One of the deadliest assassins returns in the latest installment of the Orphan X series. Gregg Hurwitz delivers another action-packed, emotional ride through the hills of Los Angeles.
When Evan Smoak aka The Nowhere Man aka Orphan X is found depressed and drinking alone, his friend and computer whiz Joey convinces him to return to his work, but to do it slowly. Even though one of the Commandments states, One mission at a time, he agrees to find a small dog, and the mission quickly becomes a second mission when he witnesses an assassin kill a man. Evan Smoak barely saves the life of the man's daughter in the process. Now on the hunt for the killer, Smoak wanders through the darkest depths of Los Angeles in search of answers. From the alleys lined with the homeless to most expense, sprawling estates in the Hollywood hills, he searches high and low for answers. And he gets them.
If there is any character who has evolved the most over the course of his run, it's got to be Evan Smoak. He's still as sharp and lethal as ever, but the way that Hurwitz has morphed him from a stone cold killer to an actual human being is quite impressive. In Lone Wolf, Hurwitz intertwines artificial intelligence with money disparity, making it an interesting, thought-provoking thriller by one of the best in the business. I miss Evan's interactions with Nia, his neighbor down the hall in Castle Heights, but it was fun watching Smoak explore the other relationships with those in his building.
Gregg Hurwitz is such an incredible writer -- his prose is always so eloquent and poetic -- even when it's describing gruesome brutalism.
Lone Wolf is a crushingly brilliant piece of fiction. One of the books I look forward to most each year is the new Orphan X novel, and this book did not disappoint. Another fun and exciting joy ride through LA, thriller readers won't want to miss this.
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