If you are a fan of high-octane spy action, you will love reading Mark Greaney’s Gray Man book series. It’s one of the most popular series in the genre, and in this article, we will look at how to read all the Gray Man books in order!
The Gray Man series is a 14-part book series by Mark Greaney. When it came out in 2009, it became author Mark Greaney’s first published novel. It also reached number one on the New York Times bestseller list and went on to become a national bestseller.
This series is about Court Gentry, also simultaneously known as the Gray Man. He works as a CIA operative turned internationally hired assassin who can always take down his target with little to no difficulty. When Gentry is hunted, he must do what he must to survive… and this is just in book one!
In 2022, Netflix even made a movie from the first Gray Man book in the series. It starred Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, and Ana de Armas.
But we are here to talk about the book series, so let’s focus on how to read Mark Greaney’s books in order!
All The Gray Man Books in Order:
The best way to read the Gray Man series is to read it according to their release date. Below is the list of all the books in the series written by Mark Greaney that you can follow:
Mark Greaney’s Gray Man Books Reading Order:
1. The Gray Man (2009)
The Gray Man is the first book in The Gray Man series. It centers around a man named Courtland Gentry, also known as the Gray Man.
He works as an assassin and is exceptionally good at what he does. When you work in such a dangerous field, you must ensure your skills are sharp and up to par. Gentry does this and always ensures he never misses when attacking his targets.
His life is unconventional, to say the least, but it works for Gentry. However, one day, Gentry finds himself the target of a man who has captured his handler, Sir Donald Fitzroy. Somehow, Gentry must rescue Fitzroy while avoiding Llyod, a man who wants him dead because of a personal grudge.
2. On Target (2010)
It’s been around four years since Court Gentry, aka the Gray Man, was thrown to the wolves by his handlers in the CIA. His life is thrown into uncertainty when an old friend of his approaches him.
This wouldn’t be such a problem if he didn’t think the man was dead.
After the shock wears off, his comrade sends him on a mission that he has no choice but to accept. It involves Gentry kidnapping someone, which is not something the dangerous assassin often uses his skills for. The job brings him face to face with people from his past, people Gentry would have been happy never to see again.
3. Ballistic (2011)
The third entry in the Gray Man book series focuses on what happened after Gentry was forced to take on that dangerous mission given to him by the CIA.
In an attempt to find some peace, Gentry ends up living in the Amazon rainforest. Just when it seems he may have found peace, his past comes knocking in the form of a Russian crime lord with whom he has a history.
He has no choice but to flee and tries to seek refuge with Eddie Gamboa, the last friend he has on this earth. When he finds him, Gentry discovers his friend is no longer of this world and has been murdered by the Mexican drug cartel. What makes this so terrible is that Eddie had tried for years to take them down, only to end up dead at their hands.
4. Dead Eye (2013)
Court Gentry seeks revenge on a former employer who betrayed him. However, by doing this, Gentry ends up putting himself in the crosshairs of a man named Russel Whitlock, codenamed Dead Eye.
He comes from the same program Gentry was once a part of, and now, as a free agent, he has set his sights on Gentry. Dead Eye is determined to end Gentry’s life, and while Gentry is a skilled assassin in his own right, how can one fight someone with the same skills?
All Gentry can do is run from the dangerous man who knows exactly how he thinks and fights. Eventually, Dead Eye will find him and end this cat-and-mouse game once and for all.
5. Back Blast (2016)
The fifth entry in the Gray Man books in order, Back Blast, is set about five years after Gentry was put at the top of the kill list by the Agency, a group he once worked for. Since then, he’s become an assassin known as the Gray Man and has carved out a successful career for himself.
He wants to let the past go, but that’s easier said than done. After deciding he simply can’t let it go, Gentry tries to find out why the Agency wanted to kill him.
He focuses his attention on the people involved in his last mission, Operation Back Blast. If Gentry is going to get answers, then it will be with those people. The problem is that sometimes, the deeper you dig, the more secrets you uncover.
6. Gunmetal Gray (2017)
Gentry is now back working at the very same CIA that tried to off him over five years ago. His first mission back is less than stellar, making him wish he had never returned.
When in Hong Kong, Gentry is attacked by two Chinese agents, which is strange because usually, the Chinese have a watch and don’t interact with foreign agents. He searches for answers and finds himself face to face with Donald Fitzroy, an old friend currently held hostage by the Chinese.
Gentry’s old friend was hired to find Fan Jiang, a man who used to be involved in a secret computer warfare program. Now, for some reason, China wants him dead. The first two attempts to find the man came up empty, leading the Chinese to decide to supervise Fitzroy’s next attempt.
This is a problem for Gentry, who is also trying to find Fan Jiang and get his information back to the States.
7. Agent in Place (2018)
Agent in Place picks up where Gunmetal Gray ends. Gentry has finished the mission that marked his return to the CIA, and his next contract job seems straightforward. All he has to do is kidnap Syrian dictator Ahmed Azzam’s mistress and get whatever intel she has.
He quickly captures Bianca Medina, the mistress, and brings her straight to the rebels. Things get more complicated when Bianca tells Gentry that she has Ahmed Azzam’s son, which could be a problem when his wife gets wind of it.
Gentry soon has no choice but to help Bianca get her son out of Syria alive if he wants to get whatever intel she possesses. He has only a certain amount of time to accomplish this, and what was supposed to be a simple contract ends up putting Gentry in a very unexpected situation.
8. Mission Critical (2019)
Mission Critical starts with Gentry aboard a CIA transport plane. All is going well when, out of nowhere, some security team brings a hooded man onto the plane. They try to kick Gentry off, but the CIA headquarters takes care of this and forces them to let him stay.
The man who was brought aboard is of utmost importance. He will be taken to the U.K., where the CIA and MI6 will question him about a mole in Langley. It seems straightforward enough, but when they land in the U.K., they are attacked, and the mysterious prisoner is taken!
Gentry is lucky enough to escape by the skin of his teeth. When the CIA sends him after the attackers, he finds himself faced with quite a difficult task.
9. One Minute Out (2020)
One Minute Out is the ninth book in the series. It takes Court Gentry, aka The Grey Man, to Croatia, where he stumbles upon a human trafficking ring.
What’s especially concerning is that the ring expands from the Balkans to California. Naturally, Gentry wants to take down the human trafficking ring. They are doing terrible things to people and should be stopped!
The issue is that the CIA doesn’t want Gentry to do anything of the sort. They tell Gentry to stand down for the time being because the man who is the ringleader of the human trafficking ring has information about a terrorist attack in the United States. So, until they get that information, nothing is to be done about the human trafficking ring.
10. Relentless (2021)
Around the world, intelligence agents are vanishing. Gentry finds himself forced to bring one of these agents in when they show up in Venezuela, of all places. It gets complicated when a group of assassins attacks.
Luckily, Gentry comes out of it with his life and some important information.
At the same time, Zoya Zakharova, a fellow CIA agent, is infiltrating a private intelligence agency in Berlin. Through a series of events, Zoya and Gentry end up in each other’s lives, and both of them are concerned about all the intelligence agents who have gone missing.
What if one of them is next? The only way to stop it is to figure it out before that happens!
11. Sierra Six (2022)
Sierra Six is a book that delves a little into Court’s past. It focuses on before Gentry was The Gray Man, a freelance assassin known for his incredible skill. Before he took this name, Court Gentry was a Sierra Six member and a junior of a CIA action group.
The first mission involved the group taking out a terrorist leader. During the mission, a woman’s life is lost, a woman Gentry cared for very deeply.
A few years later, he is again on a mission that starts like any other normal mission. When Gentry spots the terrorist one day, the same one who is supposed to be dead, he is filled with a myriad of emotions. One of these includes rage.
Gentry knows it’s been over ten years, but he wants the man to pay for the woman he lost. If he didn’t end his life, her death would have been for nothing.
12. Burner (2023)
Court Gentry is still doing his thing. He has found a lover in the equally dangerous CIA agent Zoya, and all is well until a man named Alex Velesky comes into the picture.
Alex committed a big crime. He stole records from his employer, the Swiss bank, in an attempt to uncover a criminal conspiracy. He ended up discovering a lot of corruption, which led to Alex being hunted by everyone, from the Russian Mafia to the CIA.
When Gentry and Zoya learn of this, they want to capture him, but for different reasons. For once, they don’t agree on how to proceed. They will have to figure this out later because, for the time being, they need to focus on keeping Alex and themselves alive. Too bad this is easier said than done!
13. The Chaos Agent (2024)
Court Gentry wants to live a quiet life away from the world’s issues, but he finds it hard to avoid everything.
While Court Gentry is living a relaxed life with Zoya Zakharova, the world is falling into chaos as several of the world’s experts on robotics and artificial intelligence are being killed one after another. And no one knows who’s behind the killings.
So, even though Court Gentry and Zoya are keeping a low profile, some of Zoya’s old acquaintances find them and offer them a job to protect a Russian scientist who’s presumably on the kill list. Even after refusing the job, the two find themselves on the run as their list of enemies is huge, and now there are mercenaries after them.
With no option left to escape, the Gray Man decides to fight, and that’s the one thing he’s really good at!
15. Midnight Black (2025)
A winter sunrise over the great plains of Russia is no cause for celebration. The temperature barely rises above zero, and the guards at Penal Colony IK22 are determined to take their misery out on the prisoners—chief among them, one Zoya Zakharova.
Once a master spy for Russian foreign intelligence, then the partner and lover of the Gray Man, she has information the Kremlin wants, and they don’t care what they have to do to get it.
But if they think a thousand miles of frozen wasteland and the combined power of the Russian police state is enough to protect them, they don’t know the Gray Man. He’s coming, and no one’s safe!
FAQs About The Gray Man Series:
How Many Gray Man Books Are There?
There are currently 14 published books in The Gray Man Series, the latest of which, Midnight Black, was released on February 25, 2025.
What Book Is the Gray Man Movie Based On?
The 2022 Netflix film, starring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, and Ana De Armas, is based on the first book in the series.
Does Mark Greaney Have a New Book Coming Out Soon?
At this point, we don’t know if the author is working on a new book because the latest book, Midnight Black, came out in February 2025. However, I am sure we will get another book next year!
Conclusion
If you are a fan of thriller novels, then The Gray Man series is one you must check out. The number of surprises, twists, and turns packed into this 14-book series is beyond amazing. It’ll keep you on the edge of your seat and make it impossible to put the book down.
Now that the latest book is out, it’s time to pick up the first title and read all the Gray Man books in order!
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