Prodigal Son by Gregg Hurwitz

Published by Minotaur Books on January 26, 2021

Prodigal Son is the sixth Orphan X novel. Gregg Hurwitz seems to have gained confidence in his material as the series has progressed. The early novels were a bit gimmicky, placing a routine, indestructible thriller hero in two overlapping roles: protector of the weak (along the lines of the Equalizer) and victim of a government plan to turn kids into deadly assassins (along the lines of Jason Bourne). The novels have steadily drifted away from those clichéd themes while developing the hero’s personality in greater depth. Prodigal Son is the best in the series so far and will probably be hard to top.

A man named Andre, working a dead-end security job at an impound lot, watches a man die in a way he can’t explain. The death is caused by an advanced military weapon. Andre doesn’t know that, but he knows enough to flee. Having been the only witness to a killing on U.S. soil committed with secret technology, Andre becomes a high value target of the weapon developer.

None of this should concern Evan Smoak, who has removed himself from the savior business he started while operating as the Nowhere Man. But Andre happens to know Evan’s mother, and Evan’s mother wants Evan to help Andre.

Wait, Orphan X has a mother? Yes, we learned that at the end of Into the Fire. Fans of the series will understand why Evan has some issues regarding his mother, but they reunite in Argentina and Even agrees to help Andre until he decides not to help him until he decides to help him again. Andre and Evan knew each other as orphaned children but Evan, who has an understandable coldness in his soul and an unfortunate superiority complex, views Andre as a loser until Evan’s ward Joey reminds him that compassion has greater value than smugness.

Other series characters return in Prodigal Son, including the formidable Orphan V, the dog who helps Joey embrace her soft side, and the neighbor who would like to be Evan’s girlfriend if he weren’t always running around the world and killing people. All of the collateral characters are growing into their individualized personalities (except fo the dog, who displays the constancy of a dog). I particularly enjoy Joey’s teenage snark. Andre promises to be a good addition to the cast.

It is Evan’s character development that sets Prodigal Son apart from most action novels. There’s plenty of action in a plot that has Evan infiltrating a military base (twice), dodging advanced weaponry, and using controlled violence to teach bullies that their actions have consequences. But the story is enhanced by Evan’s struggles to understand why his mother abandoned him, his recognition of the impact that abandonment had on his controlling and obsessive personality, and his realization that he needs to make some changes if he wants to live his best life.

Not all of Prodigal Son is credible, but that’s a charge that can be lodged against most modern thrillers. I was particularly unwilling to believe that the developer of secret technology for the military so easily consented to meet with Smoak (posing as a tech writer) and gave him a tour of classified projects. On the other hand, various technologies that appear in the story reflect impressive research by Hurwitz. They help the plot seem plausible.

The story ends with a cliff-hanger and with another link to Evan’s past that might be explored in a future novel. This is a series that I will continue reading regardless of cliff-hangers in the hope that Hurwitz can continue writing with the depth he has shown in recent Orphan X novels, and particularly in Prodigal Son.

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