Antihero

By: Gregg Hurwitz

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Brought to you by Penguin.

Evan Smoak's most complex mission yet - with his usual skills off the table, how can he bring vengeance for those who most need it? Sometimes two wrongs do make a right . . .

Once a black ops assassin for the government known as Orphan X, Evan Smoak broke with the program and went deep underground, using his operational rules and skills to help the truly desperate with nowhere else to turn.

When Luke Devine, one of the most powerful men in the world, has a psychological crisis, Evan flies to the East Coast to help him.

While there, he learns of a young woman who was kidnapped off the New York City subway, clearly in danger and in need of aid. With no name and few clues, Evan and his team track down the missing woman, who was assaulted and abandoned. Evan offers his help - and sets out finding the young men responsible.

But the woman insists that Evan abandon his usual methods - no vengeance and, in particular, no killing.

Which will prove no easy feat given the mounting incoming threats from all sides. In a mission that takes Evan from coast to coast, from the poorest corners of society to the richest, Orphan X must figure out a way to protect the innocent, avenge the victimized, and balance justice with a measure of mercy.

'Weapons-grade thriller writing' The Guardian

'Feels like a missile launch' David Baldacci

'Outstanding in every way' Lee Child

© Gregg Hurwitz 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

Critic reviews

Laughs as well as action. A thriller that makes the Jack Reacher books look quaint

[Hurwitz] is a weapon of mass entertainment and the action never stops

First-rate and deftly varied combat scenes. Rewardingly, it's more plugged into the mood and issues of the present than a Lee Child slugathon

Feels like a missile launch

Outstanding in every way

Weapons-grade thriller writing

Fantastic! Exceptional

I am convinced there is no better author than Gregg Hurwitz!
The way he writes; pulls you in, makes you want to cry, makes you want to help Orphan X .
And the combination of my favourite narrator, Scott Brick, makes this the winning combination!

It just gets better!

The Orphan X series just gets better with each new book! Gregg Hurwitz is a master storyteller... His writing grows better as Evan Smoak matures and reveals more and more of himself.
Scott Brick is once again top of his game.. Gregg & Scott - probably the best combination of author and narrator ever!
Spoiler alert
Evan and Candy - YES, eventually!!!
I can't wait for the next book, where I'm sure we'll get to meet Evan's new armourer. :)
Brilliantly written, in every way!