Author:Andy McNab
On a freezing winter's night, a small craft skims the Thames towards London's most exclusive riverside hotel. On board is a lone assassin, his target - Britain's most powerful new politican.
In a nation threatened by extremists, billionaire businessman Vernon Rolt's plans for a zero-tolerance crackdown have touched a popular nerve.
MI5 operative Tom Buckingham is undercover inside Rolt's organisation, from where he must neutralise the rogue assassins out to kill his boss.
All too soon, Tom gets caught up in a far more devastating plot which will change the political landscape of Europe, for ever . . .
Original and exciting . . . one of his best
—— SunOrphan X is his best yet - a real celebration of all the strengths Gregg Hurwitz brings to a thriller
—— Lee ChildOrphan X is the most gripping, high-octane thriller I've read in a long, long time!
—— Tess GerritsenOrphan X is most exciting new series character since Jack Reacher. A page-turning masterpiece of suspense
—— Jonathan KellermanMind blowing! A perfect mix of Jason Bourne and Jack Reacher
—— Lisa GardnerOrphan X is the most exciting thriller I've read since The Bourne Identity ... A new thriller superstar is born!
—— Robert CraisOrphan X is not good. Orphan X is great. Whatever you like best in a thriller - action, plot, character, suspense - Orphan X has it
—— Simon ToyneA new series character to rival Reacher . . . anyone reading Orphan X won't be surprised that a cadre of peers, from Tess Gerritsen to Lee Child, have lined up to praise it
—— IndependentBestseller Hurwitz melds non-stop action and high-tech gadgetry with an acute character study in this excellent series opener . . . Evan Smoak is an electrifying character
—— Publishers WeeklyIn terms of plot, characters, suspense and innovation, Orphan X is outstanding . . . I've always thought that one reason for Tom Clancy's success was the endless detail he provided about military hardware, and that the James Bond novels benefited from the loving attention Ian Fleming devoted to the martinis, expensive cars and gorgeous women he so admired. Hurwitz outdoes both writers . . . Orphan X is a smart, stylish, state-of-the-art thriller. It's also the start of a series, one that might give Lee Child's Jack Reacher books a run for their money
—— WASHINGTON POSTA masterpiece of suspense and thrills . . . Turn off the real world and dive into this amazing start to a new series
—— Associated PressThere is a pristine classicism to Gregg Hurwitz's Orphan X, which borrows from Robert Ludlum and superhero lore to bring us Evan Smoak, adopted as a child by a shadowy figure called Jack and trained to be an assassin as part of a secret US government scheme. When the Orphan programme (as it is known) is disbanded, Evan moves to California and devotes himself to good works - taking out a slum-landlord paedophile cop, for example, after his victim calls Evan's special number. However, his meticulously compartmentalised life makes him vulnerable . . . Orphan X is tight and tense in all the right places. But it wouldn't work half as well if we didn't feel Evan's pain and share his panic as the worst-case scenario unfolds: another former Orphan, with a less noble agenda, seems to be hunting him. Orphan X is weapons-grade thriller-writing from a modern master
—— GuardianA masterpiece of suspense and thrills . . . Turn off the real world and dive into this amazing start to a new series
—— Daily MailBond, Frodo, Paddington Bear - some of literature's greatest heroes have been orphans. Add Orphan X's Evan Smoak to the list
—— ShortlistThe page turner of the season
—— The TimesA cracking psychological thriller that drips with menace...tightly plotted and completely engrossing.
—— Good HousekeepingJoanne Harris is best-known for the France-set novel Chocolat,.But she does a nice line in witty psychological thrillers...Excellent.
—— SunThe characterisation is always totally convincing....The denouement is exciting and totally surprising to the reader...a thrilling and unexpected ending.
—— Crime Review