THE GRAY MAN by MARK GREANEY

"CIAから追われる元工作員が主人公のシリーズ第一作です。陰謀に巻き込まれ、ひたすら戦い続ける主人公につい肩入れしたくなります。ジェームズ・ボンドのような華やかさはありませんが、山ほど苦労を抱え込みながら地道に頑張る人物が好きな方にはお薦めのアクション満載作です..." "...面白い。しかし，余程英語力がないと，読むのは容易ではありません。自分で力があると思われる方は挑戦されるのも良いかと思いますヨ..."

"暗殺者 Gray Manのシリーズ一作目。Gray Manにはハリウッド映画でみるような華やかさは全くありません。目立たず誰の記憶にも残らないのがGray Man。しかし激しいスピードで展開するアクションはハリウッド映画以上に派手（実際映画化の話もあったようだ…）しかもストーリーにグイグイ引き込まれて行くので読者も厳しい耐久戦を闘っている錯覚に陥ります。読み終わる頃にはグッタリしますが、平凡な生活を送っている私はすっかりハマってしまいました。現在三作目まで発表されていますが、私はこの本を読んでる時が寝不足で一番ツラかったです。翻訳版も「暗殺者 グレイマン」というタイトルで発売されています..."

"The Gray Man is the ultimate action man. Make sure you run in the opposite direction to where the Gray Man is because he will most likely be in the middle of a crazy all guns blazing fight. Here we are introduced to Court Gentry as an elite assassin with a conscience who is usually hunting his target but he has now become the hunted. There are now seven books in the series and this is the first, On Target is the second in the series, followed by Ballistic. A great all action book where you can switch your brain off from convoluted plots and enjoy the roller coaster ride ...." "The best way of describing this book is like I was reading the final book in a series. It was an absolute treat to read with constant action and constant movement. Some action books try and build life around the protagonist but Mark Greaney managed to give Court Gentrey more personality in a book that contained pure action than these other books do by having them have personal lives. Not only have I fallen in love with a new action hero but I'm wholly backing him to succeed every time. If any first book in a series really wanted to introduced their protagonist as a badass, this book did it. Thoroughly looking forward to reading the sequel and all sequential books ..." 

  처음부터 끝까지 액션으로 이루어진 작품이다. 암살자 Gray Man 은 전직 CIA 요원이지만 어떤 사건을 계기로 쫓기는 신세가 된다. 암살자들 중에서도 가장 무서운 존재지만 Gray Man이 죽이는 자들은 주로 범죄자들이라는 점에서 다른 암살자들하고는 성격을 달리한다. 이 책을 읽으면서 느낀 점은 이 작품은 영화로 만들어도 볼 만하지 않을까 하는 것이었다. 아니나 다를까 검색을 해보니 Netflix 에서 Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans 같은 유명 배우들이 등장하는 영화를 준비하고 있다 한다. 존윅, 제임스 본, hitman, 007 등과 비슷한 분위기를 가지면서 또 다른 성격을 보여주는 작품이다. 주의할 점은 원서를 읽고자 하는 분들은 미리 본문을 확인하고 구입하시라는 것이다. 독자에 따라서 좀 어려울 수 있다. 액션물이기 때문에 리듬이 중요한 거 같다.