Dead Eye

Written by Mark Greaney & Reviewed by The Green Vegetable

Leland Babbitt aka Bradley Whitford, (but when he plays a smug political villain and not a smug political hero), gets in a limo outside the White House without his wife and tells the driver to step on it. Not a good start.  Some covert attack is under way for Gregor Sidenko, resident antagonist of the Gray Man franchise. One man is apparently responsible for all of this. Lee Babbitt and some other guy witness this from some super secret lair that has Saddam’s golden guns and other hunting trophies.

Court Gentry aka the Gray Man aka Ryan Gosling is flying some little Nellie type glider over the tree tops toward his target. He worked with Sid’s rival mafia gang for the equipment and intel. Lee monitors stateside and also tells his colleague Parks to contact Dead Eye and tell him to drop his current mission, wheels up. They want Gray Man iced as soon as Sidenko is dead.

Chapter three was a bit of an early downer. Court still infiltrating the property. Two guards saw the hang glider crash that he entered with.  Not the vivid imagery I was hoping for and I suspect the author knows it because this is where he switches gears to chapter four to introduce our ‘is he or isn’t he the villain’ Russell “Dead Eye” Whitlock.  He gets pulled off his current op and told to head to St. Petersburg for his next marching orders because they have visual on Court. Dead Eye leaves his post but ignores the St Pete directive. He’s doing this his own way. Very Kraven’s Last Hunt energy for some reason?

Chapter five neuters the previous book’s momentum with Court killing Sid in what is sadly becoming an espionage trope:  The antagonist that shapes the cliff hanger while barely surviving in the previous book dies immediately in the next book. Zero payoff. The Kraven’s Last Hunt energy has quickly (xeno)morphed into Alien 3 energy of the off-screen kind. 

Meanwhile, Court does Batman gadget stuff, then swan dives off a roof with fireworks as a distraction to escape.   After Gray Man escapes Sidenko’s gang, he meets a prearranged truck who rushes him to a prearranged boat. Writing is a little See Spot Run for me at the moment, especially the action beats.  This book consistently delivers underwhelming action writing that felt flat, more like action via exposition at times.

Um, then chapter 10.  Not a fan. Dead Eye Russ goes to Tallinn, Estonia and anticipates Court’s arrival there? Russ and Court were trained in the same CIA program, so he knows everything Court does and thinks because he does and thinks the same?  Uh oh, lazy writing red flag visual confirmed.  Standby.  Lee and Russ talk over sat phones and Lee is impressed with Russ magically knowing where to find Court (much like me) but he’s adamant that it be Lee’s people that make the kill and not Dead Eye.

Ugh here we go. Chapter 11 is a double down of 10’s red flag.  Court checks into some quaint hotel in a touristy area. Then magically, Russ uses the power of “where would I stay if I was on the run” in order to magically locate exactly where Court is hiding.

Dead Eye meets with Lee’s “Trestle” team and they game plan. Lee still won’t tell him why the CIA has it in for Court.  Chapter 13 begins with ample internal monologue expo. Then Russ ignores the Trestle team orders to stay put and leaves his room. He knocks on Court’s door and shows him a feed of the tactical team approach. Dead Eye says he’ll help Court get through this. Finally, something interesting!  Shooting starts. Court is incapacitated by a flash bang and Russ escorts him toward safety while taking out two of the eight Trestle team.

Russ and Court meet up after the shooting and hide in some bar and tend to the bullet that Russ took to save Court. They compare resumes and Court keeps trying to deduce why Russ is helping. He only says they’re two good guys in a bad world and they can do better together. Then he gives Court a way to contact him which Court doesn’t trust, then they go separate ways.

Ruth and Yanis, the shoehorned-into-the-plot Mossad team, are evaluating potential terrorists in a Central Park exercise.  Dead Eye checks in with Lee and feigns anger over being sidelined for the assault on Court and the resulting deaths.

Court gets someone to make a straw purchase for a boat ticket to Stockholm.  CIA boss Denny Carmichael rips Lee and Parks for their failure. All Lee cares about is amending the contract so he gets paid no matter who kills Court now. And Lee only affirms that Court killed his own team and another country really wants him dead now.   Russ goes to Beirut to meet with two high ranking Hezbollah officials. He travels under false ID then tells the two his name is Courtland Gentry.

Hour later and some guy named Ali Hussein shows up to verify Russ’s story. They fence and Russ says he’s here because he’s willing to kill the PM of Israel Elud Kalb, which obviously would please Iran. For 25M. To ultimately prove his identity, Russ says give me any name in Europe and I’ll kill it in five days. If I succeed I get the 25M contract.

Meanwhile, Court plays house in Stockholm and buys a laptop to contact Russ.  Mossad Ruth Ettinger has a meeting with Denny Carmichael. She’s beyond obnoxious and arrogant but you can tell by the way she’s written that the author has big plans for her. Denny arranges for her to meet Lee to compare notes. She’s been alerted to the contract on their PM.

Russ was given the name Amir Zarini, some filmmaker that offended Iranian government.

He goes to Nice where the guy lives and bluffs his way into learning about his security detail and routine (a little far-fetched but small potatoes compared to Orphan X and Mitch Rapp).  Ruth meets with Lee and Parks and it’s more of her arrogant bravado. Is it sexist finding her so off putting? She tells the two guys that she doesn’t trust them and she thinks Court is a hero. Also, sounds like his team came over to his apartment one morning years ago, then -redacted- they all died there. So that’s why he’s a wanted man, killed or captured.

Russ buys Gray Man’s typical sniper rifle from some guy with loose lips in Nice while posing as Court, hoping the man blabs about it.  Ruth and her Mossad team set up some biometric ID drone at their Stockholm apartment.  Court calls Russ, they don’t really say much, then Ruth’s drone gets a hit.  Ruth and the others find his apartment that he went into but are weary of Court’s choice in safe house . She’s convinced it’s because he can surveil the surveillance easier.  Who watches the rogue watchmen?  They continue to monitor.

Lee calls Russ to tell him to get to Stockholm because they id’d Court and they want him on it before Mossad handles it. Russ freaks out because Mossad is involved and because they know he took the PM contract, albeit posing as Court. Now there’s a mole in Beirut…you can tell we are approaching the “plot logic begins to weigh down on the superficially created tension moments creating a nonsensical overly complicated underwhelming third act” portion of the story.

Court decides he’s breaking from Russ because he doesn’t trust the tech Russ gave him. The Jumper team - Beaumont- arrives at Ruth’s safe house and take over the op. They’re going in now, against her wishes because of all the civilians in the building.  Ruth is pouting outside when Gray Man magically appears and she tails him before losing him. She doesn’t alert anyone because Jumper was mean to her.

Jumper raids the building, Ruth knowing full well Court had left but didn’t tell them. Then she points Jumper to a dead lead and resumes the search for Court herself.  Russ carries out his trial hit by shooting a car carrying the man which caused an accident that killed him. His Iranian contacts are not convinced. They need to corroborate the full debriefing on “what happened in Kiev,“ before they’ll trust him. Also, Lee told him Jumper lost Court in Sweden. So Russ realizes he must go to Sweden to save Court so that he can learn from him about Kiev in return.

One of Ruth’s team magically runs into Court. Sigh. They rent a room near the sighting and he’s also staying there. Sigh. They see him go into a bar. Sigh. Yanis calls Ruth to question her sightings because Court just murdered a man in Nice. Ruth knows it can’t be Court because she saw him that morning, but wouldn’t reveal that info because Jumper is mean. Instead, she puts on a wig that was apparently just laying around her hotel room and goes to Court’s bar.

Chapter 36 was a bit hamfisted. She gets caught staring at him in the bar so she approaches him to flirt instead. He calls Russ in that moment. Russ conveniently just got off the phone with Parks and somehow knows it’s Ruth that’s in the bar with him? There’s other women on the team and she didn’t give this intel yet in her last briefing with Lee either?? Anyway, Russ agrees to loop Court in on Mossad info in exchange for Kiev.

Chapter 39. Kiev: the prequel.  Three years ago, there was a kind of a so-so anecdote. Court is in Kiev airport to blow up a meeting between Iranian bomb makers and Russians who know how to build nuclear ones. Court rigs four sniper rifles to take out four bad guys at once before hijacking a plane and Union Jacking a parachute out before it blows up, including the how-to hard drives inside the cockpit.

Russ goes to Stockholm to see Jumper and he seems to have figured out Russ’s betrayal based on the Trestle that survived.  Court is back at the bus station so Jumper is conveniently called away from his standoff with Russ. Ruth’s partner Mike is tracking Court but he gets garroted by Russ.  Ruth discovers Mike and rightfully freaks. She guesses the right train that Court is on while the others are on different tails. She calls her boss Yasin and confesses about lying about seeing Court the other morning, plus Mike’s death. She’s taken off the detail but she goes rogue and decides to pursue Court regardless.

I don’t know about chapter 43. Court is called by Russ and he finally admits the real reason he’s trying to keep Court alive is because he needs him as a patsy for the PM kill. (He still has to kill him though? You couldn’t figure another fallout plan after the kill???)  He also admits to killing Mossad Mike. Court is angry, but they decide instead to have the rooftop daredevil-punisher chat, but now Court looks down on Russ because he failed his psych evals?? Court is a company man now, after four books worth of rejecting CIA philosophies??? Ruth sorta heard this whole chat btw because she’s on the other side of the door in a train carriage bathroom.  Court restrains Ruth in the bathroom and convinces her that Russ is a Townsend mole that killed Mike. He urges her to get the PM to cancel his London trip where he will likely be killed.

Lee calls Russ, tells him to come back to USA. Too much speculation regarding him, specifically his weapon of choice suddenly mirroring the Gray Man. Russ agrees, but heads to Brussels instead where he plans to kill him at a grave he visits annually. How convenient!

Ruth suddenly realizes the hit could go down in Brussels. How convenient! Then she calls Yanis who once again (?) takes her off the case.

Russ is detained at Customs, likely from Lee flagging his passport. He no longer has a phone to speak with Court. Court and Ruth are going to work together now.  Russ is released with a new ID. Denny Carmichael did it to the chagrin of Lee. He tells Lee go to Brussels and kill Gentry, then Dead Eye basically using the PM as bait. The Jumper team tails Ruth and Court again. It’s just a hodge pudge of who thinks what and who knows what and who believes who. The plot and momentum has been good but it’s getting bogged down by all the intel required to keep the remaining suspension of disbelief intact.

Jumper team chases Court and Ruth on his stolen motor bike. He miraculously finds an airport as well as a Cessna with the keys just sitting in it!! How fortunate. They take off over the Baltic Sea.

Ugh, somehow Chapter 49 gets worse. Ruth and Court land the plane like it’s a bike rental and leave it on the side of some road. Yanis and Mossad are in pursuit by plane because of the PR disaster optics of an agent working with Gray Man to kill PM. Court also tells Ruth he must finish this out to prove Dead Eye was wrong about him. Seriously flimsy motive. First half of book is how bad he wants out and second half is melodramatic excuses to stay in it. Weak. The problem with some great story tellers is that they can make bad stories sound good.

Ruth is approached by Lee who found her with a drone. He says for her to call Court and set up a meet where Lee wants because that’s where Russ will be and everyone wins. Ruth pretends to go along, then calls Court to advise him it’s a trap. They locate the drone that tails them and plan to follow it to its recharge point to find the Townsend team.

Chapter 53 with the rough opening. Russ is called by Lee before he leaves for the cemetery. There’s a team outside his door. They capture him even though Gray Man has gotten out of this type thing 1000x. Then Russ magically knows that Ruth suggested to Court they follow the drone to its base because “that’s what he would do”. So lazy. Also he’s about to escape Lee’s custody. The plan is to lure Court to Russ’s place by kidnapping Ruth and keeping her there. Three straight shitty chapters. Spy novels might have the worst third acts of all genres.

Court hijacks the drone from two nerds and sends it to surveil the safe house where Lee Parks Russ Ruth and Jumper are all at.

Chapter 54: more silly conveniences. Court made drone hq a mobile unit but not before stumbling upon a cache of weapons in some farmhouse. How convenient! Then Russ makes his escape by taking Lee hostage and killing Ruth, knowing it would motivate Court to come to the safe house. Russ tells Lee to keep everyone focused on the impending arrival of Court while he kills PM or else he’s gonna kill Lee’s family.

Boring chapter 56 of Russ and Court taking positions at the cemetery.  Court and Russ fight and fall into a frozen pond. Court somehow explodes upward after nearly drowning through a sheet of ice and shoots Russ, then drags himself to a nearby house for warmth.  Seriously Mark, why did you not explain how he just willed himself to break through a solid thick sheet of ice?  Another flat action scene.  An appropriate climax.

Epilogue

Lee Babbitt and Denny Carmichael play the blame game while Court tails Lee with a gun in DC. Apparently Mossad arranged for Court’s heralded return to USA as thanks for saving their PM.

Overall, not a bad book. A real crap third act but I’ll continue the series.