Midnight Black

Zoya is one of the novel’s main point-of-view characters and has a complex backstory. Her father, Feodor Zakharov, was a former head of Russian military intelligence who then became a deep-cover agent for the Russian state. Zoya’s boyfriend, Court, killed Zakharov in Mission Critical (2019). Zoya herself was an SVR agent before she became a CIA asset. One of the CIA programs that she has participated in is Poison Apple, Hanley’s organization of non-official covers. Highly skilled at espionage, 35-year-old Zoya is described as beautiful with shiny, dark hair. She is alienated from her countrymen because of her critical view of the politics of contemporary Russia. In Midnight Black, Zoya is under great duress, illustrating the theme of The Importance of Courage and Resilience to Survival. Incarcerated in a penal colony, Zoya is forced into boring but back-breaking labor such as sewing “another 927 buttons on 103 pairs of trousers” in a few hours (165). Zoya survives the cold, miserable conditions and punishing routine by focusing on an escape plan.

Although Zoya is the object of Court’s quest in the novel, she is by no means a passive character, and Greaney’s portrayal of her subverts the “damsel in distress” trope typical of the genre. Despite her constraints, Zoya learns the prison’s layout and routines so that she can stage a breakout whenever possible. The narrative often pits Zoya against the cruel Colonel Baronov, but Zoya keeps her wits about her, refusing to be broken down by Baronov’s insinuations and psychological warfare. As an example, after Baronov reveals to Zoya that she inadvertently compromised Court, an inwardly crushed Zoya maintains as stoic a front as she can. Instead of sinking into despair, as Baronov would have wanted, Zoya immediately throws herself into action, plotting to escape prison so that she can find Court and warn him. Zoya’s arc mirrors Court’s in the sense that she, too, goes from being isolated in the prison to finding kinship with Nadia. Zoya is also Court’s counterpart because she flings herself into peril to save him, mirroring his own desperate attempt to find her.

A recurring character in the series like Zoya and Court, Zack is a former DEVGRU (SEAL Team 6) officer and a deniable CIA asset. His code name is “Romantic.” By the end of Midnight Black, Zack, like Court, is contracted for another off-the-grid operation by Hanley. Zack is tall, has graying blond hair, is in his fifties, and is characterized by his irreverent attitude and sense of humor. He often lends levity to tense situations in the narrative, such as when a weakened Yarovoy asks Zack if there is a problem during his rescue operation. As explosions rock the buildings around them, Zack replies, “Problem? […] Of course not. Why would you ask” (473). Zack’s levity and boisterousness serve as a foil to Court’s serious demeanor, making them an efficient working team.

Zack is also shown to inspire devotion among his team members, as he does during his stay at the CIA safe house, where his guards end up as his friends. He also quickly forms a team with his Russian and Ukrainian trainees in Poland. Under his friendly, jokey demeanor, Zack is a hard taskmaster and razor-sharp paramilitary operator. One of the running jokes in the novel is that Zack is mistrustful of Russians, but he develops a friendship with his translator, Pavel, by the end of the novel, showing that he has the capacity to change. Although Zack is mainly a static character, notable for his loyalty and support, he does transform through this shift in perspective.

A former Russian Spetsnaz (special forces) sergeant, Denis is now a grocery-store clerk who moonlights as a cell leader of the Legion. Denis is around 30 years of age and has a “boyish clean-shaven face and a shock of brown hair” (94). He describes himself as very close to his mother, with whom he lives. According to Court, Denis’s colleague Katarina is in love with him. Denis is characterized by his idealism and heroism since he endangers his life to offer resistance to the Russian administration. He defines himself as a “saboteur” since he is an expert in train robberies and political assassinations.

Like Court, Denis is serious in demeanor, almost as if he is weighed down by the risks he takes. He tells Court that his actions arise from desperation rather than bravery since he simply cannot bear to live in a Russia that is not free. Court often admits to liking and admiring Denis; the younger man’s idealism serves as a sanctuary in a corrupt, impersonal world.

The antagonist of the novel, Baronov, is a negative character with few redeeming qualities. He is in his mid-forties and is a high-ranking officer of the FSB (the Russian state security service, regarded as a successor to the KGB). He has a dacha—a country house—in Mordovia, from where he keeps an eye on the nearby penal colony.

Baronov represents both institutional and personal corruption in the book. He misuses his institutional power for private gains, such as undermining the rival agency GRU to consolidate power for himself. Though Baronov pretends to be a patriot, it is clear that he cares little for the Russian people themselves, guided only by self-preservation. In a revealing sequence, Baronov makes sure “to stand with the armored vehicle between himself and the building where the enemy was last sighted” when he arrives at Yavas (483). His regard for his safety is ironic because just a few pages earlier, he lambasted a junior for not taking enough risks in getting to Yavas.

Baronov’s personal corruption is most evident in his attitude toward Zoya. Not only does he torment her, but he also derives pleasure from Zoya’s discomfort. He also gloats about wanting to kill Yarovoy by working him into the grave. Zoya notes Baronov’s innate cruelty and calls him a “psychopath.” Baronov’s cruelty can also be read as a consequence of the murders he has committed “in Georgia, in Chechnya, in Syria, in Ukraine” (182), a process that he claims has made killing lose its taboo aspect for him. Hardened, Baronov now only sees killing as a means to his ends. Baronov is captured at the end of the book, signaling the defeat of evil.