The Orphan X Series became a binge read for me in 2021 and I'm currently listening to the audio version of the seventh, upcoming book, Dark Horse. In my opinion, reading these in order is very important. While Hurwitz certainly catches us up in each book, his development of the characters and their relationships is key to optimal enjoyment of the series. I loved that, in Prodigal Son, we got even more information about Evan Smoak's years in foster care, how he got there and how he became Orphan x, part of a deep dark group of stone cold government assassins. I'm selective about what violent books I read and these are very violent, cinematically so. Hurwitz has the gift of writing excellent dialogue (internal and external); narrative details that amuse and expand our understanding; and freaking crazy scenes of epic heroism from Evan Smoak, now known as the Nowhere Man. He has a cadre of vendors who keep him in gadgets and weaponry a la James Bond. In books one through five, as the Nowhere man, Evan helps people who are in life-threatening need who are at least fairly sympathetic, good or well-meaning individuals. They are usually up against diabolical and clever villains. In Prodigal Son, Evan's birth mother, who he never met or knew about, engages him to save the life of a man she identifies as a good friend's son. He is the last person living who witnessed the inadvertent assassination of a US citizen by drones the size of dragonflies. Those familiar with the series know that Evan is trying to retire from being the Nowhere man, has a love interest who is a prosecutor, Mia, with a nine year old son, Peter, is a guardian of sorts to computer genius Joey, who is sixteen but living on her own with fake i.d. that says she is eighteen. Evan is forced to come to terms with finding space in his highly trained OCD self to feel feelings for his biological mother, her friend's son, Joey, Mia and Peter. He particularly finds his current "victim," Andrew, the man he is helping unsympathetic and annoying. Along the way, with Joey's exceptional skills, Evan infiltrates some highly dangerous sites and faces a guy that does not care about anything at all, who is assisted by a brother/sister assassin team that are totally crazy. If you're looking for "alls well that ends well," there's a twist that makes you question if this ends well. Wait for it.... Just as in book 5, Evan answers his fancy super secure phone to hear the woman at the other end claiming to be his mother, the unexpected ending in book 6 leads us into the next Evan Smoak adventure. And as I'm a few chapters in, I'm looking forward to where that takes me.