The Haunting of Paynes Hollow by Kelley Armstrong

 

The plot:  When her estranged grandfather dies, Sam is surprised to learn that he left her their family's valuable lakefront property in his will. The catch: she has to stay at her family's old summer cottage for one month. The same cottage they were staying at when, as a child, she saw her father burying a dead boy's body. That was the summer that changed everything for Samantha Payne and her family. And the only reason she agrees to go back is because she desperately needs the money from the sale of the land to pay for her mother's dementia care.

But back in Paynes Hollow, the very place that supposedly inspired The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Sam is haunted by her own childhood memories of that long ago summer. Then her aunt goes missing. And Sam starts hearing phantom hoofbeats at night, and she thinks she sees the shadowy shapes of the drowned dead crawling from the lake. Is she losing her mind? Or is something more sinister going on? 

My thoughts:  Atmospheric. Suspenseful. And deliciously eerie. Armstrong has written a very fun supernatural horror story. I loved how she tied in aspects of the headless horseman with legends of the nykur. And I found Sam to be a very sympathetic character. I was rooting for her as she tried to parse the truth from the lies and figure out her own family's dark secrets. And they are dark. This is a fast-paced thriller that does not disappoint.  4.5/5 stars.

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Runner 13 by Amy McCulloch

 "An exhilarating thriller set against a 250-mile footrace in the Sahara Desert, where more than one ultramarathoner will be running for their lives."

What I loved:  The extreme setting. The extreme sport. And all the twists along the way. McCulloch, who herself completed the Marathon des Sables in the Sahara Desert, writes with such compelling authenticity. I loved the tension she creates among the different elite runners and the race director; the weather and the harsh terrain also play an important role in this story. I also liked how McCulloch weaves in the past with the present in a way that added to the mystery and the suspense. And I admired the resilience of her main character, Adrienne Wendell, as she navigates the tough race and the mysterious murders happening around her. This is a fabulous and fun thriller.   ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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The Innocent by David Baldacci

 One more trip.

One more kill.

It would be difficult, but then they all were.

He could easily die.

But that was also always the case.

It was a strange way to spend one's life, he knew.

But it was his way.

Brief plot summary:  Will Robie is a clandestine hit man for the US government; the man they call on to take out the ruthless and evil people no one else can stop. But when he's assigned a target that doesn't fit that definition, he refuses to make the kill. Now he's on the run with a teenage girl in tow who's fleeing the men who killed her parents. And this time, Robie makes it his job to keep her alive. 

My thoughts:  David Baldacci is one of my mom's favorite authors; she's read every book he's ever written more than once. But this is the first book by him that I've ever read. And I really liked it. Will Robie reminds me of Gabriel Allon and Evan Smoak--two of my favorite action/thriller heroes. And I loved his interactions with Julie, the sarcastic and streetwise yet very vulnerable teenage girl whose life he saves. This book has good writing and is well-plotted, fast-paced, and entertaining. And it won't be the last Baldacci novel that I read. 

My rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Dark Ride by Lou Berney

 "This is not the plot twist that my life required. I wish I'd never noticed those kids on the bench. I wish I'd never walked over. I wish, most of all, that I existed in a version of the multiverse where hurting kids with the glowing tip of a cigarette falls far beyond the boundaries of the human imagination. But I don't and it's not."

 

Hardly Reed is not a hero. He's a twenty-one year old college dropout who spends his days blissfully stoned and his nights working at an amusement park as a scare actor for minimum wage. And he's extremely content to drift through life hardly working, hardly trying. It's how he got his nickname. 

Then he spots two young children sitting silently, alone, scared, and sporting cigarette burns. And something inside Hardly shifts. He has to help those children. And when CPS does nothing, he knows he'll have to do it himself. 

"I'm not delusional. I know this is kind of crazy. I do. But look me in the eye and tell me it's not worth the risk. How many times in a lifetime do you get an opportunity to actually make a real difference. Like, a true life-changing difference. This might be the one point in my entire life that is the entire point of my life."

My thoughts:  From the first sentence to the last, this book is brilliantly written and compellingly intense. And such great characters! Hardly is a funny, engaging, and heartbreakingly likable narrator. I loved him and all his quirky friends. And everything he does to save those kids! What a gripping ride. He makes mistakes along the way and some of the outcomes are brutal, but he never gives up. This is a book I won't soon forget. It reads fast and packs a punch. And it might make you cry at the end. 

My rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

That's Not My Name by Megan Lally

 

The GIRL:  "I think I might be dead."  She wakes up in a ditch by the side of the road, bruised and bloodied. And unable to remember who she is or how she got there. The police find her, and so does a man claiming to be her father. He says her name is Mary Boone. And he has photos of her, an old school ID, and her birth certificate. He must be telling the truth. So why does nothing about him feel familiar?

DREW:  "Life really goes to shit when everyone thinks you killed your girlfriend."  Drew's girlfriend, Lola, went missing five weeks ago, and everyone in their small Oregon town blames him, including the police. They keep trying to get him to confess. But Drew knows he didn't hurt her; he thinks someone may have taken her. And he's determined to do everything he can to find her. 

My thoughts:  What a fun summer thriller! Lally does a great job of building a sense of dread and unease as she alternates between Mary's and Drew's POV.  Mary's fears grow as she notices inconsistencies in her father's story; and Drew's desperate search for Lola is equally compelling. These two characters are both believeable and easy to root for. The story itself has suspense and tension and a good twist at the end. I really liked it. 4.5/5 stars.

Two quick recommendations....

 

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

True crime podcaster, Ben Owens, is looking into the unsolved murder of Savannah Harper. His investigation brings Lucy Chase, the prime suspect, back to her hometown of Plumpton, Texas. It's the last place she wants to be, but Savvy was her best friend and Lucy was with her the night she died. Everyone thinks she did it, but no one can prove it. And Lucy can't remember what really happened that night. But it's time for her to find out the truth...even if the truth points to her. 

What a gripping twisty thriller! I loved the format and how each of Ben's podcast interviews brings out another piece of the truth. Then there's all the lies and contradictions and Lucy's own unreliable memories. It's great storytelling that kept me guessing until the very end.  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Ornithologist's Field  Guide to Love by India Holton

"Birds are easy; people are utterly bewildering."

Set in England in 1890, this captivating historical fantasy has wild avian magic, cutthroat ornithologists, and a ruthless competition to capture the rare and magical Caladrius bird. At stake? Being named Best Birder of the Year...and winning tenure! Beth, a serious, smart, and shy professor from Oxford reluctantly teams up with Devon, an irreverent, good looking, and intelligent professor from Cambridge who finds out his competitor is not only spunky, but sassy, too. 

"Who knew that racing across the country, being attacked by deadly magical birds and kissed by a handsome rogue, would be so transformative to one's character."

I loved Beth and Devon and their competitiveness, their love of birds, their wit and banter, and their enchanting romance. Holton writes with a tongue-in-cheek humor that I thoroughly enjoyed. In fact, I loved everything about this book.  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"All any of us want, bird and birder, is the freedom to find our own skies, our own magic."

Happy Reading!

The Hunter's Daughter by Nicola Solvinic

 

First line:  The first time I killed a man was on Tuesday.

Plot summary:  Anna Koray is a sheriff's lieutenant in rural Bayern County. It's where she grew up. But no one knows that. Just like no one knows her father was Stephen Theron, the notorious serial killer known as the Forest Strangler. For a long time, even Anna didn't know it because when she was young, a psychiatrist helped seal away her memories of him. But those memories are starting to return. And she's blacking out and losing time. Not only that, they just found a murdered young woman posed in a way that eerily resembles her father's victims. Is it a copycat? Her father returned from the dead? The Forest God he served? Or is it her?

My thoughts:  Taut. Eerie. Dark. Atmospheric. Disturbing at times (though never graphic or gory). And very compelling. The Hunter's Daughter is a layered mystery that kept me guessing until the end. Anna is a complex character haunted not only by her childhood memories, but by her father's legacy. There are times when she questions her own sanity. She's tried to be a good person and a good police officer, but people keep dying around her. And she's desperate to keep her past a secret, even to the point where she interferes with the murder investigation. I liked how I was never totally sure if I could trust her or not, though I really wanted to, because she's also a very sympathetic character. There were a lot of twists and red herrings along the way, but good hints and clues, too. And the ending was satisfying. I liked this one a lot. 

My rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!

The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean

 

"I have a hard time not blaming myself for what happened. I wish I didn't. I wish this was not a cautionary tale about what happens to girls who wander off in the dark. Who are made to learn there are bad people everywhere. That the truth is these people are not strangers. They are the men who you sleep with, the men you work with, the men you raise. I wish this wasn't what it means to be female--it is not a matter of if something bad will happen, but when."

Two years. Two weeks. One day. 

That's how long Ellie Black has been missing when she stumbles from the Captiol State Forest near Olympia, Washington. She's thin, bruised, clearly traumatized, and wearing a sweatshirt spattered with someone else's blood. Ellie's disappearance was Chelsey Calhoun's first case as a detective. Now she's hoping to find Ellie's abductor and arrest him. Only Ellie won't answer any of her questions, and it's clear she's keeping secrets. When Chelsey learns that the blood on Ellie's sweatshirt is from another girl who went missing before Ellie, Chelsey fears there are more missing girls out there still being held by the man or men who took Ellie. And she's determined to find them. 

"Ever since Ellie Black's disappearance, Chelsey has volunteered for any case involving violence against women. She always has plenty of work to do. All those beaten, all those bruised, all those maimed women are welcomed on Chelsey's shores. It is a type of atonement, Chelsey understands. She could not save (her sister) Lydia. She could not solve Ellie's case. ... A lump rises in Chelsey's throat, and she gulps it back. She won't allow the tears to come. All these girls. These bright, bold, beautiful girls. All that potential wasted. All those possibilities snuffed out. What could have been. The question stretches to infinity. She pulls one of Lydia's Beatrix Potter rabbits from the bed and screams into it with a shimmery, impotent rage."

This mystery is both page-turning and haunting. It alternates between Ellie's and Chelsey's POVs. I could understand and sympathize with Chelsey's intense determination to learn the truth about what happened to Ellie, and to keep it from happening to any other girls. And I liked the way Ellie's story unfolded bit by bit over the course of the novel. It kept me guessing about what secrets she was hiding. And there's a good, very unexpected twist, at the end. This is a very compelling thriller, as well as a sad commentary on the bad things that can happen to young girls in our society.  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!

The Only One Left by Riley Sager

 

At seventeen, Lenora Hope

Hung her sister with a rope,

Stabbed her father with a knife,

Took her mother's happy life.

"It wasn't me," Lenora said.

But she's the only one not dead.

The plot:  Maine, 1983. Kit McDeere is a home-health aide who made a serious mistake with her last patient. So when her employer offers her the chance to become the caregiver to Lenora Hope, the woman accused of killing her entire family decades ago, Kit has no choice but to head to Hope's End. Even though the thought of caring for a murderer disturbs her. The stately mansion sits on the cliffs overlooking the ocean; it's dilapidated now, and slanting towards the sea as the ground beneath it slowly erodes.  Besides Kit, there are three other employees at Hope's End: the housekeeper, the maid, and the groundskeeper. As for Lenora, she's partially paralyzed from a series of strokes, can't walk, can't speak, and can only move her left hand. To communicate, she taps once for no, twice for yes. But she can also tap out sentences on her typewriter. Kit finds Lenora secretive and hard to read. She's also very curious to know the truth about what really happened. So when Lenora types out the message: i want to tell you everything, Kit gets quickly drawn into Lenora's past and all the hidden secrets surrounding the murders of her family. And she starts to wonder if Lenora didn't kill her family, who did? 

My thoughts:  I love a thriller with an unexpected twist in it, but sometimes a book can have too many of them. And then they just muddle the story line and ruin the suspense. Like in this book. There's not just one plot twist at the end, there's three. And the first one completely flips the narrative. I felt that it made the big reveal about the truth of the Hope murders that followed it convoluted and confusing. The second big twist involved Kit and felt way too coincidental and unbelievable; and the very last twist not only felt tacked on and unnecessary, but completely implausible. Which was too bad, because I was enjoying the book up until then. It's compelling, and the setting is atmospheric. And even though I didn't really love any of the characters, I was still liking the book. But all those twists at the end, one right after the other, left me feeling nonplussed and dissatisfied. I just couldn't buy into them all. So while I normally love Riley Sager's novels, I found this one disappointing and less than stellar. 

Happy Reading!

North of Nowhere by Allison Brennan

 

The plot:  Sixteen-year-old Kristin McIntyre and her ten-year-old brother, Ryan, have been in hiding from their criminal father, Boyd McIntyre, for five years. But he's finally managed to track them down in Montana. And when their guardian and protector tries to fly them to safety, their plane ends up crashing in Lost Lake. Now Kristin and Ryan are on their own in the middle of the Montana wilderness, with a blizzard closing in on them, and several bad guys hot on their trail. Luckily, their Aunt Ruby is also looking for them, along with local rancher Nick Lorenzo and his teenage son, Jason.

My thoughts:  Allison Brennan writes a taut, action-packed and riveting thriller. I loved how she combines the suspense of the chase and wilderness survival in this one. She writes great characters, too; I especially liked Nick and his son and their relationship. And Kristin was so feisty and tough. I loved how she took care of and protected her younger brother. Ryan's deafness also added to the story line. Talk about an entertaining and fast-paced read!  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Drowning by T.J. Newman

    Will stared at the water-filled cabin, wondering two things. What happened... ...What now?

    The plane had been sinking. Everyone had thought this was it, they were done for. Then the water had stopped rising and no one had known what to think. Then out of nowhere--BAM--the plane had slammed into something. It was loud. Violent. Everyone thought, This is the end.

    But as the seconds ticked on, they realized the plane was still sealed and the air pocket was still intact. Somehow, they were still alive.

When Flight 1421 crashes into the Pacific Ocean six minutes after takeoff, Will Kent and his eleven-year-old daughter, Shannon, end up trapped in the sinking plane two hundred feet below the surface with ten other passengers. Their hope of rescue lies with the Coast Guard, the Navy, and with Will's ex-wife, Chris, a professional diver and deep sea welder. 

What an adrenalin rush! This was one propulsive page-turning thriller. The premise of being trapped in a submerged airplane is a scary one. And Newman's past experience as a flight attendant shines through, giving this book a level of authenticity that makes it even more suspenseful. I liked almost all of the characters, from the older couple celebrating their sixtieth anniversary, to the woman who wears her life preserver all the time because she doesn't know how to swim. But I especially loved the relationship between Will and his young daughter, and his wife's fierce determination to save them both. I also appreciated getting to see this disaster from both the passengers' and the rescuer's POVs. Drowning was the last book I read in August, and a perfect way to end my summer reading.

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The Last Orphan by Gregg Hurwitz

 

Who is Evan Smoak?

"To say the least, his childhood had been rough-and-tumble. Pinballed through a series of foster homes, he'd been ripped out of any semblance of ordinary life at the age of twelve to be trained covertly as an assassin. ... Orphans were trained for solo operations--no peers, no support, no back-up. Were it not for Jack Johns, Evan's handler and father figure, the Program would likely have been successful in extinguishing his humanity. The hard part wasn't turning him into a killer; the hard part was keeping him human. Integrating those two opposing drives had been the great challenge of Evan's life.

"After a decade spent committing unsanctioned hits around the globe, Evan had gone AWOL from the Program. Since then he'd committed himself to staying off the radar while using his skills to help others who were just as powerless as he'd been as a young boy--pro bono missions he conducted as the Nowhere Man." 

In The Last Orphan, the eighth book in this series, Evan has finally been tracked down and captured by government agents. The president promises his release IF he kills someone. But as much as Evan wants his freedom, he won't compromise his principles by killing on someone else's orders. Not ever again. He'll only do it if he determines that the killing is warranted. Which puts his life in danger. Luckily, Evan is no longer a lone assassin. He has friends. Like Tommy, his weapons expert; and Candy, an ex-Orphan who's almost as dangerous as Evan; and Joey, a sixteen-year-old computer hacker who was being trained as another Orphan when Evan's old handler helped her escape the Program. With their help, Evan can tackle anything. 

Why I love this series: 

I love Evan Smoak, and how he struggles to connect...not just with other people, but with his own emotions. I love his set of rules--the 10 commandments he lives by. I love his interactions with his neighbor, Mia, and her young son, Peter; and also his relationship with feisty, sarcastic Joey. And I love how he can take down the bad guys to protect the innocent! He's like Jason Bourne, Jack Reacher and Gabriel Allon all in one. These thrillers are very action-packed and suspenseful. Once I start one, I can't put it down. And The Last Orphan is no exception. This is one propulsive and amazing thrill ride. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐   

Happy Reading!

Similar Posts:

Orphan X (#1)

Evan's 10 Commandments

Good Girl, Bad Girl by Michael Robotham

 Michael Robotham is one of my favorite authors. I absolutely love his Joe O'Loughlin series. So when he came out with a new series in 2019 centered around a new main character, I was excited to give it a try. Three years later, I finally got around to it. 

Cyrus Haven is a forensic psychologist living in Nottingham. He's been asked to evaluate a teen-age patient named Evie Cormac. Evie has a complicated past. She was discovered hiding in a secret room in the home of a man who had been tortured and murdered; half-starved, she wouldn't tell anyone her real name or age. Now, six years later, she's petitioning the court to be released from Langford Hall, a high-security children's home. Cyrus finds her to be manipulative, clever, guarded, fatalistic, defiant, and utterly fascinating. But he doesn't think she's ready to face the real world on her own.

He's also been asked to help investigate the shocking murder of a local high-school figure skater, Jodie Sheehan. She's talented, pretty and popular, but she had secrets she was hiding from everyone around her. Cyrus believes one of those secrets got her killed, but proving it is another matter. Then Evie unexpectedly stumbles onto another of Jodie's secrets, and things get even more interesting and intense.

What can I say about this book? The plot is engrossing, the characters captivating. I liked Cyrus Haven immediately, and feisty Evie quickly won me over as well. And the mystery involving Jodie's murder was equally compelling. This thriller is the perfect summer read. I'd give it 5 stars. I can't wait to check out the next book in this series. 

Happy Reading!

Another favorite Robotham read:  Say You're Sorry

The Future is Yours by Dan Frey

"If you had the chance to look one year into the future, would you?"

Best friends since college, Ben Boyce and Adhvan Chaudry have created a startup company to build a quantum computer that uses quantum entanglement to connect to the future. It's Adhi's idea; he's the genius in this partnership. Ben brings unrestrained enthusiasm and the marketing savvy they'll need to get their business off the ground. They both believe in their prototype, The Future, but neither foresees the negative consequences of their revolutionary technology. Or the cost it will have on their friendship.

This is an entertaining and thought-provoking science fiction thriller. It's told through a series of emails, texts, blog posts, and transcripts from the Senate Hearings investigating The Future device. And I loved it. But then I'm a huge fan of epistolary novels, so this book totally worked for me. I liked the science of it, too, and the ethical questions that got raised as beta testers began looking into their futures. I also liked Ben and Adhi; both of these characters have their flaws, and some of their decisions made me shake my head, but their loyalty and friendship is what really drives this story. Not only is this novel innovative and unexpected, it's also compelling and reads fast. I even loved that crazy ending. I'd give this one 5 stars. 

Happy Reading!

Survive the Night by Riley Sager

 

Two months ago, Charlie's roommate, Maddy, was murdered by the Campus Killer. Charlie's been a mess ever since. And now she feels an overwhelming need to leave school and go home. ASAP. So she accepts a ride from Josh, a guy she meets at the campus ride board. He says he's headed to Ohio, too. And even though her boyfriend, Robbie, said he would drive her home that weekend, Charlie can't wait. So she gets in the car with a stranger. But they're only an hour into their drive when Charlie catches Josh in a lie. And she starts to wonder if Josh might actually be the Campus Killer. Only Charlie has hallucinations, movies that she sees in her head, and she's just gone off her meds. So are her fears about Josh true? Or are they the product of her own anxious imagination?

This book is billed as a thrilling cat-and-mouse game. I found it mostly frustrating. You spend the majority of the book inside Charlie's head, with all her self-doubts, her fears, and her 'mind movies'. Not only is she an unreliable narrator, but she's an incredible indecisive one, too. And because you only see Josh through her eyes, it's hard to know what to believe about him, or what game he's playing, if any. Is he a killer? Or is she just crazy?

After awhile, I found it hard to care. Mostly because I couldn't find anything to like about Charlie. Or Josh. And the plot just kept getting more absurd and implausible. Then, Sager throws in one last twist at the end that I just couldn't buy into; it was one twist too many and felt like an unfair, last minute surprise.

Needless to say, Survive the Night ended up being a very disappointing read for me. Which is sad because I've enjoyed reading all of Riley Sager's other books. But I guess they can't all be 4-star reads. Still, I did get to read this one with Melody, which is always fun. Be sure to check out her rant, I mean her review, of this one for another opinion. 

Happy Reading!

Other books by Riley Sager that I liked better than this one:

Home Before Dark

Lock Every Door

The Last Time I Lied

The Gray Man by Mark Greaney

 

The Plot:  Court Gentry is an assassin known as the Gray Man and he's very good at what he does. But his last job upset a lot of people, including the very powerful LaurentGroup. In order to save a billion dollar deal, they need Gentry's head. But they also know that to catch the Gray Man, they'll need all the help they can get. So they call in reinforcements and soon have ten strike force teams from all around the world hot on Gentry's tail. On the run, alone and injured, Gentry can't even trust his own handler to help him. In fact, everyone seems out to double cross him. But he's not the Gray Man for nothing. 

My thoughts:  This book reminded me of the Jason Bourne movies: lots of action and a high body count. It also has a main character I found easy to root for. Because despite his job, Court Gentry is a man with his own code of honor, who only hunts down the bad guys others can't touch, and who tries to do the right thing even when it puts his own life at risk. He also doesn't apologize for being good at his job. And he doesn't lose sleep over it either. He's the Gray Man. And I couldn't help but like him. There's also a cute eight-year-old girl named Claire in this one that I loved. All in all, this is a fun roller-coaster ride of a read that starts off fast and never loses speed; and I can't wait to check out the next one. 

Happy Reading!

The Drifter by Nicholas Petrie...

8 Things to know about Peter Ash:

• "Peter was lean and rangy, muscle and bone, nothing extra."
• "He had the thoughtful eyes of a werewolf a week before the change."
• "He'd fought two wars over eight years, with more deployments than he cared to remember."
• "But he liked fixing old houses. He'd done it with his dad in Northern Wisconsin. ... The job today was simple, a battle he could win using only his mind, his muscles, and a few basic tools. He could get lost in the challenge and let the war years fade."
• Peter is suffering from a unique form of PTSD. "He called it the white static. His very own war souvenir." It makes it impossible for him to stay inside for very long. So for the past year he's lived outside, wandering the North Cascades, hiking, camping, breathing, and hoping the static will go away.
• When he learns that his friend and fellow marine, Jimmy Johnson, has just committed suicide, Peter knows he has to come down from the mountain to do what he can to help out Jimmy's widow and their two little boys. 
• Somehow Peter ends up with the meanest, ugliest, and smelliest dog he's ever seen...because he can't make himself take it to the pound.
• When he fixes Dinah Johnson's front porch (for free), he finds a bag filled with money and plastic explosives. And Peter knows he has to find out how it got there, and who wants it back, before Dinah and her boys get hurt.

Action. Mystery. A totally likable character. And a dog! This book has it all. And it reads fast. I really liked this one. Can't wait to read the next book in the series.

Happy Reading!

Zero Sum Game by S.L. Huang

My name is Cas Russell. I do retrieval. It means I get things back for people. That's my job. ... (I'm also) really good at math.

Math is Cas Russell's superpower. Angles and forces. Vector sums. Momentum. Objects in Motion. Velocities and response times. She can calculate them all in  mere seconds. And with that knowledge, she can scale buildings, defend herself against any and all attackers, take out the bad guys, even avoid bullets. Handy skills to have, especially since her latest retrieval job has just pitted her against a super secret, super scary organization named Pithaca. They want to control the world by controlling people's thoughts. Even Cas's. And she's not sure how to calculate that.

My thoughts:

This book is one crazy thrill ride! Intense. Compelling. And full of action and suspense. And Cas is a great kick-ass protagonist. I loved her math skills. Her best friend, Rio, is a sociopathic killer, but I couldn't help but like him, too. Then there's Arthur, the ex-cop turned private detective who's also working the case, and Checker, his wheelchair-bound hacker friend. Such great characters! I was hooked from the start. Is this book plausible? No. But is it super fun and entertaining? Absolutely! I can't wait to read the sequel.

Happy Reading!

Fun facts about S.L. Huang:

She got her math degree from MIT. Plus, she's a Hollywood stuntwoman and a firearms expert.

Similar read:

Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz

Two Smoak-ing Reads....

The Nowhere Man (Orphan X #2) by Gregg Hurwitz

Evan Smoak is the Nowhere Man. He rescues the helpless and the desperate. Only this time he's going to have to rescue himself, because he's been "captured, drugged and spirited off to a remote location. His captors think they have him trapped and helpless, but they don't know who they're dealing with--or that they've trapped themselves with one of the deadliest and most resourceful men on earth."

Another fun thrill ride with one of my new favorite characters. Full of action and suspense, it's a great sequel to Orphan X. Warning: there's a high body count in this one.

Hellbent (Orphan X #3) by Gregg Hurwitz

When someone close to Evan Smoak is killed, he's determined to hunt down the men responsible. Every last one of them. And he has the skills and the will to do it. But things get a little more complicated when he ends up with a sixteen-year-old girl in tow--a girl who's been orphan-trained just like him. A girl who needs his help and protection.

I think this is my favorite Orphan novel yet! If I was in trouble, I'd definitely want Evan Smoak on my side.
(Side note: these books are best read in order.)

Happy Reading!

EVAN SMOAK'S TEN COMMANDMENTS:

1. Assume nothing.

2. How you do anything is how you do everything.

3. Master your surroundings.

4. Never make it personal.

5. If you don't know what to do, do nothing.

6. Question orders.

7. One mission at a time.

8. Never kill a kid.

9. Always play offense.

10. Never let an innocent die.

A 5-Star Thrill Ride...

The Orphan Program was a secret government agency that took orphans and trained them to be covert operatives and assassins. Evan Smoak was 12 when he became Orphan X. He went on his first mission at 19. Ten years later, he managed to escape from the program and disappear. Now he's the Nowhere Man, a well-trained weapon and rumored protector of the innocent and desperate. He lives by the rules he was taught as Orphan X:  one mission at a time, always play offense, master your surroundings, never make it personal, and most important of all, never let an innocent die. But his current case is testing all those rules...and all his survival skills, too. Because the bad guys aren't just gunning for his client. They're gunning for him.

I loved this book! Evan Smoak is like a combination of Jack Reacher, Gabriel Allon, and Jason Bourne, three of my all-time favorite tough guys. He's great. And so smart. I loved watching him outwit his enemies. But my favorite moments were his interactions with the 8-year-old boy who lives downstairs. This book is jam-packed with action and suspense. And it's so well-written. I could not put it down. And I was sad when it ended. I can't wait to read the next book in this series.

Happy Reading!