First of all, I can't decide if I'm disappointed or impressed with how quickly and excitingly Hurwitz resolved/explained the giant cliffhanger from the previous book. It's fast, exciting, and you feel right there with Evan as it's happening, but it's also over so quickly and I have so many questions.
It's unfortunately this amazing skill that Hurwitz has with making you feel right in the middle of all the action that earned this fantastic book just 4 stars. I understand that writing a story about cartels necessitates the excessive use of violence and somewhat traumatizing details that need to put even seen-it-all Evan in a tough place, but, man, are some of the scenes rough. It's just so realistic and raw at times that I had to walk away.
That said, I was glued to the story itself. It's an expertly paced plot full of surprises and twists I was not expecting and that kept ramping up the excitement and the danger. Hurwitz does a brilliant job of humanizing even the most savage character just enough for their actions to hit even worse. And Evan gets hits on all sides with this case as his personal life is also in turmoil and all the rules are put to the test.
It truly is a phenomenal story and listening to Scott Brick narrate it is a treat. He does a great job of expressing urgency, calm, desperation, or whatever emotion is needed for the scene perfectly.

Very happy thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the exciting early listen!

Orphan X (aka Evan Smoak, aka Nowhere Man) is one of my favorite fictional characters. Who doesn't love an orphaned child turned black-ops, government-trained assassin who retained his conscience and decided to use his "limited set of skills" to help those who have nowhere else to turn?? But what should he do when it's a bad guy/"unconventional businessman" who needs his help to get his daughter back from an even worse guy/cartel boss? He makes peace with the situation and infiltrates the cartel to get Anjelina back to her parents. However, everything is not as it seems and getting her out is going to be trickier than he thought and use emotional skills he's not sure he possesses along with his my-body-is-a-lethal-weapon skill set. And, of course, he will have the Joey, his niece-like teenage charge, who also came from the Orphan program, and her unparalleled computer skills at his disposal as well.

Dark Horse is as action-packed and fast-paced as expected but is interspersed with some very heavy emotional moments as well, which just adds to the story. My only criticism is how pronounced Hurwitz made X's OCD in this story. He has always been very neat, particular and a little fussy but it seemed to take on more of a life in this one (not able to sleep until he went and fixed one book out of place that he'd seen earlier in the day). I don't feel like it added anything to his character that wasn't already there and took unnecessarily away from the storyline. The end is a cliff-hanger that has me already salivating for the next installment.

Many, many thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for allowing me to listen (Scott Brick is amazing!), read, and review Dark Horse in exchange for an honest review

A MASTER STORYTELLER!

Greg Hurwitz returns with a favorite series (Orphan X), DARK HORSE, with the famous leading man. This seventh installment in the series may be Evan Smoak's (Nowhere Man) most emotional, challenging, and dangerous case yet.

Full of heart, action, and thrills. Since the first book, I have been a fan and would not miss an episode.

If you have read the previous books in the series, you know Orphan X was a government assassin for an Orphan Program. After leaving the program, he changed his name to The Nowhere Man to help those in need with a devoted phone number. 1-855-2-NOWHERE - A way to give back on his journey to redemption.

"When the devil wants to dance with you, you better say never."
—Immortal Technique

Hurwitz has cleverly pitted Evan against a complex man who darkly resembles himself with a mix of good and evil.

This time around, he comes in contact with a South Texas drug lord, Aragon Urrea. His eighteen-year-old daughter, Anjelina, has been kidnapped by the Mexican cartel.

He is on the fence, trying to decide if he wants to help this criminal. However, even though this man is evil, he also helps people in need, somewhat like his past.

Aragón Urrea is a complicated man. This mission is very personal for Evan. Should he get his daughter back? This is a question he often has asked of himself. So we have the "Dark Man" (kidnapped the daughter), Aragon, and Evan. This Dark Man is highly dangerous, and he has the girl.

DARK HORSE delves into the underbelly of humanity with drug pins, drugs, opioids, cartels, and the big and greedy pharmaceutical companies.

Evan has to do a lot of soul-searching about his past and present while involved in this adrenaline-fueled suspense thriller that packs a punch. Evan has kept people at a distance and tried not to allow himself to love or care.

Evan has maintained his humanity since the beginning despite his arsenal of lethal skills, as confusing as it sometimes is for him, which makes you root for him.

As always, I love Mia (neighbor) and the district attorney and single mother to Peter he has been involved with, who faces a life-threatening surgery. They are not aware of his past. There are also others in his life, such as the hacker, Joey (recruit), that has become like a daughter.

Lines are blurred. Evan has learned to keep up his wall. Those who need to be saved. What would they think of his past?

Evan is pulled in with struggles from evil and good and its extremes. His dark past and the people he has learned to care for. He also has OCD tendencies, antisocial behavior, and his need to have control over his world, but at the same time, he has to separate business and personal struggles in his life.

Due to its complex emotions, which are deeply felt, this series sets itself apart from other crime action series. Beautiful prose, Hurwitz keeps this series fresh with engaging content while adding to his leading man's action, suspense, and deeply felt emotions.

This series appeals to a broad audience, both male and female readers. You learn to care about Evan and hate to see him struggling with his extreme emotions. Another cliffhanger looks like there will be more Orphan X, and I look forward to the next MISSION in this superb and gripping series!.

As always, Scott Brick delivers an outstanding performance as the audiobook narrator. Spellbinding and engaging—highly recommend.

Any reader who enjoys intelligent crime thrillers with substance, both plot and character-driven; Greg Hurwitz's Orphan X has it all!

A special thank you to #Minotaur #MacmillanAudio and #NetGalley for an ARC e-book and audiobook.

Blog Review Posted:
#JDCMustReadBooks | @JudithDCollins
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Pub Date: 02/08/22
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I read a previous Orphan X book, and while it was more dark, brooding, and well... masculine, than most books I read, I found the main character, his back story, and his job absolutely fascinating. So, when I had the chance to listen to this audiobook, I was very excited about it.

The storyline this time around seemed even more dark, sinister, and disturbing than I had remembered. The narrator did a fabulous job, and about halfway through I realized that the downside to an audiobook, compared to the written version, is you can't skim over the really gruesome parts. I did make good use of the fast-forward button several times throughout the story, but overall loved the plot and the deep exploration Gregg Hurwitz does into the shades of grey around the concepts of good and evil. I recommended this book to my husband, it seems like the perfect read to get him hooked into mysteries and thrillers with me!

This book didn’t really grab me. I tried to catch up on the earlier books, but as an audiobook- the narration and story just wasn’t for me.

Dark Horse is Hurwitz next Orphan X novel. I fell in love with this character from his introduction years ago and that has only grown as I’ve read more of his various challenges. If you are searching for a good audio book to listen to, this one is it. Although, I’d get the entire Orphan X novels so as to enjoy every minute.

It’s always hard to jump into a series midway, which is what I did with Dark Horse, the seventh book in the Orphan X series. I think the author did a good job of filling in enough of Evan Smoak’s backstory, but I’m sure I would’ve benefited from having read at least one of the earlier books in the series. Unfortunately, this turned out not to be my favorite type of book. It was well-written, though, and I think people who enjoy thrillers with a lot of action and who don’t mind a lot of violence, will enjoy Dark Horse. The main character goes by a couple of nicknames, Orphan X, just X, or Nowhere Man. He has a complicated background, having been trained as an assassin by an off-the-books US Government program, but at this time he seems to be dedicated to helping people who are in a lot of trouble and don’t know where else to turn. He is super-skilled and smart. He also has OCD, which sometimes manifests itself at inopportune moments, like when he’s talking with a drug cartel leader and a book out of place on a bookshelf distracts him. He has a quirky 16-year-old female tech genius as a sidekick/assistant. I enjoyed their odd relationship and their banter. The character of Evan Smoak definitely grew on me as the story unfolded.

I listened to the audiobook version and Scott Brick did an excellent job with the narration and various voices and accents.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

I love this series, and this installment was no different. Each book has a unique story with great characters.

I received the audiobook of Dark Horse from Netgalley and Macmillan Audio. Spoiler alert I loved it.

The book is narrated by Scott Brick and he is incredible. The audiobook was flawless. His transitions between English, Spanish and his Spanish accent was incredible. Gregg Hurwitz knows how to write a tense environment that continuously made me want to read more. The morally grey characters in his book were so loveable, I found myself cheering for them constantly. The main character, Evan had so much character growth in this story-it was unbelievable.
I will be continuing on this series. I loved everything about the audiobook.

I will be doing a post on my social media the day before release. And will update my links!

A great Orphan X book! Lots of action and surprises - I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Many thanks to Netgalley and publishers for the free copy!

This is an exciting book in which one man goes against the "Dark Horse", a virtual power that runs the cartel. This power has virtually every resource available to be impenetrable. But there is only one person that can. How he goes about it makes for exciting and interesting reading.

Book Review

Dark Horse
Gregg Hurwitz
reviewed by Lou Jacobs



readersremains.com | Goodreads


Welcome back to Orphan X #7. Reading an Evan Smoak tale is truly a guilty pleasure; like eating dessert before dinner. Evan isn’t a superhero, but rather a kind-of Batman. He’s a highly skilled assassin who just wants to help powerless people.

Evan was a twelve-year-old boy rescued out of the projects of East Baltimore, only then to undergo a seven-year grueling training course under the tutelage of his handler, Jack Johns. Jack was the closest thing to a father and family he had ever known. This was part of a clandestine black ops “Orphan Program” created by the Department of Defense, creating a cadre of assassins of unparalleled abilities that were both deniable and expendable. Each sent out on a mission to destroy a high-value target without backup.

As his trainer, Jack knew it was easy to train Evan to kill, but hard to have him retain his humanity. Eventually Evan wanted out after a decade of covert killing, no longer wishing to be a lethal weapon of the government. He was one of the few Orphans with an actual conscience, and once out, found himself with a lot of time on his hands and a unique skill set. Thus, he embarked on his own program as a pro bono freelancer, helping those innocents who find themselves in impossible situations. And eventually, he became known by his enemies as The Nowhere Man.

Evan remained on call 24/7 for the unfortunates, awaiting a 1-855-2-NOWHERE call on his high tech, untraceable, and indestructible RoamZone phone. Evan thought he was ready to lead an ordinary life—whatever that was—without the prospect of death lurking around the corner. But was he?

Evan always answers his phone: “Do you need my help?” But on this occasion, the answer throws Evan into a moral quandary. “Yes, God has punished me,” comes the reply. “My eighteen-year-old daughter, Angelina, has been taken by my enemy, the La Familia Leon Cartel.”

This mission involves rescuing Aragon Urrea’s daughter, from the grips of Raul Montesco (also referred to as The Dark Man)—the psychotic and volatile cartel leader of the Leones Cartel, embedded in a heavily guarded fortress in Mexico, surrounded by an arsenal of weapons and vicious thugs and assassins (“Sicarios”).

This call certainly poses a dilemma for Evan. Aragon, like himself, is both a bad and good man. He is an unconventional businessman, although involved in the drug trade, and is also the patron of the small town, Eden, in south Texas, which flourishes under his guidance. He benevolently supplies legitimate employment and aid to the helpless, while meting out justice to the cruel and malevolent.

After careful and thorough investigation with the aid of Joey Morales, Aragon is deemed worthy.

Joey makes a welcome reprise in this book, being a fan favorite. She was a wash-out from the Orphan Program, who wound up in Evan’s charge. Now, sixteen-years-old, this feisty, smart aleck, is the smartest hacker he has ever known, taking college computer-science classes at UCLA that she could actually teach. Her only desire is to take “a road trip” by herself and her loving dog, “Dog,” for a few months—which Evan keeps shutting down.

Hurwitz proves to be a master storyteller as he uncouples this riveting barnburner of a thriller. Dark Horse is exquisitely plotted with unexpected twists and deceptions, laced with cinematic fight scenes, brimming with violence and suspense. This venture into The Nowhere Man is much more introspective than prior outings. Explored in depth are the gray areas of morality, family, relationships, and humility, while delving into the hellish underworld of drugs and the cartel families.

This seventh installment of the “Orphan” can certainly be enjoyed and devoured as a standalone, but will force the reader to quench their thirst with the previous novels. Personally, I switched back and forth between reading the book and listening to the audio, narrated by Scott Brick. His wonderful voice inflections brought the multiple characters to life in the “theater” of my mind.

Thanks to NetGalley, St.Martin’s Press – Minotaur Books & Macmillan Audio for providing an Uncorrected Proof & Audio of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Dark Horse
An Orphan X Novel
by Gregg Hurwitz
Narrated by Scott Brick
Publication date February 8, 2022
Publisher: McMillan audio

I have never read this author before so this was all new ro me. Evidently this is an Orphan X character from a series . Evan has worked under several names in the past but now he is on his own laying low going by the name The Nowhere man. He has only been taking jobs helping good people get justice. However now he would just like to retire and do nothing..but someone has found him.
Aarogon Urea is a good bad man who needs help. His daughter has been kidnapped by the cartel. Will Evan help him?
I found the writing surprisingly good. I say that because this is not my genre. I wanted to give this a try to see how Hurwitz writing style was and I'm pleasantly pleased. I'm looking forward to reading more of his books.
Thanks to Netgalley and MacMillan audio for this advanced audio copy in exchange for my honest review..

Thank you Netgalley for the advance audiobook copy of Dark Horse by Gregg Hurwitz in exchange for an honest review. When I was reading the description about this book, it look really interesting and kinda like Dean Koontz's Nameless series. What I missed was that it is book number seven of a series. I was still able to enjoy it and loved the storyline, I like these kind of books, but now I want to go back and read the rest of the series and then relisten to this book.

In this installment of Orphan X, the author keeps his finger on a pulse of brutality that has been sweeping the globe since time immemorial and today is still an aching throb within Latino communities and other disadvantaged Middle and South American areas. Tune in to YouTube for documentaries about Honduran women murdered in conjunction with drug gangs, Mexican drug wars, and the Chilean rape protest song. To name a few.

The novel begins in anticipation of the quinceañera of the beloved daughter of a powerful Latino business magnate in Texas. And in a side story during the party, we witness a situation regarding the mutually exclusive concepts of rape and consent—and the stinging rough justice served up by none other than the father. We see that he sits as the community judge, advocate, councilor, charity bureau, and punisher. And meanwhile … his daughter disappears from her party—kidnapped by a rival cartel in Mexico, whom Evan must outsmart. This exciting escape will involve the precision planning of an intricate heist!

Elsewhere in Evan’s personal life, drama develops in his major female relationships. First, his girlfriend undergoes a surprise and he needs to figure out how to navigate this bump. (No, this “bump” is not a pregnancy, but good guess!) Secondly, Joey his “niece/daughter/mentee” from the Orphan Program spearheads the cleanup of his condo that got destroyed in the last book, which will lead to snarls, eye rolls, tears, and eventually hugs. Some accuracy there on the emotional roller coaster!

I don’t entirely know what to make of Evan’s other interactions with Joey. It’s almost an assault of 2020s memes—up to and including the spate of people deceitfully mischaracterizing their dogs as service/personal support dogs. And getting the two types mixed up, of course. Is this deluge of cultural references intended as a wink, a nod, and an eye roll for older readers like me? Or is it to engender a cross over to a younger audience? Or is it just representative of today’s chaos? Regardless, it’s not thematically relevant, I assume? To me, it’s static rather than signal. I dunno.

But back to the theme: through Evan’s relationships, we see him work to model appropriate relationships with these women in his life. Thankfully the interactions are not just surface level. Also, the two rival men show two different scenarios of interacting with women. And of course, one of these is anathema. Right? Right?

Of interest to me is that we see very little of the girl/victim while she is in the eye of the storm. She’s the item of interest, the catalyst, the star, but she’s inanimate in the midst of a whirlwind of action. As such, she appears only as a object of beauty, an object to rape, or an object to save and admire. Evan tells us she’s not just a pretty face. The narrator tells us she is kind and beloved by her community. We have to assume she acts on agency. But we haven’t seen it.

So far, the author has an excellent track record of dynamically connecting stories that could do just fine as sequential episodes. I do hope he come back to this story and shows her in action. In a sequel perhaps?

Thank you NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for my feedback.

Dark Horse is book 7 in the Orphan X series from Gregg Hurwitz.

"Evan Smoak is trying to get his condo put back together. He's not sure of his relationship with Mia but he wants to keep trying. He is not interested in any new missions but one finds him anyway.
Now he must decide on helping one of the biggest drug dealers in South Texas get his daughter back. And to do that he has to infiltrate the compound of one of the most ruthless, paranoid and cruel cartel leaders in Mexico. "

Evan Smoak is back! 

This is the seventh book in the series. It is fast paced and written in the third person point of view. The characters are developed and of course, we see return appearances from Joey, Tommy, Mia, and Peter along with residents of Evan’s building. The book does end on There is a lot of violence in the book from what I would expect from drug cartels. I see Evan as a cross between Jason Bourne and the Equalizer. If you enjoy action books, you should give this book a try.

Hurwitz delivers another fantastic entry in the Orphan X series. It was a non-stop thrill ride that engaged me mentally yet still entertained and hit all the right notes. I really enjoyed how the book humanized X and allowed him to grapple with the difficulties of maintaining relationships with Joey (his fellow orphan and support staff) and Mia (his neighbor). There were lots of moments where Joey's interactions with X made me quite literally laugh out loud. I really appreciated seeing X continue to struggle with his internal commandments and how they often contradict in real life where things get messy and almost never go according to plan. A great read that is sure to keep you hooked on Orphan X!

I wasn't sure what I was getting into, jumping into this book without reading any of the prior books in the series. The opening chapters grabbed me right away, from the abduction of Angelina to Evan's harrowing brush with death after his penthouse is exploded. It didn't take long to become familiar with Evan's character and the other people in his life, thanks to backstory sprinkled throughout without feeling like an information dump. I kept reading to find out what was going to happen to Angelina, and I enjoyed the slice-of-life scenes between Evan and his girlfriend (and her family). Although I had mixed feelings about the romanticization of the cartel in the form of Aragon, and initially thought it would be more effective if he was another bad guy who needed Evan's help to save his daughter, eventually I appreciated Aragon more as he is, and the ending makes more sense the way he's presented. The first 1/3 of this long book dragged a bit for me with drawn-out scenes establishing the relationship between Evan and Aragon, but the action ramps up after that. There's no real mystery and only one twist, but this isn't that type of book. This is an action thriller, through and through, and it serves that job well.

The one nagging conflict I had with this book, which again may be because I didn't read the previous book, is I kept waiting for Evan to go looking for whoever sent a missile into his penthouse, and it's never mentioned again after the first few chapters, other than to show reconstruction of the penthouse. It confused me that he didn't seem curious or vengeful about it, and from what I understand this scene was the cliffhanger from the last book. Maybe this was intentional, and I'm not deducting any stars for it, but it did baffle me.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for the chance to review this ARC in exchange for a fair review.

Scott Brick, narrator, gives as good as it gets when it comes to the unsavory violence that just comes with the work of Orphan X. We weren’t chasing just one drug cartel we were taking down two! OX is also learning how to deal with domestic relationships. Hopefully Peter will become a regular character. And POTUS well let her keep looking! If you need a little more punch in your suspense thriller. This is one you have to read in 2022.

I read Orphan X—the first book in this series—just shy of a year ago. At the time, my only comment was “Yes, sort of Jack Reacher-ish.” I rated it 3 stars. I rate some installments of the Jack Reacher series (by Lee Child) 3 stars as well; but I just as (if not more) often rate them 4 stars. Why? I'll get to that in a moment.

This is the seventh installment of the Orphan X series. It looks like Hurwitz is cranking out roughly one per year. I haven't read the second through sixth books yet in no small part because my library only has book six in audio format (I purchased the audio edition of book one, and didn't like it enough to purchase subsequent installments). When the opportunity to read Dark Horse—book seven—came up on NetGalley, I jumped on it. I think there's enough background given in this installment that one won't be confused if they haven't read the series in order.

Barely into the story (in the first 10–20 pages), we're already dealing with the rape of one teenage girl and the kidnapping of another. Ugh! I almost reconsidered reading the book; but I haven't bailed on a NetGalley book yet and I really don't want to break my streak if I can help it. So, I kept reading. After a bit, there are scenes with an appealing character—16-year-old computer whiz, Joey (and her dog, Dog), whom I don't remember from the first book. Maybe she first appears in one of the installments I didn't read—it didn't seem like this was her debut. More Joey, please! Also, we learn that main character Evan Smoak made an exciting personal discovery in book six. At this point, I thought I might want to go back and read at least the previous book. That feeling didn't last long. Most of this 432-page book is brutally and gratuitously violent. [Not too far in, there are also appearances by Smoak's love interest, Mia, and her kid—both of whom I met in the first book. All three of these characters from Evan's personal life pop up again at the end of this book, but it's not enough to salvage it.]

So, I did a little thinking today about why I don't hesitate to keep reading the Jack Reacher series—which also includes some extreme violence—while I am so much less interested in reading more of the Orphan X series. The obvious difference is the level and use of violence. In the Reacher series, violence may happen along the way as part of advancing the plot, but it's not the main event. In contrast, Dark Horse was unrelentingly violent. The violence is so prevalent that it completely drowns the plot. [There was also extreme violence in the first installment—including sexual violence. The first book has some cool parts involving Smoak's home/headquarters. Again, that doesn't sufficiently offset the extreme violence.] Part of the difference in my perceptions of the two series may also be that the Reacher series leans toward mystery and the Orphan X series seems to lean toward thriller. Reacher has to figure out who is behind The Bad Thing; Smoak knows who it is (if not immediately, quite soon) and just goes off to “handle it.”

Thank you, NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Minotaur Books, for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review. Publication is expected February 8.