REVIEW: On Target By Mark Greaney

On Target by Mark Greaney
Publishing Information: Paperback; 544 pages
Publisher: Jove; 28 Sept 2010
ISBN: 978-0515148459
Series: The Gray Man #2
Copy: Out of Pocket
Reviewer: Tyson

Amazon

Synopsis: "Killing is his business. But his business is about to get personal.

Four years ago, Court Gentry was betrayed by his handlers in the CIA. To survive, he had to eliminate his own brothers in arms. Now, as a master assassin known as the Gray Man, he makes his living killing other people. But when an old comrade he thought dead returns to haunt him, his own life is put in the crosshairs.

The man wants Court to complete a mission, with one crucial catch to his orders: Instead of a difficult assassination, the job will entail a near impossible kidnapping—and Court must return his quarry to the very CIA team that turned on him.

With his unforgiving employers on one side, his blackmailing former friends on the other, and a doomed mission ahead, Court Gentry would kill to get out of this one alive…"

Not long ago I reviewed the first book in the series, The Gray Man (review here) and enjoyed the book immensely. So much that while on vacation I managed to pick up the rest of the series. Finding the time to read them is a challenge all its own. But I finally was able to carve out some time over the holidays to read the second book.

On Target occurs very shortly after the events of the first novel, Court Gentry is now forced to work for a Russian contact while recovering from his wounds. The mission is anything but simple as he is to eliminate the president of an African country ending a bloody civil war and genocide and paving the way for Russia to make millions in the oil business. Things get sticky when the CIA comes calling asking him to change his plans and kidnap the president instead. Anyone who knows Gentry's character knows that he is methodical in his planning, a ghost that is still considered a myth in the intelligence community but the idea of no longer being hunted by America and the various international agencies is too good to pass up. Gentry must now skirt the fine line between the Russians and the American black ops team he is sent to work with.

While On Target is still a great book, I found the plot a little too predictable and that the character of Court Gentry to go outside of his firmly established beliefs from the first book. He only kills from a moral prospective and in this book he seems to have no moral concerns with his target. Now I could chalk it up to his desire to no longer be hunted by the CIA but it was just too convenient. The appeal of Gentry is his unwavering beliefs and I felt as though he looked past them a little too easily.

With that said, I plan on continuing the series as the book came full circle in the end and it should bring things back in line with the first book. Only time will tell. Greaney's series is still relatively unknown and that is a shame as he writes really well and has a character that has many similar traits with Clancy's Jack Ryan, which makes sense as Greaney helped write Clancy's last few novels. If you love the assassin political thrillers, The Gray Man series should be right up your alley. While On Target took a slight down swing, the next book promises to be on par with the first.

Overall 7/10