There are somewhere around 150 books on my want list, and a few less than that already on the TBR shelf. I don't always remember why I add particular books, and sometimes I'm surprised by what I chose. So it is with Orphan X. A testosterone-infused fast-paced thriller with lots of twists and turns, lengthy martial-arts fight scenes with every blow lovingly detailed, and pages of weapons jargon. Not to mention several paragraphs about very pretentious vodka. I did like the plot, I mostly liked Evan Smoak, but I'm not one to enjoy all those technical details. I should have guessed this at the beginning because I very much enjoy the Jack Reacher and Jason Bourne movies, but the books leave me cold. I think Hurwitz did a good job adding to the genre (just a little segue here, how many series are there with little kids trained as assassins?) and I see there are several more in the series. Orphan X has one mostly complete story arc; I admit I'm a little curious about what Evan will learn in the future, but not enough to keep going. If they make a movie though, I'll watch it.
At twelve years old, Evan Smoak was removed from his group home and put into an off-the-books government program to train orphans to become elite assassins. After years of following orders, Evan goes off the grid and leaves the program. Now Evan is the "Nowhere Man" who helps those to have nowhere to turn. He only takes one client at a time and doesn't stop until the job is done. His latest case goes awry when someone takes a shot at this client...or was the shot meant for him?
This is a fast-paced thriller that I thought got off to a slow start. Thankfully I hung in there and the story quickly ramped up with several twists and turns along with loads of action scenes. I'll definitely be reading the next book in the series soon. My rating: 4 Stars.
This is a fast-paced thriller that I thought got off to a slow start. Thankfully I hung in there and the story quickly ramped up with several twists and turns along with loads of action scenes. I'll definitely be reading the next book in the series soon. My rating: 4 Stars.
I always love books where the protagonist is kind, honest and a ripped hunky guy. This is so for this story. He was taken in by a man when he was young and trained in all manner of marshal arts, weaponry, etc. His handler is killed and he's left in the wind. So, he uses his expertise to help innocent people in trouble. Kind of like a modern day Superman whose power comes from hard work and discipline. Love this character and story.
