Orphan X

Wow, this was gripping. I don't normally gravitate towards action thriller books but this one had me on the edge of my seat, unable to put the book down because I just had to find out what was going on.

Evan Smoak is the titular Orphan X, trained since he was a young boy in a secret government program to become a killing machine. He defaults from the program at some point and strikes out on his own, becoming The Nowhere Man and helping out people at the end of their rope to get out of sticky situations, while at the same time doing everything he can to avoid detection from his former employers. Things get sticky for him when protecting a client puts him in the crosshairs of an organization that seem to be getting too close to Evan for comfort.

I gotta admit first that I skimmed past a lot of the action sequences in this book. This isn't so much the fault of the book, but really because I'm not really good at visualizing fast-paced action in stories and it's all the same to me whether I read it closely or glaze over it. Even so though the book had plenty to keep me engaged and occupied. I was drawn into the gimmick of the book. Instead of having a roughed-up morally grey ex-assassin, Evan Smoak was unexpectedly a protagonist I found myself rooting for. He is surprisingly human despite his former occupation and genuinely just wants to do the right things and save people, not unlike Batman. The training that had been drilled into his subconsciousness since he was a child is crucial in saving his skin in his many assignments through the years, but Evan also struggles with how it also renders it more difficult for him to establish some human connection with people outside of his dangerous world, no matter how much he really wants to.

The book had me guessing about the identities and motives of the few characters that we do meet. The few twists in the end were not mind-blowing but still pretty decent and satisfying enough. Some thoughts on the ending: I was rooting for Mia all along so I'm pretty happy that she turned out to not be some kind of spy or agent somehow. I guess it would've been difficult for her to have been with a young child in tow, but you never know. I wasn't a fan of Evan's connection with Katrin, and she threw me the most for a loop. She felt so sus all along, but the book was also so upfront about how sus she was that I thought it must be a trick and she must actually be innocent. The narrative then had us where it wanted us when Memo Vasquez was introduced, and really had us thinking we maligned Katrin all this time - but nope. Shoulda trusted my gut feeling all along. It was unfortunate that Katrin/Danika died in the end, but I'm glad that her daughter Sam managed to get through it all okay. Also Mia and Peter getting through without serious harm was great as well, I'm pretty sure they'll somehow return in future instalments.

Very happy that I've read this at long last and will certainly be continuing the series.