Orphan X: A Novel by Gregg Hurwitz (Epub)

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 not merely a legend.

“Excellent…A smart, stylish, state-of-the-art thriller…might give Lee Child’s Jack Reacher books a run for their money.”—The Washington Post

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.

“Hurwitz melds nonstop action and high-tech gadgetry…in this excellent series opener.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

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⭐ I was in the mood for a good thriller and liked the synopsis of Hurwitz’s Orphan X. This fast-paced story did deliver, but not quite as much as I’d expected. Hurwitz doles out Evan’s backstory sparingly, which only makes readers want more. However, it is enough to wow you with the character’s abilities and to make you want to hug the little boy he once was. As a result of his training, Evan really doesn’t know how to play well with others. Actually, he doesn’t know how to play with others at all, and we see this during his interactions with the other residents of the building in which he lives. There’s the grumpy old lady who seems to lay in wait for him at the elevator so she can complain non-stop, but we normal folk would have problems with her, too. No, it’s when Evan becomes acquainted with divorced lawyer Mia and her inquisitive eight-year-old son Peter that we see how much he has to fight against that long-ago training of his.Where the soufflé fell for me was in the too-numerous-to-count fight scenes. Hurwitz wants us to know exactly how extensive Evan’s hand-to-hand combat skills are, and each fight scene is laced with mixed martial art terms like “wing chan oblique kick.” Over and over and over again. This is all well and good if you are a fan and want to be able to picture the fight in your mind, but I definitely do not fit that category. One movie scene comes to mind. Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indiana Jones is cornered in a bazaar by a sword-wielding showoff. Jones doesn’t have time to wait for the nitwit to stop strutting his stuff, so he pulls out his gun and shoots him. Problem solved. Since this is the fight scene category I belong in, you can see where these minutely-described scenes in Orphan X made my eyes cross in boredom.Since I have a feeling that these fight scenes will continue as the series progresses, I will leave Evan Smoak here in book one. But I am certainly glad that I made his acquaintance, and I wish him well.

⭐ Give me a great spy book with secrets, mystery, and action, and I am right there. This one was mostly all of that and more.There are so many things I enjoyed with this book. The twists and turns. The not knowing who to trust. Not knowing what was going to happen next.I like that this author presented a deeply flawed, human in a lonely, personless life. When everyday things start to appear in the midst of this knight in dark armor’s life of saving people, he begins to lose focus. His life has been black and white. Good and evil. All the while, he has kept himself isolated from the real world and real connections. When he somehow begins to form connections with people around him, things start to really go awry for him.I couldn’t stop reading this book. It was full of so many surprises. The one drawback was the fighting scenes. They were good and action packed. However, since I am not in the know with different types of fighting and weapons, I felt lost. The specific moves that were being told to me page after page had me completely lost and confused. I felt like the author was trying to prove he was knowledgeable in many different kinds of fighting. I wasn’t impressed. I ended up skimming the action scenes.Overall, this was a really good book. It was mostly just what I was looking for. I would like to say I will be reading more books in this series, because I am curious, I just can’t afford them at the moment. Maybe eventually.

⭐ Evan Smoak (not his real name) was an orphan who was taken in by a covert government program. Only twelve at the time, he was raised to be an assassin, and he’s tops in his field. But, on the edge of burnout, he leaves the program. His new career is what he’s been trained for, but totally on the side of the angels. Desperate people find him, somehow, and he saves them from whatever peril they’re in. Now, he’s the one in peril, but he’s not sure why. What’s going on? No one is better equipped to find out (specialized equipment is everywhere in this book). What I particularly enjoyed is that there are touches of warmth and humor throughout. For example, an elderly neighbor grabs his arm and clutches him – right over a knife wound. A child who lives several floors below sends him messages – by releasing helium balloons with misspelled comments. Most of the secondary characters are given some dimension, like the macho neighbor who is actually a coward, and the Down’s Syndrome kidnap victim who tends to her stuffed animal. This is the first book in a series, and I’m looking forward to the next adventure.

⭐ I had not heard of the author before reading this book, so I was happily amazed to watch him soar past my old standby favorites in this genre.This is an action-packed thriller like many others; even the premise is not particularly new. However, “orphan raised to kill for the government” is not a cliche, but a convention, for some spy thrillers, just as “one more job and I’m out” is a known type of heist novel and “I love him but he’s from the wrong class” is a convention in certain romance novels.You have to use some genre conventions or your novel is not in a recognizable genre.Where Hurwitz grabbed my attention is in the freshness and excellence of execution. Other reviews have cited Robert Ludlum as an influence; Ludlum never came remotely close to prose this polished and vivid. The main character actually has an emotional arc that is meaningful — almost unique in the genre, accompanied by Barry Eisler’s superb Rain series. The tradecraft seems deeply researched. I was a network security analyst for ten years, certified in information assurance methodologies by the NSA, and I found the “hacking” portions to be foundationally correct (and the futuristic extrapolations based on reasonable extensions of existing tech). The detailed blow-by-blow accounts of the fighting is the first I’ve seen that surpasses the early Jack Reacher books. The pacing remained brisk throughout. Even the supporting characters typically have more than one note to them and seem rounder than the cardboard cutouts other spy writers prop up as extras.If you’d like a novel reminiscent of John Wick 2 but with more plausibility and heart, Orphan X should delight you as it delighted me. What a thrill to discover an author this good and see a dozen more titles stretching out before me!

⭐ ORPHAN X By Gregg HurwitzMy Review Five Stars*****I read the last line of this book Friday night (November 8th) and rejoiced in the fact that after wanting to read this novel for nearly 4 years now (since it was published in January 2016), my figuratively stumbling across a temporary sale price on Amazon for this first installment of the ORPHAN X series made it possible. My county wide library system hadn’t offered this book for rental (or any other listings for Hurwitz). I do recall that the library emailed me on one occasion to let me know they had purchased a short story by Hurwitz that was available but nothing more.I can fully understand why that ORPHAN X became an international bestseller. Frankly the book exceeded my expectations by leaps and bounds. I loved it! Obviously I knew right away that I was going to grudgingly take a hammer to my piggy bank to buy the remainder of the series! Fortunately, however, the library is now on board with ORPHAN X and the ensuing spellbinding sequels from thriller writer extraordinaire Hurwitz.One reviewer announced that Smoak “deserves to stand in that unique pantheon of iconic heroes: Bond, Bourne, and Batman.” But I really loved the commentary courtesy of Richard and Judy Book Club Pick (“Put Jack Reacher and Jason Bourne into a blender. Add one drop of nitro-glycerin and three of sulphuric acid. Switch on, and don’t be surprised if the lid blows off. You’ve just mixed your first Orphan X.”The inaugural voyage of Evan Smoak was lavishly praised by a host of my favorite writers including Lee Child, Lisa Gardner, David Baldacci, Jonathan Kellerman, Tess Gerritsen, and even one of my go-to names from the legal thriller genre Phillip Margolin. Readers and reviewers alike rejoiced in favorable comparisons of Smoak to heroes of today to those of yesteryear with equal fervor.Evan Smoak is fundamentally different from any of the anti-heroes who proceeded him in the annals of fiction. He is essentially all alone, quietly stalking the streets of the city wearing his mask of normalcy, basically a chameleon of sorts “hiding in plain sight” because of his outward “ordinary guy” physical appearance. He cooks, dines, meditates, and exercises all alone in his self-designed fortress of solitude in a high rise building overlooking the city.We learn at the age of 12, he was enrolled in a top-secret operation known as the “Orphan Program” The goal of the program is to train orphans so they can be assassins for government agencies. Evan is ostensibly the 24th recruit in the program, and then much later on the aforementioned program is shut down. Evan has welcomed this acceptance by a mysterious stranger to be taken to an unknown destination. This is wholly significant because the homeless boy is willing to accept any outcome from his decision, and he speculates (to himself) during the drive with his will-be “handler” Jack that it could be anything, i.e., human trafficking, sexual exploitation, or even a terrible death of some kind awaiting him.The boy is mentored by Jack, his only connection to human society as we know it. He is meanwhile educated, and tutored in all of the techniques that he will one day require when it is finally time to leave the sanctuary of the structured government program. The goal is to mold the boy into an invincible killer who will walk and talk among society while remaining essentially invisible. Orphan X is taught by masters in numerous disciplines ranging from physical combat, including the most lethal components from countless martial art disciplines around the globe, to wielding a knife and other blades to using all kinds of firearms. He excels as a sniper, but the goal of the program is for Orphan X to learn from all of his teachers, not to strive to be a master any specific discipline in his itinerary of studies.Ultimately, when in his 30’s Smoak begins using his acquired skills to fight corruption in the form of vigilante justice, but strategically maintains access to the program’s funding and weapons. He is known as “The Nowhere Man” and most people in the streets believe his existence to be an urban myth. A person finds him by calling a unique unpublished phone number. For each person he helps, he tells them to pay it forward by giving someone in need of help his phone number. The “heart” of the difference between Smoak and all of the iconic heroes past and present, regardless of the unmistakable similarities, is that Smoak has no “past” aside from his “Handler” Jack (who Evan saw murdered in front of him). He does not exhibit any ability to “connect” with any other human being, and his character is both constrained and sympathetic because of this emotional void. He lives in isolation from the real world and is devoid of any real connections.Nevertheless, I enjoyed taking a long walk down memory lane and thinking about the iconic heroes of fiction who have drawn comparisons to Hurwitz’s unique anti-hero named Smoak AKA Orphan X. I have to laugh when I recall reading all of Ian Fleming’s James Bond thrillers in my pre-teens. I couldn’t get enough of the adventures of the indefatigable and unbeatable 007. I remember my father finding me with a full color photo of Sean Connery reclining in a lounge chair wearing only a skimpy pair of swim trunks and tons of chest hair. My dad went ballistic. He just didn’t think it was an appropriate picture for his 12-year old daughter (I might have been younger) to be packing around.So how would one in present day compare the colorful champion of the underdog Evan Smoak with the legendary “Bond, James Bond” (who can forget that iconic quote?). He was the main character for a dozen books that were written and published by Ian Fleming between 1953 and 1966. It’s easy to forget that Fleming was in fact a British naval officer who worked with British Intelligence during World War II. His series of a dozen “spy” novels were drawn from parts of his real life and his own knowledge about military intelligence and espionage. His books were tense and exciting but they were also, as one commentator put it “effortlessly stylish” as well. If one looks at the literary depiction of James Bond 007 we see a flawed, but lethal human scalpel that the British Secret Intelligence Service (“M16”) deployed when they encountered a particularly sticky problem. He was the weapon (a stone cold killer) but it was his country who aimed the gun. There are few strong similarities between Bond and Smoak, aside from the fact that Smoak has an impressive array of state of the art gadgetry available to him (as did Bond). Nevertheless, Bond’s influence is certainly seen in other novels about spies and espionage that followed, notably the “other” J.B. to be compared to our reclusive avenger, namely the one and only Jason Bourne.The trilogy of novels written by Robert Ludlum featuring the iconic Jason Bourne character were published between 1980 and 1990. I loved Ludlum’s writing in general, and his Jason Bourne series in particular. In fact, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum were among the first titles that I purchased to be re-read on my new Kindle Paperwhite I purchased in 2014. I reread the Bourne Trilogy in 2015 and loved it as much as I remembered. Some critics consider The Bourne Identity to be among the best spy novels of all time, perhaps second only to The Spy Who Came In From The Cold by John le Carre.Having said that, it isn’t difficult to see that both Orphan X (Smoak) have the same intensity, lethality, remarkable adaptability to adverse and life-threatening situations, intelligence, and competence, but there are fundamental differences that set the two characters apart. Forget the Hollywood version of Bourne. David Webb (AKA Bourne) had been a career Force Reconnaissance Marine Captain and a specialist in Far Eastern Affairs. His entire world as he knew it crumbled around his feet when his beloved wife and both of his children were killed in an air strike. This event created a very different David Webb, one who went to Saigon and trained for an elite special forces unit named Medusa. He became Delta One and later led this lethal assassination team or death squad with ruthlessness and an incredible success rate, in many cases disobeying orders and performing acts that might be thought of as suicidal.As a matter of interest he executed a traitor while in this deadly unit and it was in this manner that David Webb adopted the alias Jason Bourne. He used the name years later when he was recruited for Treadstone. Thus we can hardly compare an academic who had a past and a happy life until it is destroyed in Asia, prompting Webb to embark upon what very well may be called suicide missions behind the lines of the lethal Vietcong. He is tethered to the United States Government, albeit deeply and in what could reasonably be termed black ops. It is only when there is an accident to occur in the theater that causes Bourne to suffer retrograde amnesia which leads to a number of confusing maneuvers that cause his contacts to believe he has gone rogue. This takes us to the primary reason that I fail to see a stronger comparison between Smoak and Bourne, namely motivation. Vigilante justice delivered for forlorn souls who truly deserve it is a far cry from Bourne’s motivation in the debut novel to stay alive, clear his name, and to hold any appropriate parties accountable. In Book 2, Jason is deceived, blackmailed, and must walk a tight tope to save the life of the woman he loves and to even the score. Then in the final installment of the original Ludlum authored trilogy, it is the indomitable Jason Bourne against the evil, elusive Carlos The Jackal. All three books were incredible and worth re-reading and remembering the thrills.Editorials praising Orphan X have even brought Batman into the mix, and as an only child who “grew up” on DC comic heroes I can easily see the points of comparison. We aren’t told that Smoak possesses a genius level intellect but I wouldn’t rule that out after reading the introductory novel. Genius or not, Smoak is a peerless martial artist like Bruce Wayne AKA The Dark Knight, and no one would doubt his peak human physical conditioning. Similarly his access to vast wealth (like Wayne) affords him the ability to acquire an imposing if not extraordinary arsenal of state of the art weapons and protective equipment. I would think of The Caped Crusader matching wits with his assorted enemy villains in the DC comic universe and frankly more of a vigilante for the entire city of Gotham. However, there is no denying the traits the two heroes have in common.Orphan X arguably might have more in common with Jack Reacher, a nomadic loner who wanders the USA, his destinations often based upon curiosity about a place or person of interest. Reacher is “larger-than-life”, both physically and metaphorically. It is virtually impossible to view him as vulnerable or unsure of himself. His brute strength (mental and physical) are formidable against all “bad guys” irrespective of their origins, resources, or numbers. We immediately draw parallels with Reacher and Smoak relative to their hand to hand combat approaches. Notably Reacher often mentions his street-wise dirty fighting techniques learned from his time spent on army bases all over the world. Similarly, Smoak is taught the most immediately disabling and killing techniques “lifted” from martial arts disciplines from all over the globe. ORPHAN X and Reacher are two names that might immediately come to mind if we played the word association game and was given the phrase “One Man Army”.Let’s just consider the basic background of Orphan X (that is the background of his recruitment by a shady government agency that educated and trained him from the age of 12 to be a lethal assassin, skilled at hand to hand combat, a mish-mash of lethal martial arts to maim or kill instantly, expertise in weaponry to include blades, hand guns, rifles, explosives, and to utilize and deploy the most state of the art equipment available at the time), AND his purpose of using his skills to fight corruption in the form of vigilante justice. There is really only ONE direct comparison and that is the immortal character of Robert McCall, The Equalizer. Readers may recall that this popular crime drama series ran on TV from 1985 – 1989. The talented Edward Woodward starred as a retired intelligence agent with a mysterious past, who uses the skills from his former career to exact justice on behalf of innocent peoplewho are trapped in dangerous circumstances. The series combined elements of the spy and vigilante genres. It was my favorite TV Series at the time, and I now revisit its iconic drama via DVD Collections. Now obviously, the character of “Orphan X” differs, especially in the age and physical description department. Evan Smoak is young and in his prime, hopefully for many, many installments to come.Gregg Hurwitz effectively delivers an absolute masterpiece of suspense, thrills, and chills that conjured up for this reader at least the memories of the very best of Batman, 007, Jason Bourne, Reacher, and Golden Globe Winner Edward Woodward as The Equalizer.As a reader I am attempting to stress that I do not consider Hurwitz to have been all that derivative when he created the impressively unique fictional character of Evan Smoak. If anything the debut novel which introduced “Orphan X” contains obvious “call outs” to these larger than life heroes from yester-year. For example, when he barely escapes a mortal stab wound delivered by a woman he had considered an “innocent”, Smoak effectively makes it back to his sanctuary. He administers what he thinks of as first aid, but uses technology that is pure state of the art. Evan recuperates in his “suspended” science-fiction worthy bed. Readers of Ian Fleming will recall Bond’s escapades in the debut novel Casino Royale. Seeing it on the big screen (I’m partial to Daniel Craig’s interpretation and portrayal of “Bond”), the near-fatal poisoning, Bond’s display of critical thinking, making it from the casino into his state-of-the art vehicle (like Smoak’s normal looking truck SO much more than “just a car”), then summoning emergency medical assistance, and having it directed through computer technology…it was spectacular. The “call outs” to Bond are the ingenious gadgetry and state of the art tools, both for offense and defense, employed by Smoak.Jason Bourne. Did a more lethal killer exist in modern fiction? I can’t think of any…except perhaps (now) “Orphan X” AKA Evan Smoak. These are additional ways that trigger our memories of Bourne and his innate ability to kill or maim in a heartbeat using only his hands. The mastery of weaponry of course is not unique to Bourne, but it is nevertheless a call-out to such deadly adversaries as Bourne. Smoak rappelling down the side of his high rise building and then bursting through the glass to rescue the girl was a priceless and memorable action sequence. He neutralized the threat in seconds, not to mention dismantling and reassembling the bad guy’s gun in the blink of an eye. I had memories of Batman, Bond, Bourne, and even Reacher racing through my head (maybe a little bit of The Matrix and Mission Impossible as well).Hurwitz creates a truly unique protagonist who is unlike any other of the iconic heroes past and present, but the author delivers a tour de force of suspense and thrills that rivals the likes of Fleming, Ludlum, and the other greats who gave the world fighters for justice like Batman, and lethal vigilantes like the great Robert McCall [CLASSIFIED AD: “GOT A PROBLEM? ODDS AGAINST YOU? CALL THE EQUALIZER: 212 555 4200.”].The simple fact is that Hurwitz uses a guided missile in the guise of a man named Smoak AKA Orphan X, to invoke the very best of Bond’s imaginative gadgetry, Bourne’s physicality and lethal force, Batman’s courageous heart and ingenious style (just without the cape), and yeah, even some elements of the immortal Jack (No Middle Name) Reacher. Jack may figure odds ALL the time but he doesn’t turn away from an “innocent” in need ANY time. Just read his latest adventure “BLUE MOON”. Well, I’ll say this, it’s doggone definitely been a “Blue Moon” since I’ve been this excited about a new hero and new series. I’ve late getting on board, but I am here to stay.

⭐ If you saw the fantastic movie with Denzel Washington, “The Equalizer”, some elements of that movie exist in this series. Evan Smoak is a last resort for desperate people. He finds his new “clients” by an exacting and interesting process which I cannot get into because it would spoil the plot. In attempting to protect a young woman on the run from Las Vegas mobsters, Evan realizes, he is actually the one being hunted. Who is hunting him, and why? It could be a number of people, and he has to determine first, who is hunting him. The answer is unexpected, and leads the the ultimate confrontation in the book. Twists and turns abound. This book, as the first in a series, was very good. It was unhurriedly written in the style of a Lee Child or David Baldacci. A conflict lasting seconds or a minute can take a chapter to play out. It is in the details that Gregg Hurwitz establishes himself as a master writer. Quite a thriller, and Evan Smoak is a deep and interesting character.

⭐ It’s an action movie in book form, and it’s okay for what it is. The plot is suspenseful and moves along, but otherwise the writing isn’t very good. Too many “clever” descriptions, and far too much depth on the weaponry and fighting techniques. The whole thing reads like it’s from the perspective of someone who wears a MAGA hat and dreams of being in a militia. Women are relegated to victims and sexy soldiers. Minority neighborhoods are stereotypical: poor single moms, drug dealers, gangs, and pot smokers. One of the female characters has inspirational quotes from Jordan Peterson on the wall. I was interested enough to read to the end, but I won’t be going back for the sequel.

⭐ I really like Evan Smoak. I even enjoy the side characters in the Orphan novels. Is it just me, or has Evan’s ability to overcome the impossible grown and expanded over the course of the series until now his exploits seem just plain ridiculous? The author’s explanation of weapons and techniques have expanded as well, until I have to skip over the abundant details to get back to the story. Even some of the author’s metaphors and similes didn’t make any sense to me. Still, the author pulls you in to his character’s lives and the story arc follows a logical pattern. This novel is far better than some of the crap Baldacci’s been vomiting out. I’d say the author should get back to his roots. Don’t try so hard to be cute and authorly–tell your story without so much distracting junk. One reader’s opinion.

⭐ Meet Lucas, a reporter trying to make a name for himself by chasing an urban legend in an abandoned church in LA, just North of Pico, near the 101. The church where ‘someone’ took out a gang of MS-13, the gang from The Mara Salvatrucha. This wet under the ears reporter accompanied by his young intern Aurora enter this church, she is tasked with recording their escapade. As they’re observing, a group of rough looking muscle heads approach. They announce that they have taken over the church as their new home, and from there the reporter and his intern try to leave. Lucas, not being exactly what the group of men are after, is dismissed, but not until he gives up his watch, a stainless steel Breitling. Leaving her there all alone, he bolts.Aurora, realizing she is about to go through a very brutal experience attempts to put up a fight. she makes a fist, hammers it into one of her attackers’ groin. As she does that, she falls to the ground and notices on the roof a figure of a man. Then, she notices her attackers backed away and hears grunts, hears cracks of skulls, tendons and muscles tearing, gasping. Then, a calm voice reassured her, the urban legend they had been after, calm and relaxed. Not even breathing hard after that ordeal, the Nowhere Man!Then as fast as he got there, as fast as he dispatched the assialants trying to have their way with this young Intern, he was gone. She goes to leave and notices Lucas parked up the street. She goes up to his car, gets in, hands him back his watch and notices he’s been crying!A very cool short story that will give you a small Orphan X fix before the highly anticipated Out of the Dark is released on 1/29/2019. This short story takes place between Hellbent and Out of the Dark, as the scene – the church is where Evan took out the MS-13 gang in Hellbent in order to save Xavier, the son of Benito Orellana. If you remember that scene, Evan had a tracking device in his stomach which activates when he eats. He gets there, face to face with Freeway, the gang leader surrounded by his men with guns trained on him, Orphan X pulls out and eats a snickers candy car. Then a Black Hawk full of operators and Van Schiver’s and Candy comes and a deadly battle ensues. Whats left… the ruins of a church described by Lucas in The Intern. Check it out, absolutely nothing Gregg Hurwitz writes is boring. While short – hence the name, The Intern: An Orphan X Short Story. It was most definetely fun to read.

⭐ Gregg Hurwitz is back with an outstanding new protagonist, Orphan X. Take everything you love about James Bond, subtract the womanizing, update with the latest operative techniques and technology, build in a deeply satisfying set of ethics, then add a unique and sympathetic protagonist backstory, and you will get Evan Smoak.I’m not going to spell out the whole story – you can figure it out for yourself from the blurb and copious reviews here – I’m just going to say that Hurwitz has got to be the best action thriller writer out there right now. The writing is tight and intelligent without a wasted word. The characters are powerfully presented. The story is adrenaline-pumping Hurwitz gold. Buy! Enjoy!

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