Back Blast

Written By Mark Greaney & Reviewed by Detective Dru

Prologue: Denny Carmichael, CIA spymaster and second in command for US Intelligence, is having a party in MD when three GI Suburbans arrive. He’s furious because the attendees don’t know he’s a spy, but then he’s told that the Grey Man is stateside and likely has eyes on a now terrified Denny.

Book number five gets off to a much slower start than the previous entries in terms of action and the other typical symptoms of the first few chapters from a mainstream publisher.  Much like a sitcom however, since the backstories of the main characters involved are assumed to be known, readers are as entertained by the anticipation of the character’s actions as they are by deconstructing new characters when first introduced.  So the slower opening is not necessarily welcome, but understandable.

Denny arrives at Langley and his deputy Jordan Mayes receives him. They argue about including Suzanne Brewer in their upcoming meeting. She’s got counter terror experience and she could be a media asset if things go public. Denny doesn’t like it because she could discover they don’t want Court alive under any circumstance.  At the meeting Denny and Aurbach, Mossad bigwig, argue and deflect blame re Court’s actions in the last book and his assisted escape from Israel after saving the PM’s life. Suzanne Brewer sets up intel nets in DC to catch Court if he steals a car, gets cash etc. Denny is satisfied with her acumen and promotes her to the inner circle with her focus being defense while Jordan’s focus is offense. Good start to the book. Typically good momentum with Greaney’s writing.

Meanwhile, Court stakes a drug house then sets their Dodge Ram on fire and waits outside, tricking the dealers into coming outside to check the truck.  Then he picks them all off one by one before stealing their cash and one gun before absconding. He needed the cash for his upcoming operation.

Chapter seven reverts to more office talk between Denny, Jordan and Suzanne. There’s a former boss of Court’s named Matt Hanley and his former team lead Zack Hightower they may tap for insight. Andy Shoal is some media clown, he goes to the crime scene and sees his source Detective Rauch there, who surprisingly won’t let Andy in to snoop the scene because CIA got there first. Andy snaps pics of Suzanne Brewer, CIA on scene, then calls his friend Catherine King to discuss. She’s the intel guru and she’s curious that the CIA is investigating a crime on US soil with their top honchos and their bodyguards. Andy and King agree to work together.

Denny tells Jordan he must go offsite for a few hours to meet an asset despite how dangerous that is because of Court’s presence.  Denny meets with Al-Kazaz aka Kaz the head of station for Saudi Arabia in DC. It’s all very secretive in Alexandria. Denny alerts him to Court and gently extorts him into assisting with taking down Court using available Saudi resources in the USA.

Court tails some guy named Chris Travers back to his apartment. They worked in similar positions at CIA back in the day. Court confronts him, frisks him, and says to go to his apartment. Official story is that Court accidentally killed an innocent.  A team was sent to retrieve him as a result, and Court killed all six. Court insists that isn’t true, he never friendly fired, and he killed the Sierra team because they were trying to murder him, not arrest him. He thinks it’s the Autonomous Asset Program (AAP) angle and Denny needs to dismantle it and since Court’s the last alive to know about it, Denny created this false story to justify the killing. This sentiment, along with characters warning each other to stay away from Denny because when the chips fall he’s going to be taking folks down with him, are beat to absolute death in this book.

Leland Babbitt from the last book, head of third party security company Townsend, leaves his house early Monday morning for a meeting with Carmichael. He wants to bury the hatchet over the failed Court mission in Brussels and get assigned to take out Court again. Court conveniently tailing him…Denny however has no intention of meeting Leland. Matt Hanley and Chris Travers barge into Denny’s office. Matt is pissed because Court is stateside and he wasn’t alerted. Even angrier when he finds out Suzanne Brewer knew. Then he deduces he’s out of the loop because Denny is using him as bait to lure out Court. Lots of big dicking then Denny says fine you can assist but Matt says no way, not interested in putting my name on this disaster. They part ways, Denny tells Jordan Mayes to fudge paperwork to get Travers kicked all the way off this detail. Matt also loudly exclaims that he should run this all by the director knowing full well Denny is doing this all on his own. Leland phone call gets patched thru he’s obviously pissed he got stood up at the meeting.

After the phone call with Denny where Denny says pound sand, Leland heads straight to the Capital to whistleblow the Court mission to any congressman available, namely Joel Landers, D, New Mexico. Three of Denny’s aids magically appear and stop him though. How painfully convenient.

Court is later staking out Leland’s property with some sort of plan, but that goes belly up when Zack shoots and kills Babbitt on Denny’s orders. Another awfully big coincidence, considering Denny wanted to frame Court for this and now Court is on the scene when it happens!  Plot magic! The security guards even see Court trying to escape the proximity, so naturally they’ll assume it was him. This is all too convenient.

Zack gives the all clear but security is in pursuit so Denny magically knows it’s Court. He texts Raz and within minutes, the three cop cars that Raz purchased earlier and marked up with DC wraps are en route. Court runs to a nearby McDonald’s. There’s something about this story that just isn’t working.  Shootout in McDonald’s. Court takes the ammo magazine of a pursuer and throws it in the hot fry grease causing a frag like explosion. Then he jumps off the roof and lands on a moving SUV to escape. Sigh. Katie King and Andy also hear about it and are en route.  Court thinks he’s safe but more random cops show and start shooting. Court runs to the beltway, causes a semi to jack knife then carjacks a cab…all after being shot in the ribs. Less and less feasible by the page.

It was Kaz’s men that shot Court at the overpass, hence why they shot without warning and were working in teams (MD cops usually one cop per car). Court has officially entered the “never felt this much pain in my life but need to keep moving” trope of bad spy novels. The red flags are piling up…but Chapter 30 was decent.

Suzanne Brewer is suspicious of Court’s guilt after getting forensics. He was seen in Leland’s backyard but the bullet in Leland was from a sniper rifle.  She goes to visit Matt Hanley for any background on Court. When she mentions Zack, Matt spazzes because he thought Zack was dead for five years. He makes it very clear Suzanne should not ride or die with Denny because his house of cards is bound to collapse. She’s dismissive and they part.

Matt Hanley goes home. Jenner and Travers are his detail, they just got the drug test order (Denny) Court shows up in Matt’s house. Matt says operation back blast is why you’re wanted, Court disagrees but remembers Zack keeping everyone on need to know with that case. Court still thinks it’s AAP threads that Denny is cleaning up. Court sneaks out. Court stops at his gas station and breaks up a robbery by killing the three robbers. I’m sure this will be the “but he’s doing good” portion of the chase that either Suzanne or Catherine/Andy will respond to.  Chapter thirty eight confirms it, but to my surprise Zack also has the same sentiment after watching CCTV with Brewer.

Chapter thirty nine is a flashback 6 years ago. Court is hanging with the golf Sierra team after a mission. Hanley and mates (and David Lloyd?) arrive and have sierra leader Zack send everyone but Court home, they need him to go to Triesta Italy. A Mossad undercover agent has been compromised and doesn’t know it but CIA does. He’s in with al Qaeda in Iraq who are about to meet Serbians in Italy for a sale. It’s meant to go south with the Israeli being killed, leaving the Serbians to take the blame. Court is to go there and rescue the Mossad without letting him know he’s on CIA orders. Necessary backstory but this just sounds more like a second story shoehorned in because the first story isn’t good enough. In the words of Big Ten football coaches, “When you have 2 quarterbacks, it’s because you don’t have one.”

Denny wants to use Catherine King as bait now. Feed her low grade intel, then monitor her and wait for Gentry to contact her, then pounce. Matt Hanley busts in to alert Denny that Court showed at his bed last night and wants to know what he did. Denny insists he knows but Hanley ain’t buying it. Max Ohlhauser’s name gets mentioned again as fallout but Denny says he’s off limits because he’s no longer CIA. Meanwhile Court is recovering when he sees Ohlhauser appear on CNN as CIA ex legal counsel in order to speculate on the Babbitt killing which just broke. Court plans to visit Ohlhauser later that day.  Court tails Ohlhauser after lunch and escorts him down into the metro at knifepoint. CIA, Brewer’s JSoc and Denny’s boy Kaz all are alerted via software and converge.

Ohlhauser tells Court that his AAP theory is wrong because AAP still exists albeit under a different name. Claims he was merely rubber stamping Denny’s kill order at the time because of the back blast mention. Cops are awaiting Court at the next train stop but it’s Kaz’s men which Court quickly deduces. Ohlhauser and Court and three Saudi cops are in an elevator…Court takes everyone down while handcuffed and escapes, nabbing a silencer in the process.

Denny tells Kaz he’ll give him fracking insider info if he keeps hunting Court despite his team’s setback. Kaz is very pleased. Court sees on CNN that Ohlhauser was killed in the metro shootout, now being described as the act of a lone terrorist and probably also the Leland killer.

On the other side of the globe, Yanis Alvey is being held captive by his own Mossad in Tel Aviv for his role in helping Court escape Europe after he saved the Israeli PM in the last book. Mossad leader Auerbach arrives on day five and tells Yanis why he was wrong to assist Court despite him saving PM. He then tells Yanis the story of Hawthorn, a Mossad asset that Auerbach planted in the Al Qaeda network until he was ostensibly killed by Court during back blast. Yanis is ashamed he helped him now.

These refrains remind me of the TV show 24, where half the scenes ended with Jack Bauer telling the other character, “you’re just going to have to trust me.”

Court holes up in some abandoned civil war grain mill an hour outside of town. He sees the Catherine King article on his smart phone but deduces it’s bait by the CIA. He decides he will tail the people tailing Catherine to get some answers. Zack is perched near Catherine’s house but Court gets the drop on him anyway. They agree to get a beer and talk thru this pickle.  They chat at the abandoned mill. Zack confesses to the Babbit killing and tips Court that Matt Hanley could be an asset because he doesn’t like Denny and doesn’t believe Court killed Ohlhauser.  Court reaches out to King and they meet and he sort of kidnaps her using her own rental car. She stun guns him while he’s driving.

Chapter fifty five is where the Crime Carnival officially fell out of love with the Grey Man series.  Perhaps they will continue to be read, but not with the same feverish passion.  Suffice to say, not good where this is going. Court tells King to go to Israel to speak with the Mossad agent from last book to confirm his version of the Trieste mission. This proves Denny’s lies and he’ll hafta rescind his shoot on sight order. But because Denny tried to coerce King with misinformation into including Jacksonville origins in the grey man article, Court interprets this as a threat on his father, his last living relative. Court decides to go to Jax. This story needs to wrap up and instead we are getting side quests.

And it’s getting worse. Denny and Mayes chat at their new Alexandria safe house. They know that King is headed to Israel, so Denny deduces it’s because of Court. So she is now being surveilled via phone (wasn’t she already monitored after the story plant? Just visually apparently) and also Denny sends randoms to Jax to lean on Court’s dad. Why not make dad a goat on a stick day one? Why decide now to do this when you’ve been at your wit’s end for over five years hunting this guy?  This back half is falling apart…

Court is surveilling his dad when agents show. They take him to breakfast and Court magically knows where, so he sets up shop at the diner counter and eavesdrops. Dad, who hasn’t seen him in twenty years and has had a stroke, recognizes his son and deduces he’s in earshot, so answers the agent’s Qs as if he’s speaking directly to his son. Gimme a break. They mention Court’s brother died in the line of duty and Dad says the town is crawling with surveillance. Very far fetched and beyond silly.  This book just needs to end.

Andy just so happens to talk to a Chinese illegal that magically videotaped the fake cops escaping the metro shootout earlier in the book. Andy gets her video but won’t tell King yet because he wants to have more info before going public. Meh. Things getting waaay too convenient these past few chapters.

Oy. Shouldn’t have spoken so soon.  Mayes and Brewer spar over these mysterious cops coming up on video that magically were nowhere to be found until last chapter despite shootouts and carnage at a McDonald’s, the Beltway, and the DC Metro Station.  Yep, definitely wouldn’t be cameras of any kind at those places.  Not in the nation’s capital.  Then Jordan gets a call from people spying on Andy. Probably that he’s emailing people about the cops for hire he’s seen now. Then Court is about to leave FL when he just so happens to stop at a hotel that just so happens to have two CIA cars parked there that he magically connects to the Autonomous Asset Program, so now he just decides to go to Harvey Point??  (where it all began…please read that in movie trailer voice) Yikes.  Rough, rough storytelling.  Jordan then confronts Denny about the Chinese lady video of the cops that Andy Shoal has. Then he tells Denny don’t worry, I had a tech corrupt the video so Andy can never email it to anyone??? What? Silly nonsense, but even if possible, then why not do that to King or every media member for that matter?  You can make every piece of damning evidence in the world magically rot?  Even Bond villains would roll their eye at that one.  This book is pissing all over the readers and calling it rain. Denny opts to loop Jordan in on everything including why he’s obsessed with Court (does not tell the reader, just Jordan) Jordan concludes he’s marked for death now because of what he knows but Denny denies it.

Yanis Alvey is approached by Catherine King and even though he was a prisoner in his own country because he aided the absconding of Court, they chat leisurely at a cafe before getting in his car to share notes. He hates Court now which surprised Catherine but does not think he’s guilty of the DC murders. Andy is shot at his local mart by the Saudi’s.

Court is at Harvey point, his old training and stomping grounds. This part of the plot is just a total waste of pulp.  Jordan is drunk and locates Suzanne. Tells her he’s a dead man because of Andy’s video he acquired. She said Andy was murdered two hours ago. Jordan now confirms his morbid suspicion based on that development, and tells Suzanne about Back Blast.

As Brewer and Jordan are driving, the Saudi cops appear and start shooting, shattering windshields and grazing Jordan’s chin. Suzanne doesn’t want to go to Justice Dept with their evidence against Denny. She wants to leverage it at CIA for career advancement. So during the car chase she gets an idea and tricks Jordan into taking off his seat belt before deliberately flipping her car to also avoid the motorbike Saudis. A cinematic chapter that would’ve worked in a movie but stinks in a book.

Another eye roll chapter. Jordan is dead and Suzanne calls Denny and despite flipping her car, breaking her ankle, and ostensibly concussed, she grabs her phone, calls Denny, and makes a deal not to kill her in exchange for her help in getting Denny out of this. Makes no sense. She drops the name of the tech that saw the fake cop’s video, thus forcing Denny to calling the dogs off just in time. Painfully melodramatic.

King calls Court and tells him that he actually killed the wrong guy in Italy. He killed the Israeli undercover spy, not the AQ Pakistan assassin. The two had clocked each other earlier in the night and were playing cat and mouse when Court arrived and witnessed the Israeli kill two Serbs, thinking that must be the target.

Chapter sixty nine is just dogshit. Court is all upset and alone and just as he’s about to chop suey, Zack miraculously appears out of nowhere!!! Just in time!! He was ordered to find him for Matt Hanley and somehow they deduced he’d sneak into Harvey point and then decide to kill himself at this exact moment in this exact place!! Jesus Christ. Court and Zack are now a team under Hanley. They’re gonna defeat the fake cops and that fallout should eventually lead to Denny.

Kaz calls Denny, they both freak out, but agree to meet later under official pretense at the safe house. Hanley catches wind and informs Court and Zack, but insists they can’t go there because it’s a safe house fortress. Court disagrees, then shoos Zack away at gunpoint so he can go it alone. I’m sure Zack will han solo save him at the last second.

Court conveniently hijacks a helicopter that drops him on the safe house. He also called 5 Ubers that conveniently showed up all at the same time and all were govt looking SUVs. What a totally believable and convenient distraction!!!! Court Rambo’s his way to Denny in the safe house.  He puts everyone in the same conference room while Matt Hanley visits Suzanne and tells her to cut rope with Denny. Again. She makes a call.

Now Court moves everyone out of the room except for Kaz and Denny. They stick to the official script etc. Then a hostage negotiator calls, but is relieved of his duty for higher ups just like Court warned him during their banter. Boring.

Chapter seventy five went full holy plot armor. Sigh. Turns out that Denny gave Court the wrong pic on purpose for the Italy rescue. It was actually a pic of Kaz! (Never mind that rain man Court has obsessed over this op and now doesn’t recognize the man in front of him from the photo because six years have passed. Perhaps in another 14 years he’ll have a stroke, and then he’ll recognize him just like Dad was able to do.) Denny needed to preserve Kaz because he was providing both AQ intel by being undercover with him but also Saudi intel thru his real job. But turns out that Denny was being manipulated the entire time by Kaz, who fed him misinformation that he knew would end up with Mossad. Suddenly Denny is remorseful. And Kaz is proud. Fuck off with this scooby doo shit.

The new hostage team on sight breaches. Court slides a gun to Kaz knowing what will happen. Him and Catherine retreat to the attic. Denny wrestles the gun and kills Kaz before he’s shot by the incoming team amidst the chaos. King lays flat in the attic while Court does the Dark Knight Korea Skyhook thing and vanishes into the sky.  Travers was the pilot, Zack reeled Court in and Hanley handled the paperwork. They all jettisoned and the media reported a chopper crash with all presumed dead. 

Hanley offers King future unfettered access in exchange for not publishing the Denny crimes. Mayberry the old landlord is given an envelope of cash and an apology and told that his old tenant was actually in the witness protection program.

Matt rehires Court on an unofficial capacity because of plausible deniability. Suzanne Brewer is his new handler. And he’s sent to Hong Kong for his next mission. It involves an old friend.  Just a massive step down from the last book – no other way to put it.