of some master plan. I was just trying to get published,” Greaney admitted, “so I didn’t have this big series in mind. But once they bought books two and three, I started thinking about where the series would go. I’m hoping they go through with it, and the director they got is somebody who can make any movie he wants to make by snapping his fingers and saying he wants to make it. So, I think it’s sitting pretty.” For those wondering which of Tom Clancy’s books is his favorite, Greaney admitted it’s a tough question to answer.At that point, I had done six books in five years. I had plenty of macro story ideas. Big, overall ideas. But the micro ideas, you know like, here’s a guy following someone down a street. There’s only so many ways you can tell that and keep it fresh, and I did not want to overstay my welcome in the Clancy universe. So, after six books, my editor sort of talked me into doing a seventh, and I’m really glad I did. I’m glad I wrote True Faith and Allegiance, but when that one was over, I knew it was time.” Perestroika is sweeping over the Soviet Union and both covert sides of the Iron Curtain are wondering where their place will be. The status quo in the spy and military agencies love the steady employment, prestige, and money that come from having a permanent enemy. But Gorbachev is dismantling that seemingly perpetual machine.

Next, we have Sebastian Drexler. Drexler is probably my favourite character in the book, as he is a modern take on the 1980s Eurotrash bad guy. Of all the people in this story, he could be considered the true Levanter of “Agent In Place”, even more so than the actual Levanter that Gentry is hunting down. A Swiss Spy, born in the French side of the small, but influential nation, Drexler decided to relive the best traditions of his people. He became a mercenary, a boutique gun for hire amongst Europe’s more snobbish Corporate tycoons and later the not so snobbish dictators of the Third World. Forced into exile in Syria, Drexler starts the story with his career and life on the line. With Gentry ruining one of his plans, Drexler realizes that his current client is going to kill him if there is one more failure and so begins to make his exit plans, on the corpses of several innocent civilians and a baby boy if need be. It’s hard to divorce yourself from the books that did really well and were successful when they came out, but weren’t always that fun to write. I mean, they still turned out really good or whatever, but like the last Clancy book I did, True Faith and Allegiance, it’s the highest rated of all the ones I wrote, and I didn’t have a ton of fun writing it because of other things going on. I had surgeries taking place, rushed to get it done, and all these things were going on. It was one of the only books where I wasn’t able to travel to do research for it like virtually all the other books I’ve done. I wrote the thing on my couch with my leg elevated. So in a way, to me, because of all that, I hate that book even though it turned out good.”Court goes after the baby, a decision that comes at the price of the mistress’s life. The expat organization deems the boy now useless to their cause and refuses to protect him against the Syrian first lady and the notorious Swiss assassin in her employ. With no support on the way, Court realizes he’ll have to take down the Syrian president himself if he and the boy are going to make it out alive… I’m one of those people that really really really loves government thrillers, military operatives, spy novels, and conspiracy stories. Admittedly I haven’t read a lot of classic ‘spy novels’ but secretly my dream job would be international spy master or CIA operative.