In this 9th book in the 'Orphan X' series, Evan Smoak's search for a lost dog leads him to clash with a skilled female assassin. The book can be read as a standalone, but familiarity with the series is beneficial.
*****
When Evan Smoak was a scrawny twelve-year-old living in an orphanage, he was removed and placed in a black ops program that trained orphans to be highly skilled assassins. Evan was dubbed Orphan X.
After doing his assassin job for many years, Orphan X left the black ops program and set himself up as 'The Nowhere Man', a badass who helps people in trouble. When a person in dire straits is given Evan's number by a former client, the call goes to Evan's uber-encrypted RoamZone phone, which he answers with the phrase "Do you need my help?"
This time, when Evan's RoamZone rings, and he asks 'Do you need my help?' a young girl answers with, 'Yeah. My dog went missing." It turns out the caller is Sofia, the 11-year-old daughter of Evan's half-brother Andre. Evan barely knows Andre and never met Sofia, and 'The Nowhere Man' isn't in the business of finding lost dogs.
However Sofia is crying - and Evan is getting 'the look' from his teenage protégé Josephine (Joey) - so Orphan X agrees to look for Sofia's funny-looking dog Loco.
Joey is a computer whiz who can hack into any computer or CCTV camera anywhere, and with Joey's help, Evan discovers where he might find Loco.
When Evan goes to (hopefully) retrieve Loco, he's ready for action, just in case. So Evan is dressed in his tactical-discreet cargo pants, his shirt that foils face recognition, and his Original S.W.A.T. boots. Orphan X is also armed with his ARES 1911 pistol, extra mags, and a Strider folding knife. In addition, Evan has surveilled the neighborhood, plotted multiple escape routes. and so on.
As it turns out, all this is necessary because Evan comes face to face with a highly trained female assassin named Karissa (aka The Wolf), and this leads to Evan having a confrontation with the Los Angeles police and several SWAT teams.
After this Evan and Karissa get into a kind of cat and mouse game, with the assassins trying to kill each other. (For faithful readers of the series, Karissa reminds of Candy McClure, aka Orphan V).
As Evan pursues Karissa, he learns of a disturbing scheme being perpetrated by an out-of-shape tech billionaire, who sits around all day snacking and scheming.
The billionaire seems to have no scruples, and his plan bodes ill for the human race. Meanwhile, Sofia continues to bug Evan about her pooch Loco, whom she misses terribly.
The book has the elaborately choreographed action scenes that are a signature feature of the series - scenes that are exciting and over the top (in a good way). It's also great to see Joey again, and the Twizzler loving teen - who drinks Red Bull by the case and has a dog named Dog - is growing up.
Joey is attending college and dabbling with joining a sorority. However, Joey is socially challenged and has trouble with pantyhose - a MUST for the sorority she's pledging. Unfortunately, Orphan X knows nothing about pantyhose, but his friend Melinda - an attractive Vietnamese master forger - helps Joey with this problem. 🙂
Evan is changing as well, becoming a bit more involved with his family. At the book's climax, Evan makes a surprising discovery, and it will be interesting to see what happens next.
I had a text copy of the book as well as the audiobook, narrated by Scott Brick, who does an excellent job.
Thanks to Netgalley, Gregg Hurwitz, Minotaur Books, and Macmillan Audio for copies of the book.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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