Orphan X

Evan Smoak, Book 1

By: Gregg Hurwitz

Narrated by: Scott Brick

“Brilliantly conceived and plotted... Read this book. You’ll thank me later.” - David Baldacci

The first in the international bestselling series!

Who is Orphan X?

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)

©2016 Gregg Hurwitz (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"The most exciting thriller I've read since The Bourne Identity. Fans of Jack Reacher, Mitch Rapp, and Jason Bourne will LOVE Evan Smoak. A new thriller superstar is born!" (Robert Crais)

" Orphan X is the most gripping, high-octane thriller I've read in a long, long time. Hang onto your seat because Gregg Hurwitz will take you on a dizzying ride you'll not soon forget!" (Tess Gerritsen)

An Excellent Distraction

I've recently gone through several suspense/thriller type books lately that had good reviews and found them to be completely dissatisfying with unreliable characters, messy plot holes, and lazy writing. As such, I've been skirting away from this genre for a bit. However, this book had such high ratings, I was curious to give it a go even though suspense and thrillers aren't usually my go-to reading for a distraction. In my experience, most of the most popular writers of this genre tend to write protagonists with egos that make them absolutely hateful to me. Evan Smoak, while certainly not humble, maintained enough humanity to make me like him and want to root for him.

The story is good. The writer clearly did his homework in the research department. There was one technology the writer included with microchips the size of sand particles that were activated by digestive juices and I thought that it sounded absurd and made-up only to find from a google search that such technology does actually exist and even operates in the way the author described. It gave me a lot more respect for the author and for the plot. An author that takes care with the research definitely shows in the writing and it went a long way in making the story more enjoyable for me.

The story has a lot of graphic violence in it. If you're sensitive to high body counts and violence, this won't be the book for you. However, somehow it did not seem to be gratuitous as it was definitely all in the interest of furthering the plot and creating suspense.

Perhaps the ending wrapped up slightly more "happily ever after" than I had anticipated but I didn't feel dissatisfied with the ending. One of my pet peeves is a story that ends without wrapping up all the story lines and this book accomplished that wrap up without having to drag us along through excess fluff to accomplish it.

While suspense and thriller isn't my usual cup of tea, I definitely will be checking out this author again. And, I must admit, I found myself getting excited and having a hard time hitting the pause button during the height of the action in this book. As far as suspense and thrillers go, this is one of the best I've read.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THIS BOOK!!!!!

There are no words to express the enjoyment I got in listening to this book! The details and action are wonderful. You go boy!

Best Book by Hurwitz

Fast action from the beginning. The main character is great. The bad guys are bad.
This is a Must Listen. The narration by Brick is superb.

My "secret" to finally enjoying Scott Brick

I've never liked Scott Brick as a narrator. Sure, great voice, excellent pronunciation, but he reads
so
slowly.
So many looong pauses.
As much as I enjoyed this book - really fun storytelling - I couldn't get past Scott Brick.
That is, until I sped up the narration to 1.10x speed (duh? How did I not try this before??)
I genuinely don't know if they slow his voice in post production, or if he just really speaks that slowly, but man did speeding him up create a way more pleasurable listening experience.
So if you're like me, and Scott Brick is a stumbling point for you - get the book,speed Brick up, and enjoy a really good start to a fun action series (I'm actually starting book 4 right now).

Exciting

One of the most exciting & suspenseful books I've read in a long time. Think Victor the Assassin with back story & conscience. Highly recommend!