Book Review: The Last Orphan by Gregg Hurwitz

About the Book

As a child, Evan Smoak was plucked out of a group home, raised and trained as an off-the-books assassin for the government as part of the Orphan program. When he broke with the program and went deep underground, he left with a lot of secrets in his head that the government would do anything to make sure never got out.

When he remade himself as The Nowhere Man, dedicated to helping the most desperate in their times of trouble, Evan found himself slowly back on the government’s radar. Having eliminated most of the Orphans in the program, the government will stop at nothing to eliminate the threat they see in Evan. But Orphan X has always been several steps ahead of his pursuers.

Until he makes one little mistake…

Now the President has him in her control and offers Evan a deal – eliminate a rich, powerful man she says is too dangerous to live and, in turn, she’ll let Evan survive. But when Evan left the Program he swore to only use his skills against those who really deserve it. Now he has to decide what’s more important – his principles or his life.

My Review

This is one of my favorite series, and the Orphans are some of my favorite characters on fiction. If you’re not familiar with the series, start at the beginning – NOT here – or you will be helplessly lost and miss out on a ton of backstory. I’ve reviewed the earlier books and you can find the reviews in my back catalog by searching Hurwitz or clicking the following: Book 1 and 2, Book 3, Book 5, Book 6, (I didn’t review 4 or 7 – I read library books not ARCs).

As I was saying, fabulous series with amazing characters. I can always count on Gregg Hurwitz to deliver action, drama, suspense, heart, snark, and a healthy dose of comeuppance. I must admit though, this wasn’t my favorite of X’s exploits – it felt a little more forced and disbelief-suspending than usual, in a way that I found a bit frustrating. I’ve also become used to Joey playing a more active role – and like that, and missed it here.

I was pleased to see that the way things ended definitely left room for that going forward, though. I’m already looking forward to seeing the Mia story line move forward – that felt a bit stalled here also. It was still a fun read – they always are – and left me wanting more!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my obligation-free review copy.