Last Orphan (Orphan X, 8)

The Last Orphan is the eighth book in the Orphan X series by best-selling American author, Gregg Hurwitz. Two months after his neighbour and sometime lover, Mia Hall is left in a coma, Evan Smoak is on a glacier in Iceland, tasting his favourite tipple, and dealing with some obnoxious locals.

Her road trip having taken her to Arizona, his protégé Joey Morales hits a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for which Evan ends up giving phone support. Later, checking on the welfare of Mia's ten-year-old son, Peter, challenges Evan with providing some psychological advice for pre-teen angst. He's having to find his human side quite a bit…

When Mia regains consciousness, a visit to the hospital turns out to be a lot more complicated than it should be and, observing one of his ironclad Orphan Commandments, Evan ends up in the custody of Special Agent Naomi Templeton. She connects him with President Victoria Donahue-Carr, who presents him with an ultimatum.

Luke Devine, charming and influential (Joey later refers to him as a hedge-funder with a God-complex), has become a problem for legislation the POTUS wants to pass: Evan's (revoked) pardon will be reinstated if he (aided by government agencies) removes this fly in their ointment. Evan has two immediate problems with that: he doesn't work FOR anyone, let alone the government, and he works alone, or chooses with whom he works.

Of course, LAPD, Secret Service and the FBI underestimate Evan's resources, so while he's being held at the Beverly Hills Hotel considering if he'll cooperate, he makes his smooth and subtle exit. But Evan can't help getting Joey to run some checks on Devine, and soon finds himself involved, much deeper than he'd intended.

Encounters with two of Devine's ex-marines have ended fatally (for the marines), but when he enters Devine's home, he is eventually chatting with a man who rationalises his every move and casts serious doubt on Donahue-Carr's motives. Does Evan begin to second-guess his own convictions about the man?

In this instalment, both the prospective target, a certain young cellist, and the sister of a victim have Evan considering his motives and actions. As always, Joey Morales is a breath of fresh air and the perfect foil for serious Evan: every page that features Joey and Dog the dog is pure entertainment. Her IT expertise is again called on, and both Tommy Stojack and Orphan V provide backup doing what they are good at. For V, that includes advice on how to get rid of a body:

"Start with a hacksaw, preferably lightweight extruded aluminium with a rubberized handle to avoid blisters. You're gonna want a ten pack of replacement blades, at least twelve inches with twenty-four teeth per inch. For the legs I prefer a hand ax to speed things along. Safety goggles, two industrial blenders, a super-heavy poly tarp, call it twenty-three mils to avoid nicks and drips. I've been off hydrofluoric acid lately. Playing with concentrated sulfuric acids. The hydrogen peroxide's gotta be added drop by drop – that's the trick. It's called piranha solution. Leaves behind nothing but black organic sludge and gallstones."

The body count might be nine or more; there's plenty of action as well as lots of dark humour. As usual with this series, it's best to don your disbelief suspenders from page one and just enjoy the ride. Hugely entertaining action drama.