Evan Smoak, the Nowhere Man, helps the helpless with their problems while keeping a low profile since people from his past want him dead. Evan saves a young girl from being sold into sexual slavery. He terminates the human trafficking operation but learns that another teen has been packed into a shipping container which is scheduled to leave the country in two weeks. As Evan makes plans to rescue the newest victim, he is knocked unconscious only to awaken inside a room in a beautiful chalet surrounded by snow covered mountains. His captor, René, believes Evan is a rich drug dealer and wants him to transfer a huge amount of money into his accounts. He tells Evan if he does this, he can go free. René has no idea that Evan is really a deadly assassin.
After looking over some of the reviews, I know my opinion is in the minority. I enjoyed the first book in the Orphan X series, but I found this one hard to slog through. It felt like eighty percent of the book was Evan being tormented by his captor, escaping, and being recaptured...only to be repeated again and again and again. The narrative was very slow, and the action sequences went on forever. Evan seemed to be a combination of James Bond, Superman, and Rambo, getting out of one scrape after another. I would have liked a little more reality in the story. I also hated that we spent so much time in René's head. He was a very one-dimensional character who didn't need that much page time.
It wasn't all bad. I enjoyed Evan knocking off René's henchmen. He took out so many they had to get reinforcements. My favorite part of the story was Evan's neighbors, Mia and Peter. I hope they have more storyline in future books. My rating: 3 Stars.
After looking over some of the reviews, I know my opinion is in the minority. I enjoyed the first book in the Orphan X series, but I found this one hard to slog through. It felt like eighty percent of the book was Evan being tormented by his captor, escaping, and being recaptured...only to be repeated again and again and again. The narrative was very slow, and the action sequences went on forever. Evan seemed to be a combination of James Bond, Superman, and Rambo, getting out of one scrape after another. I would have liked a little more reality in the story. I also hated that we spent so much time in René's head. He was a very one-dimensional character who didn't need that much page time.
It wasn't all bad. I enjoyed Evan knocking off René's henchmen. He took out so many they had to get reinforcements. My favorite part of the story was Evan's neighbors, Mia and Peter. I hope they have more storyline in future books. My rating: 3 Stars.
Excellent series. Read them in order if you can.
