Hellbent

In bestseller Hurwitz’s thrilling third Orphan X novel (after 2017’s The Nowhere Man), Evan Smoak, who once worked as an assassin for the Orphan Program, a covert U.S. government agency, and now helps people in trouble from his base in L.A., violates one of the agency’s fundamental commandments: never make it personal. Evan’s mentor, Jack Johns, who recruited Evan at age 12 to the program, calls Evan’s help line. Soon afterward, operatives following the orders of Charles Van Sciver, another Orphan, take Jack prisoner aboard a Blackhawk helicopter. In an exciting action scene, Jack manages to sabotage the helicopter, but pays with his life. Evan decides to honor Jack’s last request to take care of a “package,” which turns out to be a teenage girl, who is, like Evan, also in Van Sciver’s crosshairs. The master killer hoping for redemption and struggling to relate to others emotionally may be a genre cliché, but such details as Evan’s sleeping on a bed levitated by magnets are sure to please fans of the Roger Moore Bond films. 150,000 announced first printing; author tour. Agent: Lisa Erbach Vance, Aaron Priest Literary Agency (Jan.)