I wrote a much longer (5*) review for another title in this series. So I'm not going to do it again. I love Gregg Hurwitz. I love Evan Smoak. Buy this book.

First I want to thank Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for giving me a copy of this story to read and review. I ended up getting buying this book in audio format because I love the narration of Scott Brick so much and he makes Orphan X come alive to me!

Orphan X is at a cross roads, can he live a normal life, he thinks he wants to. Until things come to a head and he must face his past and his arch enemy, but there is a new Orphan and things are piling up on X.
I have loved watching Orphan X develop and grow, I can't wait to see what is in store for him as he cleans house.

I actually found this book to be even better than the first in the series. It's a rather fast paced story and an excellent addition to the series. Joey is a rather interesting new character and I hope to read more from Hurwitz in the future.

I received a copy of this book from netgalley in return for an honest review - it made me quite anxious to read the next books in the series - I'm glad I have two more to read that have already been released!

I enjoyed ithis book more than #2 in the series (although I didn't hate that one). Ethan is trying to resume his "normal" life when some huge things happen. One of them involves a teenage ex-Orphan named Joey. She's a perfect foil for Ethan - messy and messed up, feisty but insecure, and my heart really went out to her. Plus, of course, she is super competent.

As usual, everything Ethan needs to do is seemingly impossible. It is worrisome and enjoyable watching the ride.

HELLBENT

Evan Smoak is the best. Just plain the best. Dirty Harry best. James Bond best. These Orphan X books just keep getting better and better. I will read them all and hope they just keep coming.

Formerly known as Orphan X and part of a now defunct undercover government program, Smoak is out on his own. He helps desperate people. People who have nowhere else to turn. He’s a good guy. He takes care of problems. Problems and evil people. We need the Evan Smoaks of the world to cheer for.

But he’s not just a strong guy superhero. He’s a real person. With real feelings and insecurities, and a terrific sense of humor. The writing is absolutely fantastic. Subtle, funny, and straightforward. I like to think there is a real Evan out there somewhere. It makes me feel better.

Smoak lives in a high-rise apartment, in the penthouse suite. He poses as an industrial cleaning salesman. He has to interact with the various residents of the building and many times these encounters are humorous. He lives simply, clean, minimalistic, and with only the best of everything - especially his vodka. But he has trouble interacting with people. Personal relationships are just not his thing. He is oh so human with a lot of issues, but with a heart of platinum.

In this third book in the series, Smoak is seeking vengeance for the death of his mentor and father figure Jack Johns. Van Sciver, also a former rival member in the Orphan program, is the person responsible for Johns’ death. But Van Sciver has a target on Smoak as well. Smoak is also unexpectedly saddled with a partner, a 16 year old girl named Joey. Outspoken, brash, and tech savvy, Joey’s presence is a mixed blessing for the independent Evan.

A lot of the action and solutions to problems are over the top - way over the top. But sometimes that’s just plain the fun of it.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Gregg Hurwitz, and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Evan Smoak is back in another super fast paced thriller. Another great addition to the series. Evan's mentor leaves him a message to find a package and keep it safe. That package sends Evan on a new adventure. I highly recommend this series!

Another great addition to the Orphan series. If you enjoy high octane suspense thrillers, you definitely want to read this series. Just like the other books, this is a nail-biting, action-packed thriller that keeps the plot twists coming right up to the last moments. It has great characters, new and old, with an outstanding story line. Can't wait to read the next book.

Highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Gregg Hurwitz for a copy of "Hellbent" in exchange of an honest review.

I really like this series, Evan, a former assassin for the government, is an intriguing figure, I particularly liked the character of Joey in this book, She is a 16 yr old girl who flunked out of the same program that turned orphans into killers.

There are definite comparisons to Jack Reacher, but, and I feel really guilty saying this, but I think I like Evan better, at least when compared to recent Reacher books that get a but far-fetched. I have specifically texted several friends who like this kind of book to recommend the series. I don't do that often.

It is best of you can read the series in order.

I loved this series of books. It took me about a week to read all the books. They were great action books with a great story line. I love to see the human side of Evan and how he is trying to learn how to care for others.

This is really an awesome series...I tell people it’s Mission impossible with heart! Read this book but start from the beginning! You will love it.

So far this one was by far the best in the series. The character development for Evan has been wonderful and made the story last fantastical and feel more relatable (as relatable as a story about a government-trained assassin can be anyway). Even Candy was mildly more tolerable. Here's hoping she gets some more development than boobs and lips.

I’ve read all of the other books. This one is very well written and showed a different side of Evan.

Hellbent by Gregg Hurwitz is a 2018 Minotaur publication.

1-855-2-NOWHERE

This special number will connect you to The Nowhere Man- a man who helps those who require specialized assistance and have no other recourse.

However, the Nowhere Man also happens to be Orphan X- aka- Evan Smoak. At age twelve, Evan was plucked from the foster care system by Jack Jones and trained to be a government assassin. But Jack is the only person in the world who ever showed Evan the slightest bit of humanity, who loved Evan like he was his own son. Now, it is Jack who is calling The Nowhere Man…

When Jack calls Evan he is in a dire situation. He orders Evan to collect a package- which turns out to be far more than Evan bargained for- a sixteen -year old girl named Joey.

Going after his arch enemy, Van Scriver, with razor sharp focus and the intense need for retribution, Evan finds Joey both a help and a hindrance, someone who pricks his stoic heart, bringing out feelings he has no name for, but who is also a liability in his plans to take out Van Scriver. If this weren’t enough suspense to keep one on edge, Evan also gets a call from a father who is afraid of losing his son to the romanticized lure of gang membership.

I have been dying to get back to this series. The second installment was very creative and entertaining, but, this third chapter in the series, settles in with some very poignant and tender moments and passages, amid some very intense action scenes and white- knuckle suspense.



There is a lot going on here, so beware starting this one if have things you need to get done. The chapters are short, which only compounded the problem, because it was just too tempting to read ‘just one more chapter’.



This is only the third book in the series, but I can see the advance planning, which is working out beautifully. The series has had some wobbly moments here and there, but I see it improving, getting stronger, with smarter, polished, and more complex plots. I can’t wait to unlock more Orphan X secrets, as the stakes are getting higher and higher, and maybe I’m looking forward to indulging my little crush on Evan Smoak!!


This is an outstanding addition to the series- Can’t wait to read book four!!

Book three of the Orphan X series begins with a call on Evan's Nowhere Man hotline from Jack Johns, the man who essentially became Evan's father while training him to be an assassin for a deep secret government program. Jack is about to be captured by mercenaries hired by Charles Van Sciver, another Orphan assassin who seems to be on a mission to eliminate everyone involved in that program--and most especially, Orphan X.

Jack's farewell call and the subsequent video that Van Sciver makes sure Evan can see, gives our hero a new mission--revenge.

This might be one of the best in the series as it again displays Evan's heart and sense of fair play, along with his intelligence, cleverness and lethalness as an assassin.

And there's again a touch of subtle humor on the home front that I'm always glad to see, that makes Evan seem more human: "Jack had trained him for so many contingencies, had made him lethal and worldly and cultured. But not domestic. Ordinary life was stressful."

I am thoroughly enjoying this series which I was fortunate enough to receive from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 this series just keeps on getting better stars

Well, Mr Hurwitz, you have done it again! You have made me quite happy that Evan Smoek has again been a character who is beyond brave, totally bad ass, and loyal. He is a protagonist I so enjoy and never disappointing.

In this action packed, hold your breath thriller, Evan tackles those who wish with glee to see his demise. If you have been following Evan and his escapades, you know that he was once part of an elite and deeply secret unit buried within the government and these elites were called orphans. Their job could be anything and their assignments often included death and destruction. They were at the beck and call of where they were needed around the world or around the corner. Nothing was too difficult or too dangerous for the trained assassins of the orphan unit.

However, Evan is a wanted man. He is wanted by the new leader of the Orphans, Van Sciver, who along with his underlings will do anything to draw Evan out into the open. They capture Evan's mentor, Jack Jones, the man who raised him, who loved him, and who made him into Orphan X. “Jack had taught him this along with so much else. How to find peace. How to embody stillness. How to punch an eskrima dagger between the fourth and fifth ribs, angling up at the heart.”

Even watches as they place Jack into a helicopter and threaten his life unless he turns on Evan. They then place a young girl, Joey, a failed Orphan trainee, in Jack's path. She will die unless he defends her. Both Jack and Joey are plants intended to make the elimination of Evan a fait accompli.

Evan, now finds himself with a partner of sorts. He is a lone wolf but there is something about Joey that opens a door inside of him. He sees himself as he once was in her and as the story continues his bond with Joey grows stronger. Meanwhile, he, and now she, are hunted. They are liabilities, liabilities which need to be eliminated.

Evan learns more about those who are after him and how high up the orders are coming from that demand his demise. Will Evan be able to once again beat the odds and succeed where everything is ever so stacked against him?

Told with tons of action, and page turning events that we, who have read the previous books, have come to love, this book is definitely recommended. Getting better with each book, Gregg Hurwitz has made us cheer for Evan and hope that he once again is able to help those in need and succeed over the evil he has encountered.

Thanks to Gregg Hurwitz, (can't wait to read the next book in this series) Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for a copy of this heart pounding book.

I loved the first three books in this series. I flew through them and enjoyed the suspense, characterization and plot.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley.

It is difficult to read this series without thinking about the state of the world in which we are living today. Many of us are clamoring for transparency in government. The real question is whether or not the general public can handle things like black ops. There have always been clandestine elements to governments and international affairs. Speaking openly about tradecraft could put those tasked with keeping us safe in mortal danger.

The Orphan X series needs to be experienced without foreknowledge of what the story is. Spoilers would deprive readers of reading the nuanced phrasing that make these books somewhat unique. Hurwitz can paint an entire mural in a phrase of three or four words. The unfolding saga is relatable on many levels. Readers are allowed to bring their own understanding to situations few will ever encounter.

Reading these thrillers will allow readers to feel every possible human emotion from cold, callus and calculating to caring and empathy. It will be difficult to find the joy or happiness, but it is there.

This is the third book in the series, and it does add more to the story that is Evan Smoak. I can't imagine not reading the two preceding books. Although each provides a distinct experience, they literally do follow one upon the next. The next book in the series is OUT OF THE DARK and will be available on January 29, 2019. Right now, that seems like a long time to wait.

4.5★
“‘Can you hack it?’
She kept her head lowered, her fingers moving. ‘I’m gonna pretend you didn’t ask me that.’
He cast an eye toward the facility’s front door. ‘The cops are gonna be here soon.’
‘Well,’ she said, ‘then it’s a good thing I’m fast.’”

This one kept me enthusiastic all the way through. I like the returning characters and the new ones. There’s still some grim stuff, but not quite so much spelled out (or maybe I just got good at skimming, but I don’t think so).

The conversation above is Evan Smoakes (the Nowhere Man) and Joey, his 16-year-old offsider of sorts, who has somehow ended up in his care. I think these books are better read in order, but I have to say, if I hadn’t heard how much the series improved, I probably wouldn’t have continued. I’m glad I did.

“Evan’s scuffed knuckles, a fetching post-fight shade of eggplant, ledged the steering wheel. His nose was freshly broken, leaking a trickle of crimson. Nothing bad, more a shifting along old fault lines.”

We know Evan is a killer, trained in some kind of special government program where he was taken as a young orphan and brought up learning all the intricacies of self-defence, weapons and munitions, hiding in plain sight, and a lot of computer skills. He’s also had some kind of relationship with Mia and her young son down the hall. A bit of romance that he can’t afford, given his lifestyle. But she and Peter are pretty good at spotting his various war wounds. And he still wishes he could maybe have a normal life. If only.

Joey, the fast worker in the opening quote, was a newly-recruited orphan whose training was interrupted, and she really IS a computer-hacking whizz. She’s pretty hard-bitten for 16 and has good reason to be.

Evan is completely out of his depth dealing with her, since his only real understanding of family was with Jack, his handler who raised him and treated him like a son. It’s the closest Evan’s come to having a parent. But the raising involved all the martial arts, how to get forged papers, how to travel the world and kill people without being discovered.

“Jack had trained him for so many contingencies, had made him lethal and worldly and cultured. But not domestic.”

So, out of his depth. We meet up with the worst of the baddies from the previous books. Van Sciver is in charge of eradicating any trace of the orphan program, particularly wiping Orphan X, Evan Smoakes, off the face of the earth.

As well as Joey, who’s both a help and a teen-aged hindrance, we also meet a whole new bunch of delightful drug runners from El Salvador.

“The tattoos were overwhelming. Pentagrams and names of the dear departed. Crossbones, grenades, dice, daggers, machetes. And words—words in place of eyebrows, blue letters staining lips, nicknames rendered across throats in Old English letters. Other tattoos coded for crimes the men had committed—rape, murder, kidnapping. Their rap sheets, inked right on their faces.”

Then there was this guy!

“It was his eyes. They were solid black. . . . The man had tattooed the whites of his eyes.”

ACK! Is that even possible? I enjoyed reading how our intrepid heroes (I include Joey) deal with so many enemies. Evan has a habit of counting the people he needs to eliminate, counting his bullets, and then keeping score as the story progresses.

We just know he can’t possibly have enough ammunition to win the day – it isn’t humanly possible. Is it? Read it and see! As for me, I’m waiting for the next book.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted.

#Hellbent #NetGalley

After a slightly disappointing second book in the series, the third book Hellbent brought back the excitement and energy I liked so much in the first book. I liked Evan's relationship with Joey and how it evolved but never lost it's charm. I'm excited to see how Evan Smoak takes on the next chapter and enemy in his story in book 4.

I am very invested in this series. I really like Evan. He has stayed distant from society until recently when he has started to make connections in the real world which shake his normal existence. However he is still the deadliest assassin out there and while people are always trying to kill him this time its more personal. When his handler and father figure Jack is targeted to draw him out Evan has had enough and goes after Van Sciver with a vengeance. But now his main goal is not just to kill Van Sciver but also to find out who is pulling the strings of the Orphan program again. But his biggest obstacle will be the "package" Jack has asked Evan to keep safe because protecting it may cause cracks in his detached wall of solitude.

I think this book really made Evan feel real, you can see him wanting a normal life but it just doesn't seem like its possible. I really wish/hope that there will be a way for Evan to have a life outside of his job. Looking forward to the next book which should pit Evan against his most deadly and powerful enemy yet.