A review by ejl2623
Lone Wolf by Gregg Hurwitz

5.0

When I open an Orphan X book, the writing, somehow casual, yet meticulous, immediately makes that novel a "can't put down" read. In Lone Wolf, in a topsy-turvy this can only happen to Evan Smoak, the search for a lost dog turns into high drama. Evan is often unable to feel human connections to people but he obviously longs for more. The novel opens with Evan walking up to his bio-Dad's double wide and finding out his Dad's a real loser. There goes his fantasy. After a few lost days, better left to the reader, he gets a call from Sophia, the daughter of his half-brother Andre. Her dog is lost. At first, this seems like the funny and irrelevant beginning to an Orphan X book, but Evan's search for the aptly named dog Loco leads X to an encounter with a deadly assassin, the Lone Wolf. This adversary is so clever and so capable, it seems Evan has met his match.

X needs to involve Joey, now in college, to try to hack into records that seem to also be more than equal to her skills. Meanwhile, there is a fun side story about Joey trying to join a sorority. Really, these books are best read in order. All of these people, including X's suppliers and helpers, Melinda and Tommy are folks whose characters we meet early on. Even some of the characters particular to a couple of earlier cases show up here and they are so memorable that my addled brain recalled them and their stories perfectly. And to top it off, two of our favorite tenants in the condominium, the place Evan is most taxed to appear normal, are in a war over the HOA chairperson position.