Mark Greaney Books in Order For the Gray Man Series

Mark Greaney is the New York Times bestselling author of the Gray Man, aka Court Gentry series, featuring Courtland Gentry, former CIA agent and current assassin often hired by various government agencies including the CIA to take care of business where official government operatives can’t. Court is very good at his job and he blends in so well that everyone knows him and fears him by the name of The Gray Man.

Many readers know Mark Greaney, however, for his contribution to the Jack Ryan Universe started by the bestselling author Tom Clancy who passed away in 2013. Mark wrote several of the novels starting from 2011 Locked On. I personally know readers who have moved on to the Gray Man series after reading some of his Jack Ryan books.

Here are the Mark Greaney books in order for his two series, with the list updated as soon as we know of new releases.

New Mark Greaney Books

One Minute Out (Gray Man #9), 2020

Gray Man / Court Gentry Series

1. The Gray Man, 2009
2. On Target, 2010
3. Ballistic, 2011
4. Dead Eye, 2013
5. Back Blast, 2016
6. Gunmetal Gray, 2017
7. Agent in Place, 2018
8. Mission Critical, 2019
9. One Minute Out, 2020

Jack Ryan Universe

1. Locked On (Jack Ryan Universe #14), 2011
2. Threat Vector (Jack Ryan Universe #15), 2012
3. Command Authority (Jack Ryan Universe #16), 2013
4. Support and Defend (Jack Ryan Universe #17), 2014
5. Full Force and Effect (Jack Ryan Universe #18), 2014
6. Commander-In-Chief (Jack Ryan Universe #20), 2015
7. True Faith and Allegiance (Jack Ryan Universe #22), 2016

Standalone Mark Greaney Books

• Red Metal, 2019, co-authored with H Ripley Rawlings IV

Who Is Court Gentry aka The Gray Man aka Violator?

Court Gentry, aka the Violator, aka the Gray Man, is an action-oriented guy. He solves most of his problems using guns, which is what he knows best. He isn’t one for affection, and he would never get himself a pet. For Court it’s easy to switch off his emotions to get the job done, which in most cases is kill a mark.

In Court’s world there are no clear black and white colors. Everything is a shade of gray. Even the bad guys have their reasons for doing their bad things, and Court himself is not the white knight in shining armor either, and he knows it.

Court Gentry was once a CIA agent who fell out of grace and went on solo. Not only that, but the CIA wanted to have him killed, all due to a misunderstanding. Eventually, their relationship was sort of mended, and in the later books, the Gray Man takes on and off jobs from the agency as well, for which he is a deniable asset.

The Gray Man is one of the – if not the – best assassin in the world, which all enemies fear.

Mark Greaney Biography

Mark Greaney (Mark Strode Greaney) was born in 1967, Memphis, Tennessee. His father, Ed Greaney,  worked at Channel 5, WMC-TV Memphis for over 50 years where he was a general manager. During WWII, Ed Greaney was an infantry sergeant in Germany and the Philippines.

With his family, Mark traveled quite a lot, and as his father was always interested in current events, and was reading a lot of books, Mark inherited that love of reading from a young age. He read many books, including WWII books, spy books, crime books, even books about James Bond. Also, he wanted to write stories already as a child, and with his love for thriller and crime books, he would always want to write novels in his genre, which is something he eventually did.

Mark attended the University of Memphis, from where he earned a degree in international relations and political science.

He worked on his first book for several years, but when it was done, he was not very happy with it. So he wrote a second one which he decided to have published. He searched for the agent who also worked with one of Mark’s favorite authors, Ralph Peters, and eventually managed to catch the agent, Scott Miller, during a conference in 2006. He gave the agent 20 pages of the book, and Scott told him that he would work with him but on another book, not on this one.

So Mark set up to write a third book, whcih eventually became The Gray Man, to be published in 2009 by Penguin, who immediately commissioned two additional books.

In the meantime, he also accepted to work with Tom Clancy to ghostwrite two books, which would become Locked On and Threat Vector. This was just before Tom Clancy passed away in 2013. Soon, however, Mark Greaney wrote several additional Jack Ryan books, all the way to 2016 with True Faith and Allegiance. While he currently stopped working on more Jack Ryan Jr. stories, he still continued writing his Gray Man series.

At some point, Mark Greaney went through several back surgeries and he had to take a lot of pain medication. This, somehow, translated into part of the story in On Target, which picked up several months after The Gray Man ended. Here Court had his own surgeries, and while most of his pain was over, he still suffered from them occasionally.

For research on his books, the Gray Man author has done a lot of traveling over the years, including to Mexico to research drug cartels for Ballistic, the third Court Gentry book, for example. He also traveled several times to Guatemala, and he lived in Germany after he graduated from college for a few months. He also traveled to various other parts of Europe.

For his book research, he also visited the Pentagon, along with various military bases and a couple of embassies, and he also trained together with the police and other law enforcement and military agencies.

In addition to his Gray Man/Violator series and his contribution to the New York Times bestselling Jack Ryan and Jack Ryan Jr. series, he also co-authored a standalone thriller novel with decorated United States Marine Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Hunter Ripley Rawlings, titled Red Metal, a book that was released in 2019. He first met the colonel  at the Pentagon while doing research for Clancy book several years before.

In terms of the book to movie translation, many fans have been waiting for years for a Gray Man movie. Currently, Sony Pictures has the movie rights to the Violator books, and they are apparently working on a motion picture to be directed by Christopher McQuarrie, where Charlize Theron could be the main lead with the gender roles reversed. I am quite curious about how this will work out.

Praise for Mark Greaney

I love the Gray Man. Hard, fast, and unflinching-exactly what a thriller should be (New York Times Bestselling author Lee Child)

Bourne for the new millenium (New York Times Bestselling author James Rollins)

[One Minute Out] cements Mark Greaney’s status as a preeminent storyteller whose thrillers continue to resound on multiple levels…Court Gentry is this generation’s James Bond, and his latest adventure is not to be missed. (Providence Journal)

Writing as smooth as stainless steel and a hero as mean as razor wire…The Gray Man glitters like a blade in an alley. (David Stone)

Fine characterization, witty dialogue, breathtaking chase and battle scenes, and as many unforeseen twists and turns as your favorite Robert Ludlum or Vince Flynn novel—combined. (New York Times Bestselling author Keith Thomson)

Greaney writes smart, sharp, perfectly-paced thrillers. Intense, intelligent and loads of fun. (Steven James)

Discovering The Gray Man was like falling in love for the first time. Reading On Target is like going on a second date and realizing this relationship might last the long haul. (New York Times Bestselling author Eric Wilson)

References

• Mark Greaney official author website
• Author interview with The Memphis Flyer
• Mark Greaney interview on the Jack Ryan books

Mark Greaney Recommends

Blistering reads…Cameron’s books are riveting page-turners.

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