Thursday, March 4, 2021

SERIES REVIEW - Orphan X

 

In this combined series review, I will be reviewing all of the books and novellas in the Orphan X series by Gregg Hurwitz. These books are all published by Minotaur. This is an exciting adventure series that makes me think of a young Jack Reacher.

YouTube video review:


Title
:   Orphan X
Format:  Audiobook
No. of Pages:   367
Date of Publication:   January 19, 2016 
My Rating:   4 Stars
DESCRIPTION:

The Nowhere Man is a legendary figure spoken about only in whispers. It's said that when he's reached by the truly desperate and deserving, the Nowhere Man can and will do anything to protect and save them.

But he's no legend.

Evan Smoak is a man with skills, resources, and a personal mission to help those with nowhere else to turn. He's also a man with a dangerous past. Chosen as a child, he was raised and trained as part of the off-the-books black box Orphan program, designed to create the perfect deniable intelligence assets—i.e. assassins. He was Orphan X. Evan broke with the program, using everything he learned to disappear.

Now, however, someone is on his tail. Someone with similar skills and training. Someone who knows Orphan X. Someone who is getting closer and closer. And will exploit Evan's weakness—his work as The Nowhere Man—to find him and eliminate him. Grabbing the reader from the very first page, Orphan X is a masterful thriller, the first in Gregg Hurwitz's electrifying new series featuring Evan Smoak. 


MY THOUGHTS:

Orphan X is the exciting first book in this series by the same name. We meet Evan Smoak, often called The Nowhere Man, He is known as Orphan X. Evan was abandoned as a baby, and was eventually found and housed in a program that trained young boys to be killing machines. This was a Black Ops program, referred to as the Orphan program and they were trained to become government assassins. Evan made his first kill at 19 years of age.

It is ten years later, Evan has chosen to leave the program and now he is in a run for his life. Evan will not get away easily. No one leaves the program, so he is being trailed by someone with skills to match his own. Meanwhile, he has since lost his handler/father-figure Jack. Despite being chased, Evan begins to use his inestimable skills to try and help others.

There are a couple of particular things of that I’m worth noting about Evan. First of all he has extreme case of OCD. Secondly he was raised by a list of commandments and part of his role as an assassin and he lives by those principles to this day. Also, he has a great love of vodka. Can’t forget to mention that. Also, there is a character introduced in this series that has had a minor role throughout that I have enjoyed seeing from time to time.

This first book is most certainly action packed, gadget filled, and has excitement from beginning to end. What a great introduction to a thrilling series.


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Title
:   Buy a Bullet
Format:  Audiobook
No. of Pages:   83
Date of Publication:   October 11, 2016
My Rating:   3 Stars
DESCRIPTION:

The Nowhere Man is a figure shrouded in secrecy—a near legendary figure who helps those lucky few who are given the means to reach out to him.

Before he was the Nowhere Man, Evan Smoak was a highly trained government operative known to a few as Orphan X. This is the story of Smoak's first outing as the Nowhere Man, where after completing a mission in Northern California, he happens to spot a young woman at a coffee shop. Brutalized and under the control of a very powerful, unscrupulous man, her life is in danger if she doesn't escape. And the only person that can help her do that is a man with the background and skills of the Nowhere Man.


MY THOUGHTS:

This exciting novella tells us how Evan became a part of the program with his first outing as The Nowhere Man. Evan meets a woman in a coffee shop and can sense she is in danger. Evan sets out to rescue her from her circumstances. Albeit brief, for those that were reading this series as it was being published had a nice, quick story to tie them over until the next book in the series was released.

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Title
:   The Nowhere Man
Format:  Audiobook
No. of Pages:   369
Date of Publication:   January 17, 2017    
My Rating:   4 Stars
DESCRIPTION:

He was once called Orphan X.

As a boy, Evan Smoak was taken from a children's home, raised and trained as part of a secret government initiative buried so deep that virtually no one knows it exists. But he broke with the programme, choosing instead to vanish off grid and use his formidable skill set to help those unable to protect themselves.

One day, though, Evan's luck ran out . . .

Ambushed, drugged, and spirited away, Evan wakes up in a locked room with no idea where he is or who has captured him. As he tries to piece together what's happened, testing his gilded prison and its highly trained guards for weaknesses, he receives a desperate call for help.

With time running out, he will need to out-think, out-manoeuvre, and out-fight an opponent the likes of whom he's never encountered to have any chance of escape. He's got to save himself to protect those whose lives depend on him. Or die trying . . .


MY THOUGHTS:

Ten years as a government assassin has come to an end to Evan Smoak, also known as The Nowhere Man or Orphan X. The program has completely been disbanded, Evan has been out on his own and has been doing what he can to help others.

As this book begins Evan wakes up to discover that he is in a locked room and he’s been ambushed, he has also been drugged. Accompanied by his exceptional skills and exceedingly sharp wits, Evan determines a plan to escape. One thing Evan has kept on his person despite leaving the program is something called a RoamZone phone. This untraceable gadget allows him to be contacted by people who need his help. He receives a call for help, and knows that time is of the essence, thus he must escape. Will he able to escape and prove that the years of training as a specialized government assassin will be enough to save his life in the lives of others that he comes upon?

The victims that Evan help include a teenage girl trying to escape a sex trafficking operation. Another woman needs Evan's assistance and does everything he can to rescue her as well.  All along, the action and intensity remain at a fever pitch, 

What an exciting addition to an already thrilling series. I love seeing Evan get himself out of precarious situations. I also loved getting to know more and more about him as I read each book in the series. Readers following this series from the very beginning will no doubt have seen that Evan is indeed a man of strong morals, despite the training he has received and the many lives he has taken. 

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Title
:   Hellbent
Format:  Audiobook
No. of Pages:   412
Date of Publication:   January 30, 2018
My Rating:   4 Stars
DESCRIPTION:

To some he was Orphan X. Others knew him as the Nowhere Man. But to Jack Johns he was a boy named Evan Smoak. Taken from an orphanage, Evan was raised inside a top-secret government programme and trained to become a lethal weapon. By Jack. And yet for all the dangerous skill he instilled in his young charge, Jack Jones cared for Evan like a son.

But Jack knew too much about a programme that had gone rotten - he was a loose end that needed to be dealt with. But if you go after the only person who ever treated him like a human being, you can guarantee that the Nowhere Man will be coming for you. Hellbent on making things right . . .

With Hellbent, Gregg Hurwitz raises the bar again with a masterclass in hi-octane thriller writing.


MY THOUGHTS:

In this book we are reminded of how Evan was pulled into a program from a young age and trained until he was 19 to become a government assassin. Skilled beyond belief, one thing his adoptive father/handler Jack wanted to always have him remember is that he was a human being first and not just a killing machine. It is in this third book of the series that Evan loses his mentor, Jack. When Evan learns that the program's director, Van Sciver, is behind Jack's murder, Evan goes after him.

Meanwhile, now completely free of the program, Evan’s goal is to help as many people as possible, no matter the cost. However, with Von Sciver, who is called Orphan Y, having sent hit men after Evan, this definitely becomes a game of cat and mouse.

Along the way, Evan runs into sixteen-year-old Joey Morales. She failed the program and now Evan is sort of becomes a guardian and protector. She becomes part of Evan’s life. Another important person in his life is Prosecutor Mia Hall, who lives downstairs from Evan, as well as her young son Peter. It has been nice to see Evan evolve over the first couple of books in this series and to see more and more of his human side.

A bit more about Joey. She is brilliant computer hacker and programmer who has tried to become a machine. While she helps Evan track down his enemies, Evan becomes her pseudo father. No matter how smart and resourceful Joey is, Evan does not want her to be a part of the program. I absolutely love their interchanges. For example, I loved it every time Evan would remind Joey: language

Beyond Evan's exceptional skills and wits, his apartment is a veritable fortress that keeps him safe and has every tool and gadget he could ever need. It also houses all the vodka Evan could ever need in a lifetime. For another exciting entry into a thrilling series, Hellbent definitely fits the bill. 

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Title
:   The Intern
Format:  Kindle
No. of Pages:   84
Date of Publication:   December 18, 2018
My Rating:   4 Stars

DESCRIPTION:

The Nowhere Man is a figure shrouded in secrecy—a near legendary figure who helps the truly desperate, those with nowhere else to turn who are lucky enough to be able to reach out to him. When darkness closes in, the Nowhere Man is your last, best hope.

Before he was the Nowhere Man, Evan Smoak was a highly trained government operative known to a few as Orphan X. But he now lives by hiding in plain sight, keeping his head down and his eyes clear. So when a local summer intern for a tabloid news site finds herself trailing an aggressive reporter into a crime zone, things go terribly awry. The only person who can help her is a man with the background and the skills of the Nowhere Man.

From New York Times bestselling author Gregg Hurwitz comes an electrifying, original story in his “nerve-shredding” internationally #1 bestsellling Orphan X series.

Also contains an extended excerpt from the Orphan X thriller—Out of the Dark.


MY THOUGHTS:

Although only a chapter long, this quick story served to lead right into the next book in the series. In this entry, we see how Evan works to save an intern that was pulled into a difficult situation. The better part of this novella was a sneak peek into the next book in this series.
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Title
:   Out of the Dark
Format:  Audiobook
No. of Pages:   388
Date of Publication:   January 29, 2018
My Rating:   4 Stars
DESCRIPTION:

When darkness closes in―he's your last, best hope. Evan Smoak returns in Gregg Hurwitz’s #1 international bestselling Orphan X series.

Taken from a group home at age twelve, Evan Smoak was raised and trained as part of the Orphan Program, an off-the-books operation designed to create deniable intelligence assets―i.e. assassins. Evan was Orphan X. He broke with the Program, using everything he learned to disappear and reinvent himself as the Nowhere Man, a man who helps the truly desperate when no one else can. But now Evan's past in the Orphan Program is reaching out to him.

Someone at the very highest level of government has been trying to eliminate every trace of the Orphan Program by killing all the remaining Orphans and their trainers. After Evan's mentor and the only father he ever knew was killed, he decided to strike back. His target is the man who started the program and who is now the most heavily guarded person in the world: the President of the United States.

But President Bennett knows that Orphan X is after him and, using weapons of his own, he's decided to counter-attack. Bennett activates the one man who has the skills and experience to track down and take out Orphan X―the first recruit of the program, Orphan A.

With Evan devoting all his skills, resources, and intelligence to find a way through the layers of security that surround the President, suddenly he also has to protect himself against the deadliest of opponents. It's Orphan vs. Orphan with the future of the country―even the world―on the line. 


MY THOUGHTS:

Evan Smoak is after the president. Yes, he is determined to kill the President of the United States. President Bennett was actually the man who oversaw the Black Ops program that trained people like Evan who were referred to as Orphans, with Evan being called Orphan X.

The program has indeed been disbanded and Evan is doing whatever he can to get rid of whatever orphans are still alive, and this includes Evan. Not only is Evan determined to kill the president before he himself is killed, he still working on helping other people. So this is another game of kill or be killed.

Evan is not in this fight by himself because he’s continually getting help from his protégé, Joey. She is a gifted hacker and programmer who is instrumental in helping Evan work towards his goal. Meanwhile Evan remains good friends with his neighbor, single mother and Prosecutor Mia Hall and her young son Peter.

As before when Evan was being hunted, there is another orphan after him. This time it is Orphan A, who was the program's very first recruit. Both men have incredible skills and resources in order to achieve their goals. Which orphan will come out on top?

One thing I loved about this book is the inside view of the presidency and what measures are taken to protect privacy and to maintain safety. I was rather in awe about how those facts were woven into this story. Also, Joey is becoming more vital to Evan, and on several levels. I love their father/daughter relationship. Evan is becoming quite the father and Joey is learning to thin out the shell that she has built around herself. 

All the while, this book has the same exciting edge the previous books in this series have had. This is a fast-moving story that hardly gives the reader time to take a breath. I will leave it to the reader to see if Evan achieved the goal of killing the leader of our country.


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Title
:   Into the Fire
Format:  Print ARC
No. of Pages:   400
Date of Publication:   January 28, 2020
My Rating:   5 Stars
DESCRIPTION:

The New York Times bestselling Orphan X returns—facing his own uncertain future and undertaking one last mission.

Taken from a group home at age twelve, Evan Smoak was trained as an off-the-books government assassin: Orphan X. After breaking with the Program, he reinvented himself as The Nowhere Man, a figure shrouded in shadows who helps the truly desperate. But the government didn’t let go of him easily, sending their best to hunt him down and eliminate him. All of them failed. With his deadliest enemies behind him, Evan is facing a new challenge—what is he going to do now that no one is after him?

Max Merriweather is at the end of his rope. Separated from the woman he loves and barely scraping by, Max is a disappointment to everyone in his life. Then his very successful cousin Grant is brutally murdered. Two months before, Grant left Max an envelope with instructions to take it to a reporter if anything happened to him. Now the reporter is missing and Max’s apartment is ransacked. A man at the end of his rope, he calls The Nowhere Man.

With mixed feelings, Evan takes on this mission, easily finding the men who are after Max and executing a plan to keep him safe. But it isn’t as obvious as it seems—and Evan finds himself enmeshed in one of the most challenging missions of his life, one that he can’t survive on his own. With the help of Joey Morales, a genius-level hacker and the last Orphan recruited into the Program, and the brilliant, off-the-books gunsmith, Tommy Stojack, Orphan X once more heads…Into the Fire.


MY THOUGHTS:

Evan Smoak was trained as a government assassin in a Black Ops government program. He dealt with burn-out and left the program. He has had many a fight for his life, because no one walks away from the program. But, as always, this highly skilled man manages to survive fight after fight.

Evan gets a call on one of the gadgets he kept, his RoamZone phone, from a desperate man. Max Merriweather is currently separated, just lost his cousin Grant due to a brutal murder, and it seems that he has even bigger problems on his hands. Before Grant died he had given Max a letter that was to be given to a reporter if something ever would’ve happened to him. When Max realizes that the reporter is missing and then his apartment was ransacked, he knew that he needed some help.

At this point in his life, Evan really planned on retiring. But, just one more case. And what a case this is! It doesn’t matter what Evan has to face, his exceptional skills, unending gadgets, and close association with computer hacker and pseudo daughter Joey Morales, Evan is up to the task.

As Evans stepped in to help Max, he quickly realizes the source of his problems. Evan discovers that an Armenian gang is involved. He has no trouble neutralizing the gang. However, it seems that killers are still after Max and whatever precious thing he was given to by his cousin. Along the way, Evan does something that I thought was really cool. He rescues a bait dog, which is a dog used in dogfights that usually cost a particular dog its life. He rescues the dog and brings it to Joey, and this is something that she has none too pleased with. As before, we see how Evan interacts with neighbor Mia Hall and her young son Peter. It’s evident that they have a connection, but with Evan being constantly surrounded by danger, it’s any wonder whether or not that will ever go anywhere.

I really loved this 5th book in this exciting series! How Gregg Hurwitz keeps raising the bar in this series just blows my mind. There might be some suspending belief while seeing how Evan can get out of every situation - insert any MacGyver episode - but oh, what fun! The book also has a measure of humor in each story and I enjoy that as well. Meanwhile, the human side of Evan is getting clearer and clearer, especially as his concern and protectiveness concerning Joey increases. 

Many thanks to Minotaur Books and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.


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Title
:   The List
Format:  Kindle ARC
No. of Pages:   94
Date of Publication:   August 4, 2020
My Rating:   4 Stars
DESCRIPTION:

A thrilling new story featuring Gregg Hurwitz's New York Times bestselling Orphan X!

Joey Morales was the last recruit of the government's full black operation, the Orphan Program. Trained to be an assassin until she washed out, she was rescued by Evan Smoak, the former agent known as Orphan X.

Now Joey, still a teenager and under the watchful eye of Evan Smoak, lives on her own (with Dog the dog) and attends college.

While on campus, she tries to stop a young woman's suicide attempt - and fails. Then Joey uncovers the reason for Becca Morgan's desperate act - a document called The List, which ranks and rates women around campus based on their sexual appeal and performance.

Determined to find the boys behind The List, the ones whose callous acts drove Becca Morgan to suicide, Joey recruits the help of her mentor, Orphan X, and uses all her skills to uncover and expose the ones responsible.

Usually working from the shadows, Joey has to put herself on the line and in harm's way this time to not just avenge the dead but to protect the rest of the women who are targets of the hidden cabal behind The List. 


MY THOUGHTS:

I am one who enjoys novellas because they tie in parts of stories that we might miss otherwise while working on reading every book in a series. And this quick read, we learn a little bit more about Joey Morales, the young computer hacker and programmer that has come under the watchful eye of Evan Smoak, The Nowhere Man. better known as Orphan X. In fact, Joey affectionately calls him X.

Joey is heartbroken when she fails to stop the suicide of a young woman. Joey discovers something called The List, which is something that is around her college campus that rates young women based on their sexual prowess. Joy is determined to find out who is responsible for this list and for the girls suicide. I have come to love Joey in the series in to see her work her own case as it were, was a true delight.

Many thanks to Minotaur Books and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.


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Title
:   Prodigal Son
Format:  Print ARC
No. of Pages:   432
Date of Publication:   January 26, 2021
My Rating:   5 Stars
DESCRIPTION:

Forced into retirement, Evan Smoak gets an urgent request for help from someone he didn't even suspect existed.

As a boy, Evan Smoak was pulled out of a foster home and trained in an off-the-books operation known as the Orphan Program. He was a government assassin, perhaps the best, known to a few insiders as Orphan X. He eventually broke with the Program and adopted a new name – The Nowhere Man―and a new mission, helping the most desperate in their times of trouble. But the highest power in the country has made him a tempting offer - in exchange for an unofficial pardon, he must stop his clandestine activities as The Nowhere Man. Now Evan has to do the one thing he’s least equipped to do—live a normal life.

But then he gets a call for help from the one person he never expected. A woman claiming to have given him up for adoption, a woman he never knew—his mother. Her unlikely request: help Andrew Duran—a man whose life has gone off the rails, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, bringing him to the deadly attention of very powerful figures. Now a brutal brother & sister assassination team are after him and with no one to turn to, and no safe place to hide, Evan is Duran’s only option. But when the hidden cabal catches on to what Evan is doing, everything he’s fought for is on the line—including his own life.


MY THOUGHTS:

In what has proved to be my favorite book in this exciting series, Evan Smoak, aka The Nowhere Man, or Orphan X, gets a call from someone that claims to be his mother! Evan cannot believe this. He was abandoned at only a week old, later trained as a child to become a government assassin. Eventually Evan became burnt out and retired. He cannot refuse the opportunity to meet his mother and to find out things about his early life. What is more is that she asks him to help someone named Andrew Duran.

Andrew has managed to attract the attention of a brother and sister assassination team and if Evan doesn’t help him he definitely will not survive. Yes, another action packed book! Evan has his gadgets, including his RoamPhone, his skills and his wit. All the while, he deals with his OCD. Let the reader not forget his love of vodka, and his wonderful relationship with Joey, the hacker and programmer that Evan wants to keep out of the Orphan program. He becomes an excellent father figure to Joey. I love the fatherly role he has taken on with her and how while she continues to humanize him, and he tries to keep her on the right track in life so that she never has to experience her first kill.

This was the most personal, sentimental and emotional book in the series that’s far. We learn more about Evan's childhood and how difficult his life was once he was pulled into the program. Readers also meet and get to know Andrew, who is not only an alcoholic, separated from his daughter, but who lives in slovenly conditions that completely clash with Evan’s highly OCD nature. In this book we even see that Evan was able to find out more about why  his mentor and handler was killed.

I have to say that microdrones that looked like dragonflies in this book kind of made me laugh. Meanwhile, Evan’s softer side, his more human side, definitely comes out in this book. Of course we see his relationship with Joey growing, him drawing closer to neighbor Mia and her son Peter, how he interacts with other neighbors in his building, and his reluctant connection to Andrew. 

The finale was thrilling and gives me great hope and excitement for the next book in the series. I am on pins and needles waiting for that book. Excitingly, I will be getting it as a print ARC and cannot wait for that to arrive in my mailbox one of these days.

Many thanks to Minotaur Books and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.


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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Gregg Hurwitz is the New York Times, #1 internationally bestselling author of 22 thrillers, including the ORPHAN X series, and two award-winning thriller novels for teens. His novels have won numerous literary awards, graced top ten lists, and have been published in 33 languages. Gregg currently serves as the Co-President of International Thriller Writers (ITW).

Gregg has written screenplays for or sold spec scripts to many of the major studios (including THE BOOK OF HENRY), and written, developed, and produced television for various networks. He is also a New York Times bestselling comic book writer, having penned stories for Marvel (Wolverine, Punisher) and DC (Batman, Penguin). He has published numerous academic articles on Shakespeare, taught fiction writing in the USC English Department, and guest lectured for UCLA, and for Harvard in the United States and internationally. In the course of researching his thrillers, he has sneaked onto demolition ranges with Navy SEALs, swum with sharks in the Galápagos, and gone undercover into mind-control cults.

Additionally, Gregg is actively working to end polarization in politics and on college campuses. To that end, he's produced several hundred commercials which got over a hundred million views on digital and TV platforms. His editorial pieces have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, The Bulwark, and others.


8 comments:

  1. Glad to see this, I've been wondering about this series and was afraid it was too high voltage and intense for me

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  2. I've never read his work, the books look interesting. Great reviews.

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  3. One of my favorite series - I am a serious fangirl for this one.

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  4. The series sounds great. Thanks for putting it on my radar.

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  5. I love that you compiled this series into one post!

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  6. This series sounds interesting great review

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  7. Good on you for finishing a series. I struggle with that😂

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  8. wow!! new author and series to me; as always you impress with your reading and reviews.

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