Hellbent by Gregg Hurwitz
Evan Smoak is the Nowhere Man. A man trained literally from childhood to be a deadly off-the-books government assassin in the Orphan program. He broke away from the program and dedicated his life to helping people who have nowhere else to turn. But now the Orphan program is being shut down and the head of the program, former Orphan Charles Van Sciver, is determined to erase all remnants of the program, including Evan Smoak.
Van Sciver has finally tracked down Jack Johns, Evan’s mentor and father figure. Johns reaches out to Evan with one final request: find and protect his new protege/recruit for the orphan program. What follows is a race back and forth across the country as Van Sciver and Smoak try again and again to turn the tables on each other and end the threat that they represent to each other.
There are a lot of great thriller series, but what sets Hurwitz’s books apart is the depth and humanity of the characters. Jack Johns trained Evan to be deadly, but he also attempted to leave his humanity intact. Evan’s constant struggle with his own humanity is front and center in Hellbent as Evan sees the lessons Johns tried to impart to him in the form of the protege left for him to protect. As he attempts to pass on these lessons he finds himself looking at Johns wisdom in a new light and finding deeper meaning in them for himself.
Hellbent is also filled with action from beginning to end. Guns, bombs, knives and hand to hand combat leap off the page. Neither the heroes nor the villains are perfect but they are both exceptionally skilled. The cat and mouse games between them heightens the excitement and leads to an explosive climax where the fate of most of the major players is in doubt. Hurwitz tells a complete and exciting story, but the ending leaves no doubt as to where the next book is going and I can’t wait. Jump into this series if you haven’t already. It’s a good one. Highly recommended.
One other note; This book contains chapter titles that each pertain to the chapter that follows. This is something that used to be commonplace but has practically disappeared. I loved it! I hope this starts a trend of bringing chapter titles back.
I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of this book from the publisher.
Buy it here:
Van Sciver has finally tracked down Jack Johns, Evan’s mentor and father figure. Johns reaches out to Evan with one final request: find and protect his new protege/recruit for the orphan program. What follows is a race back and forth across the country as Van Sciver and Smoak try again and again to turn the tables on each other and end the threat that they represent to each other.
There are a lot of great thriller series, but what sets Hurwitz’s books apart is the depth and humanity of the characters. Jack Johns trained Evan to be deadly, but he also attempted to leave his humanity intact. Evan’s constant struggle with his own humanity is front and center in Hellbent as Evan sees the lessons Johns tried to impart to him in the form of the protege left for him to protect. As he attempts to pass on these lessons he finds himself looking at Johns wisdom in a new light and finding deeper meaning in them for himself.
Hellbent is also filled with action from beginning to end. Guns, bombs, knives and hand to hand combat leap off the page. Neither the heroes nor the villains are perfect but they are both exceptionally skilled. The cat and mouse games between them heightens the excitement and leads to an explosive climax where the fate of most of the major players is in doubt. Hurwitz tells a complete and exciting story, but the ending leaves no doubt as to where the next book is going and I can’t wait. Jump into this series if you haven’t already. It’s a good one. Highly recommended.
One other note; This book contains chapter titles that each pertain to the chapter that follows. This is something that used to be commonplace but has practically disappeared. I loved it! I hope this starts a trend of bringing chapter titles back.
I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of this book from the publisher.
Buy it here:
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