Review by Booklist Review
Hurwitz had written several stand-alone thrillers and even a couple of short series before he introduced Evan Smoak, the former U.S. government assassin now known as the Nowhere Man, in 2016's Orphan X. We're now eight books into the series, and, while we know Evan better than we did at the beginning, there's apparently a lot left to be revealed. In this one, the U.S. president, who has never made a secret of her distaste for Evan, makes him an offer: take out a man she claims is a threat to the country, or suffer the consequences. As regular readers already know, Evan is not the kind of guy who reacts well to threats, and he soon takes control of the situation. But what will he do next? Hunt down the man the president wants him to kill, or turn his attention to the president herself? Hurwitz was always a fine storyteller, but he really found his groove with the Orphan X novels. He's clearly having a lot of fun with this series: the writing is crisp, the action scenes are both clever and cinematic, the dialogue is pitch perfect, and the villains are deliciously detestable. First-class.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In bestseller Hurwitz's wild eighth Orphan X novel (after 2022's Dark Horse), a lapse on the part of Evan Smoak (aka the Nowhere Man), who was once turned by the U.S. government into "an expendable weapon who could execute missions illegal under international law" but now helps those in trouble for free, leads to his capture by a small army on the orders of the U.S. president, Victoria Donahue-Carr. Donahue-Carr will reinstate an informal presidential pardon for Smoak if he agrees to take out Luke Devine, a billionaire with enough leverage on powerful people to "become his own nation-state," who's opposing the passage of a trillion-dollar environmental bill that Donahue-Carr's reelection hinges on. Smoak's reluctance to pursue Devine changes when the plutocrat's implicated in a double murder, and the sister of one of the victims asks for justice. The over-the-top aspects of Smoak's life, which include sleeping on a bed "held three feet off the floor by herculean magnets," and the many plot contrivances demand a lot from readers. Fans of Robert Ludlum's action-packed novels featuring another skilled killer protagonist looking to do the right thing, Jason Bourne, are most likely to be satisfied. Agent: Lisa Erbach Vance, Aaron Priest Literary. (Feb.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Has the invincible Nowhere Man finally met his match? A dark prologue follows horny young lamb Johnny Seabrook to a tryst that turns into a bloody slaughter. Readers will need to put a pin in this, for the narrative drifts to Iceland, where Evan Smoak, the former government assassin known as Orphan X, seeks serenity, or at least escape, in a desolate bar in the middle of nowhere. Evan's backstory is lengthy and complex; Hurwitz shrewdly paints in primary colors and keeps the action moving. Orphan X has been a freelance avenger for a long time, and the feds would love to eliminate him. Thus the reappearance of his nemesis, Special Agent in Charge Naomi Templeton, and her tense meeting with President Victoria Donahue-Carr, who has sometimes targeted, sometimes allied with Evan in the past, depending on the circumstances. Capture and escape form a recurrent pattern in this eighth Orphan X caper, long on gritty action and crackerjack dialogue, as it ricochets from Europe to Beverly Hills to various points in the New York metropolitan area. Evan reconnects briefly with ladylove Mia, enlists the help of Orphan V after a particularly brutal killing, and eventually gets around to avenging Johnny. The short, punchy chapters' piquant titles add another tongue-in-cheek layer to the proceedings. With its shoot-the-works plot and cameos by characters from previous Orphan capers, this thriller feels like a finale. But who knows if, like Michael Myers, the unstoppable Evan Smoak will delight fervent fans by coming back? A popular series ends, or not, with a bang and a healthy dose of wry humor. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
