Gunmetal Gray
This is the sixth in Mark Greaney’s Gray Man series. I have to admit that I am a bit out of sequence in reading them…not sure how I got here. The Gray Man is by reputation the most accomplished assassin in the world. Called the Gray Man because, as an “average” man, he blends into the background until he kills you. Trained then abandoned by the CIA, he uses his skills for contract work.
In Gunmetal Gray, he has to find and either kill or rescue a Chinese defector. The world’s powers either want this man death or to interrogate him for his secrets and abilities.
They say that the hardest crimes to solve are those where the deed is done by a complete stranger. Perhaps a stranger simply killing someone that he does not know. If that works, maybe he’ll try it again. But the other side, the lawful side, gets a say in the game. How long can you get away with the killing?
So all that you want is peace and to live out some semblance of a quiet life with your family. You’ve successfully battled many a bad guy in an America that has fallen prey to first a killer virus, then competing violent forces trying to control larger and larger portions of this nation. The “good” citizens are all but shell-shocked and often lack the will to stand up to bullies…really violent bullies. You’re tired, but you are the best for the job. And there is this huge army that is at your command and you can do such good. What do you do?
“Gabriel was not yet convinced that anything at all had happened that night, other than that an old man with a weakened heart, a man whom Gabriel loved and admired, had died while praying in his private chapel. Still, he had to admit there were enough troubling circumstances to warrant further investigation, beginning with the whereabouts of Niklaus Janson. Gabriel would try to find him, if only to put Donati’s mind at ease. And his own mind, as well.”
If you have never read anything about World War I, you know what a brutal war that was. I had two grandfathers who fought and survived.
Imagine that there is a very secret society or ring who has a mission of protecting the American presidency. Not necessarily the U.S. President, but the office. Now imagine that there may be a ring within the ring operating at odds. Imagine being thrust into the middle of this chaos when an old flame shows up asking for help and the mystery further unravels. In the first of the Culper Ring series, Beecher White is an archivist working in the National Archives and his calm…maybe somewhat boring job turns on a dime into action adventure.
“Mostly, these days, I just like that the book is there, within easy reach. It’s been five years since she died, but I talk to her more now, in my head, than I did immediately after she died. I talked to her the night I got into bed with Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, told her all about the list, and the visit from Agent Mulvey, and what it felt like to be reading these books again.”
You wouldn’t expect a liberal (mostly) cartoonist like Scott Adams to be a leading voice in the attempt to change America. Maybe not so much change America, but to return her to an era where its citizens thought before acting. I am hopeful, but not confident that this will occur as history teaches about so many societies where their successes spiral into decay and then oblivion. I often say that I am glad that I’m not twenty-something and have decades left to deal with unthinking people who are ever so happy to display their ignorance…loudly.
Karin Slaughter’s Will Trent series combines (generally) very disturbed characters both the criminals and the investigators. Sometimes the “cops” seem much more damaged than the unsubs…they’re just not serial killers. In Fallen, Faith, Will Trent’s partner, encounters a criminal encounter a little too close to home. As her team works to resolve the apparently bloody abduction, she works hard to find the perpetrators as she tries to hold herself together.
When you think of the world’s most glorious physical achievements, perhaps summiting Mt. Everest is the pinnacle (no pun intended there). While many have done it by now, still so very few have actually done it. Into Thin Air is the account of Jon Krakauer who took on an assignment to climb the peak and document his experience. His ascent happened in 1996 and captures both the folly of such an attempt and the brutal conditions one must endure to even get close to the top. If you’ve ever fantasized about making the climb, make sure that you read this book before you shell out the tens of thousands of dollars.