3.5 stars

In this 7th book in the 'Orphan X' series, Evan Smoak has to infiltrate a dangerous Mexican drug cartel. The book can be read as a standalone, but familiarity with the series is beneficial.

*****

When Evan Smoak was a spindly twelve-year-old living in an orphanage, he was 'rescued' and placed in a black ops program that trained orphans to be highly skilled assassins. Evan was dubbed Orphan X. After doing his assassin job for many years, Orphan X left the black ops program and set himself up as 'The Nowhere Man', a badass who helps people in trouble. When a person in dire straits is given Evan's number by a former client, the call goes to Evan's uber-encrypted RoamZone phone, which he answers with the phrase "Do you need my help?" The 'help' always involves Orphan X killing people, so it's frowned on by the authorities.

After being pursued by government operatives for years, Evan made a deal with President Victoria Donahue-Carr, who agreed to pardon Evan if he gave up being the Nowhere Man. But in a world full of people in trouble, Evan couldn't keep his word.

As the story opens Orphan X is refitting and upgrading his fortress penthouse after an explosion destroyed it. Evan is interrupted in the midst of this task by a phone call from Aragón Urrea, a drug lord in Eden, Texas, whose residents view him as a hero for helping the Eden community. A weeping Urrea tells the Nowhere Man his 18-year-old daughter Anjelina - the light of his life - was abducted by a Mexican drug cartel run by the Familia León. The Leones are trying to infiltrate the American Southwest, and Urrea fears Anjelina was taken to give them leverage.

Orphan X is conflicted about helping a narcotics trafficker, but Anjelina is an innocent girl. So Evan agrees to help Urrea if the drug lord agrees to destroy a stash of drugs worth $160 million dollars.....and Urrea does it. Evan is assisted in the proposed rescue of Anjelina by his 16-year-old protégé Joey, a girl who can hack into any computer anywhere, including those in cartel headquarters. Joey is a rebellious spirit who loves Twizzlers, Red Bull, and her dog (named Dog).

Evan asks Joey to oversee his apartment's renovations while he's gone, and in one of the book's lighter moments, Evan comes home to find a disco ball and Velcro jumping wall installed in his living room. Joey and Peter - the 9-year-old son of Evan's neighbor Mia Hall - are in Velcro suits, throwing themselves against the jumping wall....much to Evan's dismay.

After making elaborate preparations Orphan X infiltrates the Leones drug cartel in a manner reminiscent of the old TV series 'Mission Impossible.' Orphan X finds that cartel leader El Moreno is a cruel and depraved man, who keeps women in chicken coops and feeds people to a lion.

Evan locates Anjelina, and in usual Orphan X style, mounts an elaborate rescue operation. As always in this series, the story is full of violence, derring-do and death as Orphan X accomplishes almost impossible feats.

Over the course of the series Orphan X has evolved from a complete loner to a man who cares about others, especially his neighbor Mia and her son Peter. The relationship between Evan and Mia is problematical because Mia is a prosecutor and Evan is a shady character, but they're drawn to each other anyway. In this book Mia experiences a health scare, and Evan gets even more involved with the prosecutor and her boy.

The end of the book foreshadows more trouble for Orphan X, and it will be interesting to see what happens next.

Thanks to Netgalley, Gregg Hurwitz, and St. Martin's Press for a copy of the book.

I have to admit to being a bit bored with this one. After the past books in the series, there just does not seem to have as high of stakes for the main character Evan as in past installments. This along with the fact this is a super long read! The one highlight was the ending where we see a familiar "president" get back into the "hunt Evan" mode, telling me that the next book will most likely make up for this chore of a read.

This was a fantastic entry in the Orphan X series. The dynamic between Mia and Evan is a nice sub-plot that I look forward to seeing carried forward through the next book. Evan has dealt with many things through the series, and it was nice to see a plot based around the cartel violence that is rocking our neighbors to the south.

I’ve been a fan of Hurwitz for quite some time and this book delivers!

Hurwitz continues his epic Orphan X (The Nowhere Man) series with another blockbuster of a story. The protagonist continues to both deal with his own demons and continue to slowly connect with and become increasingly close to other people. In this novel Hurwitz places The Nowhere Man in the middle of a struggle between two drug lords and he must decide if he should help the lesser "bad" of the two. The action as always is fierce and relentless and the plot twists interesting. Hurwitz does provide a brief background synopsis for those new to this series but to get the best experience, most flavor and greatest understanding of the characters and their motivations read the Orphan X series from the beginning!

Excitement, suspense, family drama, and a alpha hero are plentiful in the next book in this series. You don't want to put it down.

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare… Aragon Urrea came home from an errand and found his 18-year-old daughter Angelina gone. Kidnapped by a business rival, sort of; but when that rival is the head of the most brutal narcotics cartel in northern Mexico, you cannot call the Feds. What’s a father to do? Urrea picked up the phone and dialed 1-800-NOWHERE… and Evan Smoak answered with that signature phrase, “Do you need my help?”

Smoak, once known as Orphan X, has a lot of atoning to do for years as a black ops government assassin; and the persona of The Nowhere Man is his method. X is the last resort for innocent people who are in a hell of someone else’s making. But this time, the Nowhere Man isn’t certain that Urrea qualifies as worthy of his help. It takes some persuading, but a few days later he finds himself inside a stereotypical lavish cartel compound with the missing Angelina, a man-eating lion, and a big surprise.

No ordinary man could rescue Angelina from the clutches of two-score cartel soldiers under the leadership of a bona fide psychopath by fighting his way out of a palace-slash-fortress, but Orphan X isn’t your ordinary man.

The seventh Orphan X novel from the pen of Gregg Hurwitz, Dark Horse marks another step on Evan Smoak’s journey to being a normal human: learning to care for another person. Evan never lets that get in the way, however, as he lays waste to his enemies through a masterful combination of subterfuge and martial skill. Few authors are as adept as Hurwitz at plotting an operation like the one X must mount to extract Angelina; and the action will keep you on the edge of your seat with a pulse rate approaching target heart rate.

If you haven’t read Orphan X before, you’d be wise to catch up. You’re only six cliff-hangers behind!

I received an advance reader's copy of Dark Horse in exchange for my honest review

I received an ARC copy of Dark Horse from #NetGalley.

Another excellent installment of the Orphan X series. It was interesting to see Evan helping someone who was a bad person. I spent the entire book waiting for the guy to refuse Evan's demands, so I was really shocked that he seemed to be set on reforming hiscways by the end of the book.

The uncomfortable dinner at Mia's bothers' house was hilarious and really shows how far Even has come since the start of the series. Even the fight & resolution with Joey is a big change for him.

Overall, it was an excellent read.

This was a very good book. It was a ver good continuation of the Orphan X series I


have read all the books and have enjoyed them all. I do think that if you are going to read th3m you should star at the begging of the series

***********Spoiler Alerts*************
I really wanted to like this book. I really enjoyed the first four books in the series. All books like this, requires the active participation of the reader to suspend their belief while reading the book. However, having the drug kingpin Aragon Urrea willingly destroy billions of dollars in drugs and promise to get out of the drug business to purchase the services of Evan Smoke the "Nowhere man" goes beyond just suspending belief. Then to have the character completely enter the inner circle of the second drug kingpin who has the reputation as being ruthless, paranoid and psychotic within 2 days is complete nonsense. Then to become so trusted that the drug kingpin allows him to leave his compound alone and expects him to "find and kill" the rival gang members. again, is so improbable. And all through the book the character Joey is doing research for him and feeding it to him via an encrypted earpiece. At the same time that she is acting like a petulant teenager. Then the gratuitous sex scene with the sexy “DA” neighbor and dinner with her brother. did nothing to further the story. All in all, a completely waste of the eight hours it too to read it.
I really hope that Mr. Hurwitz re-evaluates the direction of this story ARC.
The best part of the book is the last couple of paged when the US President and the National Security Advisor take note that the “Nowhere Man” has broken his pact to retire and decide to go after him. This set up the basis for the next installment of the series. Hopefully Mr. Hurwitz will go back to the original story concept.

4.5⭐
Nooo! I usually steer clear from cartel plot, but then my book crush has to be involved, sigh...

"Dark Horse" doesn't follow up where it left off in book #6, Prodigal Son. Evan is fixing his condo and finds contractors near Home Depot. One of the men happens to know someone who's powerful yet desperate and has nowhere else to turn. Aragón's a kingpin in sophisticated drug imports from Eden, Texas, but also a pillar of his community. His daughter, Anjelina is kidnapped by the Leones cartel and taken across the border into Mexico.

Evan precisely plans a one-man raid into the Leones compound to save the girl. This is one of the best heart-pounding exfil that I've ever read. The cartels and sicarios are savages and it's very satisfying to witness their demise.

There's tremendous soul searching in this action thriller. I love that Orphan X is action-packed, but it's never all about cool gadgets and ass-whooping. Hurwitz digs deep into Evan's character book after book. The supporting characters like Joey (another Orphan), Tommy (the gunsmith) or Evan's neighbors at Castle Heights are all well defined, and I love them all.

Just awesome, once again, Hurwitz leaves me hanging with an ending similar to the last time. Gaaah!!

Thank you St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, and NG for this ARC.

Welcome back Orphan X! In Dark Horse, the latest in the Orphan X/Nowhere Man series, Evan Smoak faces a number of moral tests. When he gets a call to save the kidnapped daughter of a notorious drug lord, he must decide if his rule to help those in need includes the daughter of a man he would normally be working against. But an innocent is an innocent and as he learns more about the drug lord, he is forced to confront the question of what is evil and what is not, and how does the Nowhere Man fit in? A real page turner, I read it long into the night. Definitely one of Gregg Hurwitz's best!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this ebook to read and review.

I am late to the Orphan X Fan Club, and have tried not to binge on the 4 I haven’t yet read, but could not skip reading this new one. Oh, my goodness. The descriptions of the 2 families involved in this drug/cartel war often left me a bit shaken. It is fast paced and the adrenaline flows just as fast. Evan finds himself traveling between south Texas and Mexico, trying to rescue an 18 year old girl. Some twists add to the enjoyment and as always, the struggle that Evan continues to fight with being in touch with his humanness gives the story something extra. I will be recommending this book. Whew!

Thanks to NetGalley for providing the ARC for Dark Horse, by Gregg Hurwitz. I've read all the Orphan X novels, and this one was both the best, and different from the rest. For a change, the "little guy" that asks X to help him, is asking for someone else. Just so happens that it's an "unconventional businessman", dealing in narcotics, who's only daughter has been kidnapped. More "Ten Commandments", as well as a lot of X introspection, plus the irreverent Joey and an appearance by our favorite gun-maker Tommy Stojack. And a deepening relationship between X and his downstairs neighbor and her son. The X universe has another worthy addition, and if you've liked the past books, you'll love this one.

Just when I think this author can't come up with another engaging and entertaining situation to put Evan Smoak into, I'm proven wrong.

I am hooked on Hurwitz's vivid writing and his unique ability to portray so many characters and make them all individuals. Not many authors can write so many different characters and have them all stick to their character traits like he can.

I have enjoyed each individual story on top of watching the reoccurring characters grow and evolve with each book. This series is definitely a series I do not want to ever end. I will keep on reading Evan Smoak so long as Hurwitz keeps on writing about him.

*Please note that this book is in a continuing series. In order to fully appreciate everything this book has to offer, one should go back and read the full length novels in this series.

The Orphan X series has settled into a pattern. After an entry that was more about Evan Smoak as the former Orphan X, a government trained assassin, Gregg Hurwitz follows up with an entry that is more about the Nowhere Man, a good samaritan vigilante who helps people out of tight jams.

Personally, I tend to be just a little less whelmed by the Nowhere Man than by Orphan X. That is mainly because there is more development of Evan Smoak as a character in the latter entries, almost by definition since those are more about him than about the people he tries to save as the Nowhere Man.

But in Dark Horse, Gregg Hurwitz does indeed get deeper into Evan's character arc even as he focuses on helping someone else. He decides to help a bad guy, a Tex-Mex cartel boss whose daughter has been kidnapped by a rival cartel. As far as cartel guys go, this one is not as bad as most, especially not the really sadistic psychopath who pinched his daughter.

That forces Evan to confront his own conflicts between his dark side (he himself is the title character) and the amends he has been trying to make, as well as his inner humanity that has slowly been emerging from the deep place where his government training buried it. In sum, a well written combination of rescue and revenge thriller with literary character study.

Now maybe like me, you're totally sick of seeing stock villains like cartel bosses. That certainly kept me from getting into this book at the start. But I got over that, a) because Hurwitz gets into some detail (convincingly) about what these cartel guys are doing and how they're doing it, and b) because Hurwitz does quite a fine job of getting into the psyche of the cartel guys, including both crime bosses, one them a sanguine businessman, the other a true psycho, plus some of their henchmen.

Still, I have to round my 4 1/2 star rating down to 4 rather than up to 5 because, after all, cartel. Also Joey, who has been such a breath of fresh air and comic relief until now, is taken too far over the top too often. And as always seems to happen with Hurwitz, there comes a point where everything else is over and then there is a lot of action, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, except that the result is necessarily a foregone conclusion.

But after all that, the book concludes with a teaser of things to come, and that promises to be a real doozy, so I remain hooked to the series. Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for an advance reading copy.

I must begin with grateful thanks to Minotaur Books and Net Galley for an ARC of this seventh Orphan X outing. It won't be available until February of 2022, so I am twice as thankful. It picks up right where the last one ended, with Evan beginning to put his destroyed penthouse back together and starting to feel like he could begin to also restore his feeling of safety and home there. It takes off pretty quickly after that and I was happy to enjoy anogher thrilling page turner in true Orphan X style. But all is not perfect in my Evan Smoak world because, of course, his feelings for Mia continue to heat up. I truly don't appreciate extended romances in my favourite thrillers, and I am more than just a bit concerned about where this one will take us. Right now, however, there is that inevitable phone call that the Nowhere Man answers with words his fans know well: "Do you need my help?". During the story that follows I was just as pleased as ever with our hero's decisions and action, and was very worried about him as well. He had what may have been his toughest assignment yet, and learned some lessons of his own along the way. I hate how each book ends with a teaser about what is to come...not a cliffhanger, exactly, but it does leave a couple of important issues unfinished. And fans like me have to wait a year or more for the answers! You could read this outing and enjoy it without knowing all of the background, but I would recommend starting with the first in the series, Orphan X, which came out in 2016. These are all excellent, and you learn a little more background with each. You will be glad you did!

Dark Horse is as good as any of the preceding Orphan books, reading which helps to understand the characters.

Great action and fascinating non-action too.

5 out of 5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy.

This is the seventh book in the Orphan X series featuring Evan Smoak. This continues the story and goes back to the original plot line after a diversion in the last book. This one deals with drug cartels and continues slowly moving Smoak to understand what it is to have emotions and truly care for others. As with the other six books in the series I recommend this one, but do recommend starting with the first book in the series to get the full enjoyment from this one.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my nonfiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook page.

Evan Smoak is back and The Nowhere Man gets a call on his help line that he never could have expected. A drug kingpin whose 18 year old daughter is taken by a competing Mexican drug cartel is given Evan’s number. Evan must decide if working for this man is within his ethical code and once he does the fun begins. Evan is forced to confront his ethical and moral presumptions in order to make things work and it isn’t always easy. Others must face the same music as they learn that the things we love in this life aren’t always ours to control.

I really enjoyed this recent entry into the Orphan X series. Most of the prior inhabitants of Evan’s life are back once again and life continues to be difficult for Evan in the real world. The story flowed smoothly and maintained the snappy dialog that is always found in the Orphan X books. The action is pretty much non-stop though there is a side-story with Mia who receives some difficult news leaving Evan once again unsure of how to act in a truly human and caring way. The epilogue gives us an idea of where Book 8 is going to go and it should be thrilling.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Evan Smoak is a man with many identities and a challenging past. As Orphan X, he was a government assassin for the off-the-books Orphan Program. After he broke with the Program, he adopted a new name and a new mission--The Nowhere Man, helping the most desperate in their times of trouble. Having just survived an attack on his life and the complete devastation of his base of operations, as well as his complicated (and deepening) relationship with his neighbor Mia Hall, Evan isn't interested in taking on a new mission. But one finds him anyway.

Aragon Urrea is a kingpin of a major drug-dealing operation in South Texas. He's also the patron of the local area--supplying employment in legitimate operations, providing help to the helpless, rough justice to the downtrodden, and a future to a people normally with little hope. He's complicated--a not completely good man, who does bad things for often good reasons. However, for all his money and power, he is helpless when one of the most vicious cartels kidnaps his innocent eighteen year old daughter, spiriting her away into the armored complex that is their headquarters in Mexico. With no other way to rescue his daughter, he turns to The Nowhere Man.

Now not only must Evan figure out how to get into the impregnable fortress of a heavily armed, deeply paranoid cartel leader, but he must decide if he should help a very bad man--no matter how just the cause. Gregg Hurwitz has created a fully human character in Evan Smoak, and the action is as intense as his efforts to fit into the lives of the people he loves. Highly recommended. #DarkHorse #NetGalley