“The Hard Line” by Mark Greaney

The 15th in the Gray Man series is out this February. That means it’s time to talk with author Mark Greaney about the latest Court Gentry entry. Entitled The Hard Line, action takes place in Bulgaria, Nicaragua, Boston, and Washington, D.C., to list just a few of the action-packed locations involved.If you’re not familiar with the series, it’s a spy thriller. We’re talking espionage and international intrigue with weapons wielded by extremely dangerous individuals. It’s a formula familiar to readers.Greaney credits collaborating with the late Tom Clancy, legendary author of the Jack Ryan series, as helping stimulate his own writing.“Greaney began his first book in 1990 while enrolled at the University of Memphis,” noted the school’s alumni magazine in a 2021 article. “He finished 15 years later. His second book took just seven months, and he’s been off and running ever since,” the magazine noted.Off and running to some of the locales he uses in his book. Greaney said in the Read Beat interview that he was just about to head off to Las Vegas for its annual gun show, an opportunity where he can soak up details on some of the hardware detailed in his books. This was the fifth time we’ve checked in with Greaney on a new release. That’s in a span of just under four years. That gives you some idea of how prolific this guy is. He talks about running up against deadlines yet churns out pages like a machine, almost like one of the driven characters he writes about. He’s already at work on number 16, by the way, so Gray Man fans, rest easy. There’s more to come.Not sure why I launched into a memory of Goldfinger at the onset of our latest interview, but Mark didn’t seem to mind. While I complained about the movie scene where all the mobsters are gassed (for no apparent reason), I was happy to hear that Greaney had his own recollection of the Ian Fleming novel, noting that it seemed Fleming spent much of the book writing about golf.But that’s part of the charm of this author. As successful as he is in the crowded spy-novel field, he’s a regular guy, open to talking about just about anything while admitting he’s always on the hunt for storylines and interesting characters.