Orphan X Series By Gregg Hurwitz: Summary

My summary/review of the Orphan X (Evan Smoak) series by Gregg Hurwitz is just that, a summary and review. However, because there are now eight books in the series, and I don’t want to spoil the whole series, I’m only going to focus on the first four books. Nevertheless, there might still be spoilers (minor or otherwise), so proceed cautiously. I am starting with the Goodreads summary and, from Gregg Hurwitz’s website, a trailer (for those books that have one) for each of the first four books in the series: Orphan X, The Nowhere Man, Hellbent, and Out of the Dark. Then I will list the last four books (with trailers so you can choose to play it or not) in the series: Into the Fire, Prodigal Son, and The Last Orphan.

My overall review of the series aims not to spoil anything (but again, see the warning above). I was thrilled to have an opportunity to interview Gregg Hurwitz (linked). Please check it out!

**I just added a Teaser Tuesday for Lone Wolf (Orphan X #9), which releases on February 13, 2024. It is linked.

Orphan X Summary

Goodreads Summary: 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 not merely a 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 an Orphan, an off-the-books black box program designed to create the perfect deniable intelligence asset: An assassin. Evan was Orphan X—until he broke with the program and used everything he learned to disappear. But now, someone is on his tail. Someone with similar skills and training who will exploit Evan’s secret new identity as the Nowhere Man to eliminate him.

Finlay Donovan Is Killing It Book Information

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Publisher: Minotaur Books (January 19, 2016)

The Nowhere Man

Goodreads Summary: 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 the 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-maneuver, 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 . . .

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Information:

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Minotaur Books (January 17, 2017)

HELLBENT

To some, he was Orphan X. Others knew him as the Nowhere Man. In Hellbent, Jack Johns 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.

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Book Information and trailer

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Minotaur Books (January 30, 2018)

HELLBENT Trailer:

 

Out of the Dark:

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.

Buy

         

Book Information and trailer

Publisher‏ : ‎ Minotaur Books (January 20, 2019)

Out of the Dark Trailer:

Next Four in the Orphan X Series by Gregg Hurwitz (With Trailer- So You Can Decide To Watch It Or Not)

Into The Fire

 

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Publisher: Minotaur Books (January 8, 2020)

The Prodigal Son

 

      

Publisher: Minotaur Books (January 26, 2021)

Dark Horse

 

      

Publisher: Minotaur Books (February 8, 2022)

The Last Orphan

 

Publisher: Minotaur Books (February 14, 2023)

Orphan X Series By Gregg Hurwitz: Overall Review 

First, and I can’t stress this enough. DO NOT BE ME. Do not look at Gregg Hurwitz’s Orphan X Series and say, “There are eight books in it, and become overwhelmed. I started this series before Dark Horse came out. That is the sixth book in the series. Furthermore, once I started it? I could not stop. No lies. I binged this series on audiobook (Scott Brick is FABULOUS) and listened to all six books in a week. To be fair, I’m on disability and only work very part-time. However, I think my point still stands. The Orphan X series gets under your skin, grips tight, and doesn’t let go.

Thank you to Gregg Hurwitz and Minotaur Books for agreeing to and making this interview, overview, and review happen.

When we first meet Evan Smoak, it is ten years after he decides to go off the grid from the “Black Ops Programme.” Through flashbacks, we learn how he was abandoned and then recruited by the Black Ops Programme, which trained him as a spy and assassin. Since no one has ever dared to drop out of the Programme, they aren’t going to let Smoak go quietly. So, on the run,  he decides to use all his years of training to help others. Armed with a RoamZone phone (1-855-2-NOWHERE), he simply answers, “Do you need my help?” One of the very few conditions for his help? If you know someone else in need, pass the Nowhere Man Number to them.

Hurwitz writes brilliantly intertwines idiosyncracies into Evan Smoak. He is a vodka connoisseur (we talked a little about this in my interview with Hurwitz), has OCD, and tends to get into fights with inanimate objects throughout the series. He’s been tripped up by his anti-gravity bed, a balloon, and various spices.

Remember what Confucius say: ‘Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.’

Throughout the series, we learn more about Evan Smoak, including all the different vodkas he loves, his time in the Black Ops program, and his guiding principles. And if saving people from situations such as sex trafficking rings isn’t enough, he might try to kill the president before he is killed. Then we are introduced to the incomparable, tenacious teenage girl, Joey. And as much as I would LOVE to go in-depth about who Joey is and what role she plays? Those would be significant spoilers. Safe to say that, as mentioned in the interview with Gregg Hurwitz, Joey, and Evan’s vibe is EVERYTHING.

 

If Orphan X is made into a series? This is Evan and Joey.

Overall, I can’t recommend the Orphan X series enough. I don’t read these types of thrillers. This is not a psychological thriller. But when I tell you I tore through this series in no time? No lies. Buy Orphan X, and if you don’t like it, I’ll refund you (ok, I’m kidding because I’m broke, but you can find me and throw it at me, for sure). The only other book I’ve ever said that about is Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom.