Midnight Black

Court, the protagonist of the novel and series, as well as one of its chief point-of-view characters, is in his mid-thirties in Midnight Black. His appearance is not described in detail in the novel, as one of his traits is the ubiquity of his looks, which allows him to pass unnoticed, a crucial characteristic of a spy. However, the series suggests that he is tall, lean, and brown haired. In this novel, he wears his hair long and his beard unkempt since he is too preoccupied with finding Zoya to groom himself. Court often dresses in neutral or all-black ensembles, covering his hair with a knitted cap. The attire is effective in disguising him; Milda notes that she would not be able to identify Court even if she were interrogated since “[he is] a young man with a beard…that’s the only way [she] could describe [him] to anyone” (136).

Although Court started his career as a CIA paramilitary operations officer, he quickly progressed to becoming a contract agent with the CIA and then went completely freelance to work as an assassin for hire. However, Court only takes on assassinations when he believes the target is malicious enough to merit extrajudicial killing.