The bar here in the middle of the desolate nowhere was little more than a sparse wooden structure composed of beams and walls. In this one, X finds himself in sticky situations, but we are starting to see more reliance on others, slight signs of aging, and introspection on relationships.

However, the plot is now circling back and recycling the President thing and a few other other themes I wont reveal. This is another great Orphan X novel, filled with dramatic moments, fights, shootouts, and witty writing that we have come to love in this series. Because the depth of the characters was really expanded here, and in a direction I loved it to go, I gave this four stars, even though the plot was a little disappointing.The gangs all back too, Joey, Dog, Tommy, Mia, Peter, Orphan V as well as Agent Templeton, who is STILL trying to capture Evan. Her ten-year-old son, Peter, another of the select few Evan felt a human attachment to, was now in the capable hands of Mia’s brother and sister-in-law. The action quickly moves to an Icelandic glacier where Evan Smoak has travelled on a holiday for the single purpose of enjoying a rare vodka, distilled to perfection from the simplest of ingredients. Evan Smoak, known as Orphan X due to his background of being trained as a governmental assassin, is known on the streets as the "Nowhere Man", someone who is committed to righting wrongs.

Maybe not the world-class assassin part but we have all felt the same fears and trepidation Orphan X is experiencing. Maybe because of his age, his knowledge of technology isn’t the greatest, so he relies on his 16-year-old ally Joey, who we met in book three. The lengths Washington will go to track Smoak down and bring him in, make for some of the most gripping pages in The Last Orphan – and we aren’t even halfway through!There's no doubt in my mind that these incredible tales of heroics are getting better with each iteration. I’m always amazed by Evan’s abilities and his talent to prevail even when it looks like he’s up against a no-win situation! This is probably the first thriller I’ve read in a while and I loved the fast pace of the story, the ingenious ways the author manages to get Evan out of a fix, and the supporting cast of characters who all have a role to play. The only time things tend to quieten down is when he’s back in his penthouse apartment/fortress enjoying a ridiculously expensive vodka, feeding his aloe plant, watering his living wall and recharging his batteries on his bed which is suspended in mid-air thanks to powerful earth magnets.

I know some much deserved smackdown is about to be served and it puts a smile on my face every time! Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Taking the threat under advisement, X must choose whether to go against his principles or tell the president to eff off and take his chances.

His novels have been shortlisted for numerous literary awards, graced top ten lists, and have been published in 30 languages. Evan Smoak was taken from an orphanage at the tender age of 12 and trained to be a lean, mean killing machine by a covert government programme.