Gregg Hurwitz - Prodigal Son

Also by Gregg Hurwitz

THE ORPHAN X NOVELS

Orphan X

The Nowhere Man

Hellbent

Out of the Dark

Into the Fire

OTHER NOVELS

The Tower

Minutes to Burn

Do No Harm

The Kill Clause

The Program

Troubleshooter

Last Shot

The Crime Writer

Trust No One

They’re Watching

You’re Next

The Survivor

Tell No Lies

Don’t Look Back

YOUNG ADULT NOVELS

The Rains

Last Chance

About the Author

Gregg Hurwitz is the author of the New York Times bestselling Orphan X novels, most recently Into the Fire . Critically acclaimed, his novels have been international bestsellers, have graced top ten lists, and have been published in thirty languages. Additionally, he’s sold scripts to many of the major studios, and written, developed, and produced television for various networks. Hurwitz lives in Los Angeles. You can sign up for email updates here.

Thank you for buying this

St. Martin’s Press ebook.

To receive special offers, bonus content,

and info on new releases and other great reads,

sign up for our newsletters.

Or visit us online at

us.macmillan.com/newslettersignup

For email updates on the author, click here.

Contents

Title Page

Copyright Notice

Dedication

Epigraphs

1. A New Brand of Danger

2. Serious Business

3. Whittled Down to Uselessness

4. Next-Level Deep Shit

5. A Killing Tool

6. A Suicidal Ghost

7. Cookie-Cutter Psyops

8. Sucker

9. The Woman

10. A Dog’s Breakfast

11. Just Fucking Perfect

12. People Skills

13. A Test

14. Wildly Out of Context

15. A Million Pieces of Evan

16. Outsize Monikers and Well-Honed Skills

17. The Social Room

18. Picking a Fight with Vodka

19. End of the Line

20. Bad Company

21. Busted Creatures

22. A Lifetime Ago

23. A Statue Garden of Zombies

24. An Unusual Relationship

25. The Wide World of Fuck

26. Pick Your Poison

27. Lost Boys

28. Penance

29. Broken Heart

30. From Nothing to Something

31. Chasing Good

32. Lifelike

33. Search and Destroy

34. Taste of Copper in the Air

35. Science for Two Hundred

36. Four-Letter Word

37. To Be Continued

38. Road Trip

39. Hold This

40. Proper Identification

41. A Dark-as-Fuck Rabbit Hole

42. The Stranger

43. Cuddle Huddle

44. Rorschach Blot

45. The Waiting Darkness

46. And They Laughed

47. White Knight

48. Better Than Real Life

49. A Nobody

50. Dummyproof

51. A Blob of Undefined Nothingness

52. Dogpile

53. Bump in the Night

54. This Shitty Life

55. Lost Cause

56. Help on the Ground

57. Some Kind of Thrill

58. A Whole Other Kind of Loneliness

59. A Burst Seam

60. The Other Half

61. Family

62. Your Dirty Parts

63. The Most Awful Thing

64. Wear the Brown Pants

65. Darker Darkness

66. A Nightmare Symphony

67. Mud Monster

68. Stop

69. The Love You Deserve

70. Dark Road

71. Ready

72. A Matter of Time

73. A Little Tiny Part

74. Nowhere Left to Go

Acknowledgments

Also by Gregg Hurwitz

About the Author

Copyright

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

First published in the United States by Minotaur Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group

PRODIGAL SON. Copyright © 2020 by Gregg Hurwitz. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.

www.minotaurbooks.com

Cover design by Ervin Serrano

Cover photographs: man © plainpicture/Mark Owen; cityscape © Gabriele Maltinti

The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

ISBN 978-1-250-25228-9 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-250-79449-9 (international, sold outside the U.S., subject to rights availability)

ISBN 978-1-250-25229-6 (ebook)

eISBN 9781250252296

Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact your local bookseller or the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com.

First U.S. Edition: January 2021

First International Edition: January 2021