Mark Greaney twines the two plots together with clockwork precision, building suspense around the question of whether two such operatives, so formidable individually, might be unbeatable once they finally decide to fight together.Without a doubt, Greaney has consistently delivered thrillers with great action. His Gray Man series is well written and plotted. As the series developed, the characters too, have grown significantly.
This time around, Court Gentry aka the Gray Man, has been summoned to DC. Since a CIA transport plane is near his location on another mission, he is ordered to catch a ride. The plane has one stop to make - dropping off a prisoner in England. Somehow that mission is compromised. And attackers who appear kill most of the agents onboard and capture the prisoner, who is a banker. They are not expecting the Gray Man though. He kills several of the attackers and then pursues the van fleeing with the banker.
Meanwhile, a Russian agent, Anthem who turned CIA asset, is being kept as a “guest” of the CIA in a safe house in Virginia. However, when she sees a photo shown to her, everything changes for her. It is a picture of her father’s body, taken when he was killed in action in Dagestan. Something about that picture tells her she needs to take immediate action. Before she can escape, though, armed men storm the CIA safe house and try to kill everyone there. She manages to kill some of the attackers, save one of her guards, and escape to seek out the secret behind the picture of her father.Mission Critical is terrific and the action nonstop from the first page. Zoya is a worthy partner and contrast to the Gray Man. Neither of them play well with others as teamwork is hard for solo operators. Yet they still find in each other companion spirits, loyal to a higher calling than money or politics or themselves. Both are willing to take risks in order to achieve results but both have lines they will not cross. And if the action is a bit over the top and the body count increases in almost every chapter, that just adds to the legend of the Gray Man. Even he himself cannot believe the dangerous situations he has managed to escape. Hopefully, Greaney will continue to think of more trouble for him to find, more madmen for him to confront, and more scrapes for him to escape.