Book Review: Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz (Evan Smoak #1)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Great action, fun main character

Cons: A minor issue or two, but nothing major

The Bottom Line:

Meet this agent as

New series gets off to a

Fast paced beginning

You’ll Definitely Want to Meet Orphan X

While I have enjoyed Gregg Hurwitz’s standalone thrillers, I’ve often wished I could revisit some of his characters in a series.  He’s taken that leap back to series with Orphan X, and what a thrill ride it is.

Evan Smoak was approached as a twelve-year-old and trained to become a top member of a program you’ve never heard of.  Branded Orphan X, he was sent on multiple top secret assignments involving assassination and other black ops.  As thanks, Evan has landed on most wanted lists the world over, including the USA.

When Evan left the program, he set himself up in a fortress in Los Angeles.  Now, he spends his time helping people get out of impossible situations.

Only his newest client seems to be more than he bargained for.  At their initial meetings, someone shoots up the restaurant where they are.  Can Evan save her?

Obviously, this is not the kind of book I normally pick up to read, but when I do pick up one of Gregg’s books, I never regret it because they are such fun.  This one is no exception.  Evan is a blast to be around.  Okay, so he might be a bit of a superhero in some ways, but as the book goes along, we do see the human side of him, and I look forward to seeing him be fully fleshed out as the series continues.  I can definitely see how that would happen given some of the supporting characters we meet in this book.  They definitely have the potential to really draw Evan out, and they felt very real to me already.

I was tempted to write off the beginning of the book as set up, but as the book continued I fully understood just how important it all was.  And once Evan meets with the main client, things really take off and we never look back.  This is a delightful ride that left me turning pages as quickly as I could.  And that ending makes me wish the next in the series were out already.

We get some flashbacks to Evan’s past that help set the scene for this book.  They are sprinkled into the beginning of the book but never feel like they slow things down.  The fact that they aren’t dumped on us all at once helps not break the pace of the current story.

Evan Smoak may be larger than life, but he is going to be a fun character to revisit.  Orphan X will leave you breathless for his next adventure.

Enjoy more action with the rest of the Orphan X series.