One Minute Out

Gray Man, Book 9

By: Mark Greaney

Narrated by: Jay Snyder

Length: 15 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's Summary

From Mark Greaney, the New York Times best-selling author of Mission Critical and a coauthor of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels, comes another high-stakes thriller featuring the world's most dangerous assassin: the Gray Man.

While on a mission to Croatia, Court Gentry uncovers a human trafficking operation. The trail leads from the Balkans all the way back to Hollywood.

Court is determined to shut it down, but his CIA handlers have other plans. The criminal ringleader has actionable intelligence about a potentially devastating terrorist attack on the US. The CIA won't move until they have that intel. It's a moral balancing act with Court at the pivot point.

©2020 Mark Greaney Books LLC (P)2020 Audible, Inc.

What the hell Mr. Greaney???

Easily the worst Grey Man book to date—at least the audiobook version is—& it’s not even close. I’ve been waiting a year for this latest release & couldn’t be more disappointed. Two points for full disclosure—one, I only made it through half of it before I decided I had to write this review. Two, it’s still the friggin’ Grey Man, so I’m definitely going to finish it.

Now if you’re thinking “well that’s unfair, you’ve only listened to half the book,” please trust me—it’s not. So here’s my beef, & it’s a big one:

For some unfathomable reason the main character, Court Gentry, narrates the ENTIRE story in the first person. Not a portion or portions, you know, for effect, but the entire thing.

I believe in the movies or television they call it a “bump”. It’s something that happens in the show that distracts the viewer from the story & snaps them back into reality (i.e.—a mistake the writers or director missed but you the viewer notice in the finished product). Well this audiobook is one giant literary bump.

I don’t know how this novel reads but as an audiobook it’s terrible. Found myself constantly distracted from the flow of the story because Court is narrating to us in the first person & there are WAY too many occasions when the listener must stop to figure out if he’s speaking to another character or narrating his thoughts out loud for us. And, quite frankly, whether in the fictional world or the real one, it’s just downright annoying to listen to a guy speak his thoughts out loud. Especially when it’s for no good reason.

Not sure why the author chose to write this book this way but it sucks. Period. It’s obnoxious & unnecessary. Up until this offering this series has been far & away my favorite. I only hope he goes back to telling more great Grey Man stories like he did before this flop.

I think the narrator IS a character, just as important to the story as the lead. In this novel, however, the two are completely indiscernible because the author intentionally combined them. Jay Snyder is a phenomenal narrator, Court Gentry may be the geatest main character the action/thriller genre has ever seen. Please Mr. Greaney, let them both just do their jobs!

1st person, seriously?

The story shows promise but the 1st person perspective just ruins it for me. I sincerely hope this is not the future trend for this series. Back to audible it goes. I'll pick it back up on book 10.

Well. That was, ummm, different.

I'm roughly two hours in and I still feel some cognitive dissonance when the narration shifts to 1st person. The story is interesting, and I want to like it, but I don't think I'm going to be able to finish this book. The Grey Man suffered a horrible demise today: death by format.

Gentry in the first person - AMAZING!

This book is completely addictive. Court is hired to kill a Serbian war criminal. While doing so he comes across a group of women shackled in a basement. They’re all young and beautiful, ranging in age from 14 years to mid twenties. And they will all be shipped around the world as sex slaves.
When Court finds out they’ll be punished because of him he tries to free them. They won’t leave because if they do their families will pay the price.
What Court doesn’t realize is that he has set off a man hunt that will focus on him. An old enemy has heard of the assassination of the Serbian General and his guards and knows the only man who could have pulled this off is the Gray Man.
Court’s introspection throughout is eye opening. How he views himself is completely opposite of how he is viewed by others.

Jay Snyder does the Gray Man to perfection.
This book has my HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION.
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Thank You.

I really tried

First off, this series is certainly in the top 5 on my all time list among Mitch Rapp, Victor the Assassin, Orphan X, and Peter Ash. Court Gentry has been a favorite of mine since the beginning and that's why it's so difficult to write this review. I cannot comprehend why author Mark Greaney chose to flip the format into first person nine books in to a proven, successful and phenomenal series. Don't get me wrong; It's still The Grey Man and Mark Greaney is still an extremely talented writer but I just can't get over the sudden and unexpected change to listening to Court Gentry narrate for Court Gentry instead of letting Jay Snyder do his thing. I implore Mr. Greaney and his publishers to release an alternate version which is written and read in the same way as all the others. Truly disappointed. I was SO looking forward to this release🙁

Another great Court Gentry novel!

Mark Greaney is the very best of those currently writing espionage novels. This one is about human sex trafficking rather than espionage as the gray man goes off on a project of his own. ONE MINUTE OUT has a great plot to go with the near constant action. One nice change was Court Gentry's first person narration of parts of the novel. Jay Snyder narrates superbly as usual. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

Added comments about first person narration: First, contrary to what some reviewers have written here, the entire novel is not written in first person. I suspect that over half is in third person. The first chapter begins in third person and some chapters are entirely in third person.

I am a fan of first person because it is the best way to get inside the head of the protagonist and thus better understand the perspective of the protagonist, to allow him/her to express his/her thoughts.

In summary, I do not understand what possible issue the negative reviewers have with first person. This novel did change frequently between first and third person in the midst of chapters which I found to be an issue until I became accustomed to it.

If you watched the movie Taken, don’t waste your money on this book.

I loved seven of the eight previous books in this series. I think either the sixth or seventh was decent but not great, can’t remember which. This one... On a positive note, the narrator was really good. The book was action packed and moved at a fast pace. Other than that, it was unoriginal, predictable, and average. Also, after eight books written in third person point of view, the switch to first person point of view was a terrible decision. The chapters focusing on the main character are in first person and the rest are in third person, and the back and forth is distracting and annoying. Also, the first person writing is just bad. “I walk down the stairs.” “I lower my night vision goggles.” I was rolling my eyes so often I gave myself a headache. I can respect the author for maybe trying to draw attention to the horrors of the sex trafficking industry, but seriously, I loved the movie Taken, but by now, everyone and their mother has made a movie just like this. For those of you interested in what happens to the characters in this storyline, seriously just skip this book. Nothing significant happens at all. Zoya isn’t in the book at all. Zach Hightower makes a brief and entirely predictable and repetitive appearance. That’s about it.

Even more up close and personal

One Minute Out is the 9th novel in the Gray Man Series of Thrillers from Best-selling author Mark Greaney. This one represents a huge paradigm shift from a storytelling perspective as our hero, Court Gentry, delivers his actions in first person. Just for the record, all previous 8 books in this series were narrated in 3rd person.

I consider this to be a very bold move on Mr. Greaney‘s part, as some readers might not like a change of this magnitude, but for me it worked perfectly. The entire story was even more up close and personal than usual and I loved the opportunity to find out exactly how Court’s mind works.

In One Minute Out, we follow once again Court Gentry, aka. The Gray Man, the deadliest assassin in the world, as he is pulled into another dangerous adventure. When his easy as pie mission goes to hell in a hand basket, because our highly trained operator listens to his heart regarding collateral damages, he ends up teaming up with a Romanian woman looking for a kidnapped family member. But, when the bodies start to pile up, he realizes that there is more at steak than just some girls that are trafficked around the globe to powerful clients.

One Minute Out is brought to life in audiobook format by the talented voiceover artist and narator Jay Snyder, just like all the other books in this awesome series. He is the perfect narrator to portray the unstoppable Court Gentry. Jay fills the listener with a sense of urgency and keeps him glued to the earbuds for hours on end. Jay Snyder handles accents very well, he gives different voices to the characters and keeps it easy for the listener to differentiate between them. You can feel the intensity of the action and you’ll hold your breath many times during the performance.

Mark Greaney delivers another blockbuster international thriller with One Minute Out and I highly recommend all his novels to those who love unputdownable espionage and action books. Fans of Tom Clancy, Vince Flynn and Robert Ludlum will appreciate Mr. Greaney’s works tremendously.

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Thank you,
Victor

The F-ing Gray Man is Awesome

Now I will search for a book anything like The Gray Man, Mitch Rapp, or Victor The Assassin. Those three are by far my favorites and I couldn't tell you which one I like more. All three would react to each situation differently yet every situation would be entertaining. Mark Greaney gets better and better the more he writes. I cannot wait for the next one. For all the people bitching about the first person get over. " It's not the same as the other books. He used first person narration!" they loudly whine. It took me about half the book to get used to the new narration type by the end of it I thought it was a great way to cast Gentry's thoughts. People never like change, and they have a hard time accepting it, but if they were to reread the book knowing it was going to be in first person maybe they would be more accepting. Instead of actually reviewing the book and giving it's real value they give it less Stars because they couldn't accept the new narration type, which is crazy to me! The book was great.

It's About Time we Talked. . .

I find the first person narrative refreshing! With all we've gone through, it's about time he stopped calling himself The Gray Man.

The Story Was Alright But....

While I eventually enjoyed the story, more or less, 4 things jarred with me and detracted from my enjoyment.
1. The word CONSORTIUM this word is repeated 100s of times throughout the book but Mr Snyder's pronunciation as CON_SOR_SHE_UM almost drove me mad. The correct and only pronunciation is CON_SORT_E_UM. English is not a phonetic language.

2. A novel written in the first person just doesn't work unless you leave out the personalised accents of the other characters - terribly confusing.

3. I couldn't make out if the South African character was supposed to be South African, Scottish or Cockney English - nice try Jay, but no cigar this time.

4. Court Gentry must be the most unfortunate tier one operator in the world. At the rate his opponents get the better of him, before he eventually overcomes them, he sounds like someone who triumphs because of the incompetence of the opposition rather than his own expertise and prowess - just sayin'.

Wasted Credit

since when did Gentry get narrated in the first person??? Ruined the book for me. didnt listen past the first chapter. waste of a credit.

Great story, OK performance

Great story as usual. Mark Greaney a cut above most.

Narrator Jay Snyder usually excellent but sadly there are South African characters in this one. His South African accent is so excruciatingly bad (veers between Eastern European and Scottish) that it detracts from the story.

Jay - you’re a professional narrator, it’s an easy accent, 2-3 days of practice and it’s done. Bit lazy.

One minute out

Another great read from Mark Greaney. Gripping all the way through and again a great voice over by Mr Snyder

Great .... but

Great plots well narrated the only downside is the constant use of “Jesus Christ” as blasphemy. As a Christian I find that offensive. The other expletives are understandable in the context.

Don't like the first person narration.

I find the first person singular quite confusing compared to his previous book where it was straight story telling. It doesn't work for me.

Very good story, different style this time.

This time you are in The Gray man's brain and having the conversation with him. We can all imagine how human trafficking can be, this is very close to how we can see if really been.

Jay did a good job on the many voice but please don't do South African again. Your attempt at South Africa accent was English even near Scottish at times, definitely not South African.

One word spoils this performance.

I wish they would learn to pronounce consortium correctly. It doesn't ruin the story but it just gets annoying after a certain time. Also the choice to write the book in first person was an interesting one. Very strange at first, but once you are used to it it was OK. Hope the next book is back to third person though. Overall a good story just spoilt by the pronunciation of consortium.

good

good read awaiting the next story. great fan of the grey man low tech high action

Still a fan but took some getting used too

Personally don’t think the switch into first person worked. Story still great and won’t put me off next one, just took some getting used too