Ballistic by Mark Greaney

Ballistic by Mark Greaney
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was hooked on Mark Greany's books right from the first one. He writes just the type of stories I like: fast paced action spiced with special human relations.

In Ballistic Greaney takes us to Mexico, and shows the dark shadows of los amigos. I live in Europe, so the setting was exotic for me. The Ballistic is a work of fiction, and I'm pretty sure Greaney made up the Mafia characters, but based on the news sometimes I hear there must be some truth in the Mexican gang wars. It adds to the reliability of the story.

The Grey man is a strange hero: he is an assassin, but he takes on only bad guys and criminals. Which makes him the good guy in the reader's eye. He isn't James Bond, sometimes he is betrayed and deceived, which makes his character more believable. In this book he has a love affair. I liked the way it was written, the Grey man remained totally in his character, with his past and fears.

The story of Ballistic is compelling: the Grey Man finds himself between two Mafia groups trying to save the family of his respected but dead friend. Can a loner win against two armies of bad guys? Can he be smart enough to outwit them? Is the loyalty and friendship more important than his own life? Well, you can guess the answers, I suppose, I don't need to tell you.

The book has elements of torture and inhuman treatment, so read it only if you don't mind some hard story parts. And it has a lot of shooting, fortunately most often it is the bad guys who fall.

View all my reviews