Prodigal Son: The explosive and thrilling Sunday Times bestseller

Prodigal Son by Gregg Hurwitz Orphan X #6 Intense, gripping, action-packed, and thrilling – this series always grabs me, draws me in, and keeps me engrossed from beginning to end. What I liked: * Evan Smoak/The Nowhere Man/Orphan X: an orphan that was molded into a lethal weapon but who still has a moral code. He fascinates me. This story gave more of his backstory and introduced potential for future stories in the series. Evan is conflicted between doing what he does well and was trained to do OR staying in retirement. I am hoping that he will eventually find a way to have a bit more “normal” life in the future. * Andre Duran: the man that Evan is asked to help by a woman who claims to be Evan’s mother. Andre and Evan have more in common than they realize when they first meet in this story. I kept hoping that Andre would make it through to the end of the book and have potential for a future. * Joey: young woman, hacker extraordinaire, taken under Evan’s wing and coming into her own…with Dog the dog. I look forward to hearing more about her in the future. * Mia and Peter: Neighbors of Evan. Mia could be a love interest and in some ways Peter reminds Evan of himself but with a the stability that Evan did not have. * The writing, plot, intensity, and sci-fi aspects of the story though some of the computer jargon was a bit over my head. * Candy McClure/p V: I remember her from a previous book and wouldn’t mind seeing more of her in the future. * Tommy: a good friend with interesting helpful gadgets that Evan often needs in his work * The mysterious woman, who she ended up being, and the information she had to share about Evan’s origins. * The bad guys…so easy to dislike! There were a couple that had a rough childhood but that did not condone their adult choices. * Thinking about how this could be made into a movie and who I might like to see playing the various characters. * Knowing that there will be a book seven… What I didn’t like: * The bad guys…I really wanted them erased! * Thinking about the what-ifs of having the sci-fi aspects of this story becoming a reality. * Knowing how rough Evan had it as a child * Having to wait till book seven is finished to find out what will happen next. Did I enjoy this book? Definitely! Would I read more by this author? Without a doubt!!! Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press – Minotaur Books for the ARC – This is my honest review. 5 Stars

Prodigal Son is the sixth book in the Orphan X series by best-selling American author, Gregg Hurwitz. Now retired from his Nowhere Man role, Evan Smoak is disturbed by a persistent caller: “Evan, it’s your mother.” He’s highly sceptical, but ultimately, can’t resist verifying, so he heads to Buenos Aires where, indeed, he meets a woman he believes to be what she claims. Veronica LeGrande wants him to help someone, but when he makes a cursory investigation, he barely survives an attack by a Hellfire missile. And he begins to wonder if coming out of retirement will end up voiding his unofficial Presidential pardon. Andrew Duran’s life has been no picnic, and now a series of bad luck incidents finds him penniless, estranged from his daughter and her mother, and on the run from people he believes are out to kill him. In his poorly paid position watching over an impound lot, he has witnessed a murder without seeing the killer, but he is certain he is now a target. Having neatly escaped the missile, Evan’s next stop is his personal tech expert, Joey Morales, interrupting the “normal” life he’s insisting she try to live. Together they research the victim and gradually uncover a disturbing situation: they are dealing with someone powerful and dangerous. When Evan tracks down the man he’s meant to be helping, the reception is hostile, but he soon realises that he recognises Andrew Duran from his youth. Before long, both are the target of a nasty pair of siblings employed to do “wet work” In this instalment, Joey’s prodigious tech talents are useful in gaining entry to three secure facilities, for one of which she tags along. Crashing a party (and rescuing a teen from a sexual predator) are in the mix. And of course, TommyStojack comes up with some nifty hardware when needed. The interactions between Evan and Joey are always entertaining, and as usual, the dialogue is often darkly funny: “Evan said, ‘Is that a bread knife?’ Duran regarded it. ‘Steak knife, I think.’ ‘No,’ Evan said. ’I’m pretty sure it’s a bread knife. That curved end is gonna give you problems unless you plan to saw me to death.’ Duran considered. ‘Maybe I’ll just nick you and let you die of tetanus in five months.’” Flashbacks to Evan’s youth at the Group Home give the reader some more detail of his selection into the Orphan Program, and Hurwitz also challenges him with a raft of emotions he’s unaccustomed to dealing with. If every book in this series is replete with hi-tech devices, this one, featuring AI, autonomous weapons and microdrones, is especially so. Evan gets a tour of an AI development lab and is witness to some jaw-droppingly scary tech adaptations, especially when there are glitches in ethical adaptor software. And the concept of “outsourcing the negative emotion associated with killing so our soldiers don’t have to feel it” is certainly unsettling. Suspension of disbelief is needed, but once again, plenty of action, injuries too numerous to tally, a body count of eighteen, several exciting climaxes and one helluva cliff-hanger ending. More please, Mr Hurwitz.

Very enjoyable read. Evan may be "retired" but echoes of his past draw him back into one more case. Family is a central theme.