What’s sure to be the perfect Valentine’s Day present for the thriller fan in your life, The Last Orphan is a magnificent novel that exceptionally blends full-throttle action with an epic battle of wits and a healthy dose of emotional awakenings. Gregg Hurwitz’s eighth Orphan X novel is absolutely special and possibly my favorite in the series to date.
The unthinkable happens when Evan Smoak, aka Orphan X, is unable to evade and escape an army of federal agents hellbent on capturing him and holding him accountable for his extrajudicial activities as The Nowhere Man. After rendition to a black site, he comes face to face via video chat with the President of the United States who offers Evan a deal to maintain his freedom. All he must do is kill a billionaire genius who might be the most powerful and dangerous man on the planet. Accept and execute the mission, and he’s a free man with the caveat that he must stop being The Nowhere Man. Decline the mission, and the full weight and power of the United States government will be brought down upon him. But Evan takes orders from no one, and he lives by a code that compels him to only use his skills against those harming others and getting away with egregious breaches of the law. Now Evan must decide if this person fits that profile and should be killed, or if not, stick to his personal ideology and face the wrath of the President.
Evan Smoak’s continued personal evolution is on full display in The Last Orphan, adding depth and development to an already amazing protagonist and giving this novel a ton of heart. Evan’s lethal skillset has not once been in question, but he’s also never been accused of having a high EQ. However, over the past few novels in the series, readers have gotten glimpses of Evan developing feelings and attachments to individuals like Joey, Mia and Peter. In The Last Orphan, those emotions grow at an exponential rate as we see Evan act in ways that don’t always line up with the Ten Commandments drilled into him by his handler/father figure Jack Johns. He shows increasing vulnerability, caring and empathy towards others, including people he just met on this latest mission. Will this emotional development hold him back or make him a better operator? Time will tell, but Jack would be proud as he always said the hard part wasn’t turning Evan into a killer but keeping his humanity in the process.
Beyond Evan’s growth as a human, The Last Orphan contains the hallmarks of a tremendous Orphan X thriller - amazing action sequences with shootouts, knife fights and martial arts beat downs, truly unlikeable bad guys deserving of an ass whooping, and the moral ambiguity of Evan’s actions. Throw in an intriguing and enigmatic filthy rich megalomaniac and this novel has it all.
Rarely do thrillers feature non-stop badassery while making you think and giving you the feels. The Last Orphan not only achieves this but does so in spectacular fashion. It’s an astoundingly brilliant thriller. A book that is tons of fun to read and stimulates your brain and heart. It’s not to be missed!
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