One Minute Out: Gray Man, Book 9

Court Gentry (aka the Gray Man) is in Croatia to snipe a war criminal. As he watches the old man through his scope, though, he decides that far away through a scope just won't do, and this man needs an up close and personal visit. Despite the presence of a small personal army and a couple of dogs guarding the war criminal, Gentry makes his way into the house only to find the old man not in his bed. Following sounds he hears, he makes his way into a basement and finds over twenty women and girls chained to the walls there. One woman, who was loose because the old man was about to bring her upstairs and assault her, runs out of the house (despite the presence of that small army and a couple of dogs). Gentry kills the old man and then wants to free the women, but one of their number tells him to leave, as he can't protect all of them, and they will be punished worse if they leave and are recaptured.Gentry reluctantly leaves them but vows to find them again and free them, and also to bust the human sex trafficking ring he has stumbled across.The story moves from Croatia to Italy to the US, as Gentry follows the pipeline of women moved from country to country. Along the way, he picks up an ally - one of the womens' sister, who works in financial fraud for EUROPOL - and she heads off on a side trek to engage the services of a hacker. after telling Gentry that not only is there a sex trafficking ring, there's an ocean of bad money being laundered in the process. Meanwhile, Gentry keeps dogging the pipeline, killing quite a number of people in his path and getting beat up at various locales.SPOILERS FROM HERE The evidence continues to pile up, and when it points to a US-based businessman and movie exec as the ringleader, Gentry calls his office - the CIA - and asks for help. When it's denied for reasons he isn't told, he requests help from another, more personal source: a bad guy in Italy, where the women will be sold at auction. The bigshot US businessman will also be in attendance at this particular stop even though his head of security advises him against it, and Gentry wants to get to him somehow, and kill him. On the evening of the auction, Gentry spots members of a special ops team, realizes they're hunting him, and eventually there's a big firefight, with the bad guys hoping on a private plane with two women marked for "special handling" - that is, to serve as sex slaves for he crooked businessman.Gentry makes his way back to the States via a pretty humorous (considering the circumstances) method, and gets to California. Based on information provided by the EUROPOL analyst, he makes his way to the bigshot's house. He realizes he can't take the entire compound by himself, so enlists the help of some old operators (and I mean older in ago, as in, this sort of thing is a young person's game). After killing some more bad guys, and talking the bigshot's personal security out of protecting the bigshot, Gentry has come face to face with the bad guy - but he promised the CIA he wouldn't kill the guy, because the guy is an asset to the CIA, providing information on the flow of money and arms around the world. Since Gentry can't kill the bad guy, he shoots the bad guy right in the crotch, blowing his junk off. I guess that means no more sexytimes for him, assaulting or otherwise, although the way medicine is these days, and the fact that he's a billionaire, it could be entirely possible bad guy could get his nether regions redone and go right back to his evil ways. On the other hand, it's made clear in the last few chapters that the gad guy needs ED drugs and coke in order to be able to perform, so maybe not.Gentry then walks away from the house, despite the LAPD showing up in huge numbers. He climbs into a van holding some CIA dudes, and they drive off into the sunset.END SPOILERSThe end of the book evokes The Shawshank Redemption (or, for the pedants, "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption") with a litany of "hopes". This book really does seem to be one of the more adaptable ones of the series for the big screen, and it wouldn't surprise me to see it adapted into a screenplay and made into a movie starring some actor everyone will either love or hate, with the hate side pointing out all the ways X could not possibly be the Gray Man.Overall, if you like the Gray Man series, you'll like this book. I do, and I did.Four solid stars out of five.

This is one of Greaney's best Gray Man books I've read. Gentry goes to Serbia to pop a real bad guy and discovers 25 young girls being held in the basement. So starts his journey along with a Europol analyst whose looking for her sister, who was captured by sex trafficers.. You learn a lot about the sex trafficking business, how it's run, how wide spread it is, how cruel it is and that it's a Multi Billion Dollar industry. Of course, there's the usual gun fights along the way. Buy it, you'll like it.

This may be my favorite Gray Man novel yet! I read some reviews where some were critical of the first person writing style in this book. I loved it!

Gentry rides again. A lot of skill and luck saves the day. He just keeps rolling along. Even with a team of old-timers, he is the baddest.

I’ve read every book in Greaney’s series and can’t wait for the next release in November. If you like international intrigue combined with stellar military action and an underdog hero worth rooting for, you will love this series, too!

As is his usual style, Greaney hits hard with the cruel realities of the world knowing there's so much more to it. Didn't get much done this morning because I had to finish the book. It was worth it!

I love the way the character Zach Hightower is being developed. He adds some good comedy to otherwise tense situation’s.

Great book Mark Greaney hits another one out of the park with his Gray Man novel. can't waite for the next book

Entirely agree with other reviews, loved the other Gray man books, but hate this story told in first person. Maybe the author wants us to know how vulnerable he is, but that’s not the way I want, or expect to view him. After eagerly anticipating this novel, it’s been a great disappointment. Released on the same day as new orphan X novel, thank goodness that didn’t disappoint.

It’s sometimes hard to see where Mark Greaney is going to take The Grey Man next, but he keeps the series going without flagging one bit. This one’s the best yet.Staying just the right side of a pretty stretched credibility line (as befits The Grey Man), the plot is ingenious, with enough twists and suspense to keep you glued right to the end.The in-out of the government’s black ops fold was starting to wear thin earlier in the series, but Greaney plays it beautifully here.A great read. Thank you. Can’t wait for the next one!

Sorry but the first person story telling does not work at all. Was this book written by a ghost or guest author? Cannot be bothered to finish the story. Very disappointed.

Having read all of the Grey Man books I have to say that I couldn’t really get into this one. Written in the first person I found it a bit harder to read and the subject of this book was enough to put me off

I did like this book but when I started reading, it felt different, strange compared to his other books, almost like someone else had written it.Kept me entertained for a few nights in a wet and windy holiday in heysham.