REVIEW: Back Blast by Mark Greaney

Back Blast by Mark Greaney
Publishing information: Paperback; 528 pgs
Publisher: Penguin; 16 Feb 2016
ISBN: 9781101989173
Series: Grey Man #5
Copy: Out of Pocket
Reviewer: Tyson

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Synopsis: "Five years ago, Court Gentry was the CIA’s best covert asset. Then, without warning, his masters at the Agency put him at the top of their kill list. Court fled his country and became an enigmatic killer for hire known as the Gray Man.

Determined to find out what made the Agency turn against him, he plans to get his hands on the men who sent him on his last mission, Operation BACK BLAST. What he doesn’t realize is that the questions that arose from his time as an American assassin are still reverberating in the U.S. intelligence community, and he’s stumbled onto a secret that powerful people want kept under wraps.

The result: everyone has Court in their crosshairs..."

It's no secret that I love a good thriller and I think that Mark Greaney's Grey Man series is one, if not the best series of novels since Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series (a series Greaney has taken over for the late Mr. Clancy). Back Blast ups the ante in the series and gives us an ending on major story arc from the series.

In Back Blast Court Gentry decides to come home and learn from his superiors just why he was put on a kill list and once Gentry sets foot on American soil the action doesn't let up. Anyone who has read the previous books in the series knows that the CIA is hunting him and that he has barely managed to stay one step ahead of them in his game of survival. Back Blast takes that knowledge and uses it to keep the pace of the book on full throttle as he works his way to solving the mystery of why his former unit and employer turned against him.

Many of the players from previous novels play a part in this novel and I would recommend that you start at the beginning of the series in order to fully grasp how things come together in this novel. Greaney does an excellent job with pacing. The novel reads like the waves on a beach as there is a constant ebb and flow to the story. Court is able to come up for air for a short period of time before the next wave threatens to engulf him in a hail of bullets.

I don't really want to give away too much of the story as I think it is worth learning how Court became the most wanted man by the CIA and to say anything may provide clues as to why Court shot up to the top of the Agencies most wanted list. I will say that this is a very strong book and was a lot of fun to read. I ended up purchasing the novel from Book Depository as Amazon didn't have the trade paperback and I wanted my collection to remain in the same format. I haven't picked up the next book in the series, Gunmetal Grey, as I am eagerly awaiting the Trade version to come out. But once it does, I will pick it up without hesitation.

If you enjoy a well-written thriller that has a extremely likable character look no further than the Gray Man series. It is the perfect escapist read that truly deserves more attention.

Overall 8.5/10