This is the ninth book in Hurwitz's Orphan X / Nowhere Man series, and it continues to be one of my favorite series in the vigilante thriller genre. New installments of the series are very reliably released every February and, depending on my reading list at the time, I either jump into it right away or save it for midway through the year when the wait for the next one won't be as long. I'm glad I did the latter in this case, because while every book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger (or at least a lead-in) for the next one, this book's ending was a real attention-getter for those of us who are familiar with the franchise and its characters.

I've always been impressed with Hurwitz's ability to remain topical with his books, and this installment is certainly no exception as it tackles the use of AI, particularly by those who are looking to exploit it regardless of the human cost. On the plus side, it was well-written and compelling, as always. I particularly like the way the protagonist continues to loop in and take advantage of his relationship with characters that he's come across in previous books, which makes the world feel more well-developed and makes Evan seem like he's learning something about his humanity. On the minus side, the bad guy (or girl, in this case) who always given Evan a run for his money was a bit of a disappointment because she felt kind of like a recycled character concept from previous books without much more built on top of it.

I'd probably put this title somewhere in the middle or upper middle part of the hierarchy of best books in the series; it really was a quality read, but there are definitely other titles in the franchise that I liked better and felt like they were more passionate projects for the author.

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Created Jan 18, 2025 at 4:16pm • Submit your own review...