Review of "Out of the Dark: An Orphan X Novel" by Gregg Hurwitz

In this 4th book in the "Orphan X" series Evan Smoak - also known as Orphan X - plans to kill the President of the United States, Jonathan Bennett. The book can be read as a standalone, but familiarity with the series is a plus.

*****

When Evan Smoak was a child Jonathan Bennett - then working for the Department of Defense - oversaw a black ops program that trained orphans to be highly skilled assassins.

The children were stripped of their names and designated alphabetically: Orphan A, Orphan B, Orphan C....and so on. Evan, dubbed Orphan X, was trained for seven years and performed his first mission at the age of nineteen.

The Orphan Program has now been discontinued and Bennett is determined to wipe out the still-living Orphans because they 'know too much.' Bennett is especially eager to kill Orphan X because of something connected to Evan's first mission - the assassination of an eastern European foreign minister twenty years ago. Evan doesn't know why the mission is so problematical, but he means to find out.



In addition to targeting the President, Evan is continuing his self-assigned mandate as 'The Nowhere Man' - a sort of superhero who helps deserving people in trouble. Evan carries an untraceable RoamZone phone, where a desperate person can call and ask for assistance.

A good deal of the book is a cat-and-mouse game between Orphan X and the team POTUS assigned to kill him, which is composed of: the still-loyal Orphan A - who's as well-trained as Orphan X; Wade and Ricky Collins - murderous rapists who've been released from prison for the purpose; and several of the Collins' gangster cousins. The clashes of these foes results in much death and destruction.



Between fights with the President's kill team Evan gets a RoamZone call from a mentally-challenged port employee called Trevon Gaines. Trevon inadvertently interfered with a drug shipment headed for crime boss Russell Gadds, and the thug threatened to kill Trevon's entire family and make his life miserable forever. So in addition to targeting POTUS, Evan plans to decimate Gadds' whole operation.



All this is a lot to do and Evan gets help from his protégé, a teenage girl named Joey. Joey - who escaped the Orphan program and is now 'hiding out' in a Swiss private school - is a world-class hacker who can penetrate the deepest darkest files of the Department of Defense and the Secret Service. Thus Joey is uniquely capable of delivering information Evan needs to kill the President, who's EXTREMELY well-protected. Hurwitz describes the Secret Service's security measures for POTUS in detail, and they are VERY thorough.



During his rare moments of relaxation, Evan sometimes visits his downstairs neighbors, single mother Mia Hall and her nine-year-old son Peter. Evan and Mia hover on the precipice of a real romance, but - given Evan's circumstances- this is an extremely dangerous proposition.



For readers familiar with the series, former Orphan Candy McClure makes an appearance - and she's as sexy and capable as ever.



I enjoyed the book, which has numerous exciting combat scenes. I do have one quibble however. Though Orphan X is ostensibly a brilliant strategist, he occasionally does foolish things that allow his enemies to catch up with him - like registering for three rooms (in a single hotel) under the same name or strolling up to his childhood home in broad daylight. I know the 'bad guys' have to encounter Evan for plot purposes, but I would have liked Hurwitz to come up with more inventive ways to orchestrate these encounters.

I'd recommend the book to readers who enjoy thrillers, especially fans of the 'Orphan X' series.

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

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "I Shall Not Want: A Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mystery" by Julia Spencer-Fleming

In this 6th book in the 'Millers Kill Series', the Reverend Clare Fergusson helps Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne solve the murders of several illegal immigrants. The book can be read as a standalone but familiarity with the characters is a plus.

*****

As the book opens the relationship between Reverend Clare Fergusson and Chief of Police Russ Van Alstyne is strained. Still, Clare manages to get involved with law enforcement when she decides to help immigrant laborers (i.e. illegal aliens) who work on the local dairy farms in Millers Kill, New York.



Though the laborers are necessary for the economic viability of the farms they're often short-changed in terms of pay, living conditions, legal issues, medical care, and so on - and some local religious groups assist them as necessary.



When the dead bodies of several immigrants turn up in different parts of the woods it becomes clear that some of them are involved in activities other than farming - things of interest to the police.



Russ would prefer that Clare keep her nose out of these police investigations but she inserts herself into them in her usual fearless fashion.

Meanwhile the Millers Kill Police Department has a new female rookie cop - a single mom named Hadley Knox - who was hired just before the bodies started turning up. Thus Hadley has a steep on-the-job learning curve and shows spunk in difficult circumstances.



In addition to the romantic angst between Russ and Clare there are some sparks between Hadley and a fellow cop and between an immigrant worker and the sister of some local thugs.

Thus the book is a sort of mystery/multiple romance that touches on the topic of illegal immigration. Though the mystery part of the book is interesting it's overly complicated and the bad guys do some things that don't ring true. Therefore, the book's climax isn't completely satisfying. Still, fans of the series will probably enjoy this book.

Rating: 3 stars

Review of "My Girl" by Jack Jordan

Paige is on a self-destructive slide that she seems unable to control. Paige's 14-year-old daughter Chloe was abducted and killed ten years ago, and Paige had to bury an arm - the only part of Chloe that was found. Now Paige's husband Ryan, unable to cope with his grief, has committed suicide.



Paige, already distraught, is completely upended by Ryan's desertion. She drinks bottle after bottle of wine, lives on sedatives and pain killers, and smokes too much. Paige's house is filthy - covered with empty bottles, smelly ashtrays full of cigarette butts, soiled clothes, and dried vomit. Paige doesn't eat much, hardly showers, drives drunk, gets arrested, and performs humiliating sex acts with her doctor to get extra pills.





The author's depiction of Paige as a grief-stricken drunk/drug addict are very authentic, and I empathized with her pain.

Paige's relatives try to help. Her mother-in-law Greta, who has a house key, brings food and tidies the home. 



Paige's brother Maxim - a pastor - bails her out of jail and provides casseroles. And Paige's father offers to help clean out Ryan's home office.



While emptying Ryan's desk Paige discovers a gun and a secret cell phone in a hidden compartment. What?? Why would Ryan have a gun? Paige's attempts to learn the truth get her into bad trouble.



Meanwhile, strange things are happening in Paige's house. She wakes up to old videos of Chloe playing on the TV; all of Ryan's clothing and possessions disappear; Ryan's face is cut out of all the photos, including albums; and then there's a fire. Is Paige doing this herself, in a drunken stupor? Is she going crazy? Is Paige's mother-in-law the culprit?

All this leads to Part 2 of the book, which starts with a bang. For me, the second section of the book is less successful than the first. I don't want to give away spoilers so I'll just say that the characters behave in a fashion that's completely inauthentic and unbelievable. Moreover, this part of the story feels like a derivative version of other books I've read. Finally, the finale doesn't wrap up the loose ends that have to do with Ryan.



From other reviews I know that lots of people really liked this book. For me though, it was just okay (and that's mostly because I think Part 1 was well-written). I would mildly recommend the book to thriller/mystery fans.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author (Jack Jordan), and the publisher (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform) for a copy of this book.

Rating: 2 stars

Review of "A Merciful Fate: A Mercy Kilpatrick Mystery" by Kendra Elliott

In this 5th book in the 'Mercy Kilpatrick' series, the FBI agent investigates a decades old armored car robbery. The book can be read as a standalone.

For those not familiar with the series: Mercy Kilpatrick grew up in a prepper family in Eagle's Nest, Oregon but she fell out with her kinfolk and left.



After becoming an FBI agent Mercy returned to Eagle's Nest, where she works in the local FBI office and solves crimes with her partner, Eddie Peterson. Mercy is now on good terms with her mom and siblings, but still has a difficult relationship with her dad.



Mercy is engaged to Police Chief Truman Daly, and they sometimes collaborate on cases.

*****

As the story opens, a skeletonized body is found in an isolated shack in the Eagle's Nest woods along with empty money sacks from a 30-year-old armored-car robbery.



The holdup, called the 'Gamble-Helmet Heist', resulted in the death of a guard and the arrest of a perp named Shane Gamble - but four gang members got away with the cash. One robber, Ellis Mull, didn't get far though, because it's his body in the shack, and he's been dead for decades - shot in the head.

Mercy Kilpatrick and Eddie Peterson get the Ellis Mull case and consult with Art Juergen, the FBI agent who led the original investigation three decades ago. Art is retired now, but he's more than willing to lend a hand. For the most part, the FBI agents are trying to trace the three remaining gang members, identified as Nathan May, Trevor Whipple, and a driver known only as Jerry.



Meanwhile, there's other trouble brewing in Eagle's Nest, with two women experiencing malicious mischief. Sandy Foster's bed-and-breakfast was targeted by a vandal who broke car windows in her parking lot and spray painted profanity on her wall; and Bree Ingram's pickup truck and stable doors were defaced by large red X's. Chief Daly and his detectives look into these incidents - unsure whether they are pranks or threats.



Mercy and Truman think the confluence of these events - the discovery of the body and the vandalism - may be more than coincidental....and a reporter seems to agree with them. To Mercy's chagrin, an ambitious young journalist called Tabitha Huff is determined to write about the corpse related to the Gamble-Helmet Heist. So Tabitha stalks people who have information about Ellis Mull.....and interviews Sandy and Bree about the sabotage.



All this leads to violence and death before the various cases are solved.

Other characters that add interest to the story include Lucas - Sandy's son, who works for the Police Department; Rose - Mercy's blind sister, who's engaged and about to have a baby; Karl - Mercy's father, who (reluctantly) helps out in a pinch; Kaylie - Mercy's pretty teenage niece, who works in a coffee shop; Ollie - Truman's teenage ward, who has a crush on Kaylie; and Shep - Ollie's dog.

I enjoyed the mystery, which has an interesting plot and provides a peek into the prepper community.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author (Kendra Elliott) and the publisher (Montlake Romance) for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3 stars

Review of "Home: A Myron Bolitar Mystery" by Harlan Coben

In this 11th book in the 'Myron Bolitar'series, Myron and Windsor Horne Lockwood III (Win) are back on the job - determined to rescue two missing boys. The book can be read as a standalone.

*****

For those not familiar with the Myron Bolitar books:
Myron was a college basketball star who was injured before his first NBA game. So Myron went to law school and became a sports rep and unofficial private detective. Myron is a great guy who loves his parents, treats his girlfriends well, and feels compelled to help people.



Win is a rich, handsome, expensively-dressed, well-coifed, blonde playboy. To look at him you'd never know Win's a sociopath - ready and willing to use all manner of weapons, martial arts, explosives, and other means of destruction when he deems it necessary. Win is super-protective of his friends (like Myron), but you'd never want to get on his bad side, as he'd kill you in a millisecond.



The story: Ten years ago a playdate ended in disaster. Two six-year-old boys - Patrick Moore and Rhys Baldwin - were kidnapped from Patrick's home, never to be seen or heard from again....until now. As the book opens, Win - who's been 'underground' for a year - gets an anonymous email with information about where to find the boys, who are working as prostitutes in London.



Win is especially invested in the case because Rhys is his cousin.



Win's first rescue attempt goes south, so he calls Myron for help. Myron flies to London and meets up with an unsavory character called Fat Gandhi - a computer gamer who also runs a child prostitute ring.




Fat Gandhi claims Patrick and Rhys work for him, but he'll release them for a ransom. Win and Myron don't trust Fat Gandhi so they hatch a daring scheme that manages to rescue Patrick.... but Rhys runs away.

Reunited with his family in the U.S., sixteen-year-old Patrick seems disoriented and frightened. Myron and Win, however, insist on interviewing the teen so they can get information about Rhys's whereabouts. Patrick acts squirrelly, though, and can't provide any useful particulars. All this is very tough on Rhys's parents, who want to get their son back.....or at least find out what happened to him.



Myron and Win continue their efforts to bring Rhys home and discover some surprising information along the way. I don't want to give away spoilers so I'll just say there's A LOT of murder and mayhem in the story, and Myron and Win get to show off plenty of their combat skills.





The story also has a perk for romance fans since Myron is engaged to his long-time, on-off girlfriend Terese.




The book features some favorite characters including: Esperanza (Little Pocahontas)....



......and Big Cyndi - former professional wrestlers who worked for Myron's sports rep agency;



Myron's mom and dad, who love to bicker; and Mickey - Myron's teenage nephew who helps draw out Patrick with pizza and videogames. As usual there's lots of humorous banter between Myron and Win, and some amusing scenes. I thought it was hilarious when Myron threw an arrogant young thug's laptop out a car window. LOL.

The suspenseful story leads to a dramatic denouement that I never saw coming. Very good mystery, recommended to fans of the genre.

Rating: 3.5 stars