Retrophisch

The saying is that cats have nine lives. I feel the amount of life iterations Court Gentry has gone through over the course of the Gray Man series exceeds the nine lives of cats, and would wreck lesser men. Yet Mark Greaney continues to find ways to keep Court and the other characters fresh as they face new adventures and new adversaries.

The Hard Line is no different, as The Gray Man and company launch a new off-the-books covert operation at the behest of the CIA’s current Deputy Director of Operations, a 100% deniable outfit he can point at problems the US would rather not have its fingers on. And also because they are the only people the DDO can currently trust, since the US intelligence community has a leak.

If there’s anything I love in an espionage thriller, it’s screwing over the Russians or the Chinese, and rooting out traitors. And if you can do both, well, it’s just double the pleasure, double the fun.

As Court’s first mission under the new venture meets with unexpected resistance, Zack is still recovering from his injuries from the previous novel’s foray in to Russia, and Zoya is unavailable recovering from her time in the gulag, meaning the new venture is hard-pressed for results from the get-go. Along the way, a personal connection to Zack’s past raises the stakes to a degree no one saw coming.

Throughout, Greaney continues to defy formulaic character exposés and plots that plague some thriller series. Zack’s continued development from where he started fifteen books ago has been something of a delight. I thought Mark’s last novel, Midnight Black, was incredible, and would be hard to beat, but The Hard Line may very well be one his best novels ever. Definitely recommended! 📚

5/5 phins
Amazon: hardcover, Kindle
Bookshop: hardcover, ebook

Two top-tier thriller writers team up for a brand new story that combines the best of what both are known for writing. Brad Thor and Ward Larsen’s Cold Zero features a Chinese scientist defecting to the US with the help of the CIA, bringing along a piece of technology he has invented that can alter the balance of power throughout the entire world. The Chinese Ministry of State Security brings all its assets to bear, and then some, managing to down the state-of-the-art airliner the scientist and his CIA handlers are on—somewhere in the unforgiving Arctic Circle.

The race to survive not just the harsh, unforgiving natural elements, but the impending hunt by Chinese forces, is complicated by the arrival of a Russian submarine. As the CIA and the American military work to bring as many assets in to the rescue operation as possible, the tension ratchets up as the weather’s timing threatens to kill the survivors, if the Chinese don’t do it first. The cast of characters surrounding the main ones represent a wide swath across the military and intelligence forces of arguably the three most powerful nations in the world, and the novel highlights the importance of the Arctic in geopolitical relations for years to come.

This is a fantastic thriller. It reads like vintage, Cold-War Clancy at the height of his powers, and clearly shows Thor and Larsen are in top form as well. You won’t be able to put it down! 📚

5/5 phins
Amazon: hardcover, Kindle
Bookshop: hardcover, ebook