Review of "Hellbent: An Orphan X Thriller" by Gregg Hurwitz

In this 3rd book in the "Orphan X" series, Evan Smoak - also known as Orphan X - is out to avenge the death of his mentor Jack Johns. When Evan was twelve, Jack took him from an orphanage and put him in a super-secret Department of Defense black-ops program.

This  scheme was designed to turn orphans into highly skilled assassins. The children were stripped of their names and designated alphabetically: Orphan A, Orphan B, Orphan C....and so on. 



Jack was like a father to Evan, and made sure the boy kept his humanity while he learned to kill.



Orphan X got his first mission at nineteen, and eliminated many targets after that. Finally, burnt out, Evan left the program and set himself up as 'The Nowhere Man' - a good samaritan who helps people in desperate trouble.

However, no one is allowed to leave the Orphan Program. If a member opts out, the program director - Charles Van Sciver, also known as Orphan Y - sends a hitman (or hitteam) after the deserter.



Thus, killers have been after Evan for years, but his secret apartment is a fortress and he's taken elaborate measures to protect himself. (These measures are fully described in the first book, Orphan X.)

Van Sciver, who's been continually frustrated by Evan, has even more incentive to murder him now - reasons that extend high in government circles. So Orphan Y decides to get to Evan through Jack Johns. Van Sciver, who has phenomenal data-mining capabilities, locates Jack and kidnaps him. This leads to Jack's death - and the terrible scene is shown to Evan via phone. Of course Orphan X now has to go after the director, which will (presumably) bring Evan out into the open.



As events unfold Evan becomes the reluctant guardian of a feisty sixteen-year-old girl named Joey. Joey flunked out of the Orphan Program and is in Van Sciver's sights. So Evan has to protect the girl while he goes after the director.

Van Sciver and his team take a two-pronged approach to finding Orphan X: they locate and torture people who might have information about Evan; and they kidnap a youngster that left the Orphan Program - hoping Evan will try to rescue him. Orphan X is a very resourceful guy though, and Van Sciver's crew suffers loss after loss. Moreover, Joey is a talented computer hacker and programmer, and she sets up a sophisticated data mining system of her own.....one that helps Evan trace his enemies.



Joey is an interesting character. She's a lonely, troubled girl with fierce fighting skills, but no idea what to do outside the Orphan Program. Evan tries to be supportive, but he doesn't know how to deal with teenage girls. Still - as long as Joey has her special shoebox, a case of Red Bull, and plenty of Twizzlers - she's willing to help Evan.





As the story proceeds, Van Sciver pursues his mission to kill Evan and all other fugitive Orphans; Evan goes after Van Sciver; there's plenty of death and destruction. You get the idea.

As all this is happening, Orphan X gets a call on the RoamZone phone used to contact 'The Nowhere Man.' A Los Angeles resident named Benito Orellana needs help. His son Xavier is about to be initiated into the Mara Salvatrucha gang and Benito begs Evan to get the young man out of the gang's clutches. Evan agrees to help, and engages with the gang's vicious thugs.



All this frenetic activity leads to a violent and dramatic climax; a satisfying finale; and (I think) a lead-in to book four.

Additional protagonists that add interest to the story include: Prosecutor Mia Hall - Evan's downstairs neighbor who'd probably like to be more than friends; Peter Hall - Mia's young son, who sends messages to Evan via kite; and Candy McClure - an Orphan who uses her sex appeal for deadly purposes.



Other characters are David Smith - an Orphan boy who's being hidden; Freeway - leader of the Mara Salavatrucha who's had his eyeballs tattooed black; Tommy - a fantastic gunsmith; Jonathan Bennett - a powerful government official; and more.

Hellbent is a good book, full of action and excitement. It can be read as a standalone but I'd strongly advise reading Orphan X first.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author (Gregg Hurwitz), and the publisher (Minotaur Books) for a copy of the book. 

Rating: 3.5 stars