This one was great! Really phenomenal character building! I read this as a standalone but I wish I had read the prior books in the series to fully grasp the past of each character. Other than that, was really an entertaining read! I will be going back to the beginning and start the series over! I am sure this will only make me love this book more!

This is part of the Orphan X series, but is good as a standalone as well. The story is interesting. I love Evan Smoak’s character. The story is compelling with a drug kingpin participating in his daughter’s 18th birthday and he gets pulled away by what he thinks is business. When he returns to the party, his daughter has been kidnapped. Aragon (kingpin) is desperate and calls on the services of Evan who is able to perform all kinds of special ops sorts of jobs.
Scott Brick is the narrator and does a terrific job. He keeps the story going and is a great voice for this book.
I liked it and would recommend it.
#DarkHorse #Netgalley #MacmillanAudio

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. "

This book never stops. Evan Smoak is stretched to his limits. I like that Hurwitz doesn't make him a superman. He gets hurt - he bleeds - he breaks bones. But he still keeps at the mission for the people he cares about.
There are so many times Evan is put into situations with cartel guys where Hurwitz makes you wonder "Is this it for Orphan X?"
Evan has to stretch himself socially this time with a visit to Mia's brother's house. That's a long way from the Orphan X in the first book. There is a side story with Mia that is not resolved here. Looks like it's setup for the next book along with the events at the end.
Hurwitz gives us a little surprise with the rescue mission - did not expect that.
It's interesting to watch Evan struggle so much with the right choices in this book - It's full of grey. The drug dealer is a criminal but also a father and a patron of the town. There is good and bad - which side do you choose to help?
Joey feels like an essential part of Evan's life now - even with the disco ball and velcro wall.

Great audiobook performance from Scott Brick.

A great series and character from Hurwitz and another great Orphan X novel.

3.5 stars.
I wish to extend my thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advance copy of Dark Horse audio version in return for an honest review. The listening time was 14 hours 30 minutes. This was my introduction to the Evan Smoak series but had noticed many positive reviews. I thought this worked as a stand-alone book because we were given plenty of references to Evan's background as Orphan X and The Nowhere Man, along with his many other aliases. He is a trained assassin and will use brutal force to help people he deems to be good.

We are given the cliffhanger and outcome for the previous book and the beginning of the next book in the series which makes me interested in reading some more of them. Evan has had a very atypical and rough background and training. He has OCD and also manifests an inability to be comfortable in conversations with ordinary acquaintances. He has no compunction in the use of weaponry and the use of extreme brutality to assist people desperate for his help. He holds the commandment that those he helps must be good and righteous people. Evan's endurance and his ability to tolerate injury and pain were quite unbelievable.

There was an abundance of injury, pain, gun battles, vehicle crashes, explosions, and death. I did not find all the murder and mayhem to be a drawback but have never cared for action thrillers centered around organized crime and drug cartels. Along with all the violence, there were fascinating passages showing insight, growth, betterment, and possibly some redemption.

I found the narrator to be very engaging. A major drug lord in southern Texas is distraught when his beloved, innocent daughter is kidnapped during her 18th birthday party. Her father, Aragon Urrea, is the highly esteemed patron for the locals. He offers help, charity, and legitimate employment but is not above ordering people tortured and killed in the commission of his drug business. He is desperate for the return of his daughter before she is harmed and reaches out for Evan's help. Aragon realizes he is not a good man. His daughter has been taken across the border by the vicious, rival drug gang, the Leones, based in Mexico. She is being held in a heavily fortified compound, secured and patrolled by deadly armed guards. His daughter's name is Anjelina. After the kidnapping episode, my declining auditory discrimination failed me. For a long time, I heard the name as Aunty Helena and wondered who the heck that character was.

Evan must decide whether to help a man running such an evil business by returning his daughter to him. The two men engage in some fascinating philosophical discussions on the nature of good and evil and come to an understanding that there is a grey point in between. They both express regrets that their lifestyles have prevented them from becoming ordinary, and they have missed some of the pleasures and advantages of living normal lives. They are realizing that it is not that the world misunderstands them, but that they may lack understanding of the world. They start to bond and develop a friendship. Evan agrees to rescue Aragon's daughter but demands that Aragon sacrifice a great deal for his help.

In the meantime, he has left the teen-aged super hacker, Joey, in charge of renovations to his heavily damaged penthouse apartment. He has demanded that she oversees it is being restored to exactly its former state. His OCD allows no changes of any kind. Joey has other ideas, either to annoy Evan or to bring some enjoyment into his tightly ordered life, she has added garish, fun items to the apartment. Joey is important to him and he is developing a relationship with a lawyer in the same building and her 9-year old son. He has difficulty connecting on an emotional level.

He must infiltrate the heavily guarded Mexican compound by subterfuge and release death and destruction to achieve his goal. She is being held captive by the vicious Leones leader and his men. First, he must find where in the fortified building Anjelina is imprisoned. Once he finds the girl, he learns some shocking truths about her kidnapping, which necessitates some changes in his plans. Will he be able to rescue Anjelina and return her safely to her father? Before the book ends, there will be a high body count with much blood.

Recommended to those who like a fast-paced action thriller and do not mind all the brutality and violence. I enjoyed the growth and changes for the better in some of the main characters and thought it would make an intense and exciting motion picture.

Audiobook Review: Dark Horse (Orphan X #7)
by Gregg Andrew Hurwitz, Scot Brick (Narrator)
A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books, February 8, 2022

★★★★★ (4.5 Stars)

Audiobook narration: Tops!

Scot Brick's resounding, distinguished baritone segues seamlessly through out the narrative as he lends voice to Orphan X and other protagonists, supported by a commendable cast - now booming with authority, now subdued, now sinister, now mischievous, now gasping for breath in dire straits.

Better as an audiobook, sine qua non, the rating drops to four. Without a doubt, Brick's voice adds value to the novel, and is one of the most recognizable by audiobookphiles with over 800 books in his repertoire including quite a few of everyone's favorite - novels by John Grisham, David Baldacci, Eric Larson, Michael Crichton, Ayn Rand, Truman Capote et alii.

-----

// 1-855-2-NOWHERE
"Do you need my help?"
The Nowhere Man is out to help the most desperate - if you're lucky enough to get his number.
All he asks in return is for you to pay it forward... //

A quiet-spoken importer of industrial cleaning products who keeps to himself, Evan Smoak abides by his own commandments, suffers from a severe case of OCD and has a fixation for high-end vodka. Shaken, not stirred. German black vodka, to wit. Kauffman Luxury Vintage vodka for one, to be exact. Smoak's social life invariably consists of his long-time girlfriend, D.A. Mia Hall and her son and family; his assistant, Josephine "Joey" Morales, unparalleled teenage cyber wiz; his best friend, "Dog the dog" (hmm); and his bevy of nosy condo friends who do tend to boss the quiet man around.

// "...Average size, average build, a guy who'd blend right in. If you didn't consider his eyes, dark with memories, it might be easy to forget the body count he'd left in his wake.

The things he'd done. The manner in which he'd done them. His hands hung at his side; they'd done too..." //

Orphan X, 30 years of age, lost his parent early in life. At age 12, Jack Jones had taken him under his wing as the 24th recruit to a top-secret program known as "The Orphan Program", conceived to train orphans to be assassins for government agencies, where he trained in surveillance, reconnaissance, and armed and hand-to-hand combat.

The "Orphan" program has since been shut down.

But Orphan X freelances as an assassin, using his skills to fight corruption.

A/k/a Evan Smoak. A/k/a The Nowhere Man.

-----

Dark Horse, "El Caballo Oscuro", Orphan X #7

In Book 7, Orphan X comes face to face with two versions of his own shrouded dark side, - and finds himself in a moral quandary.

One of them, evil, vile, but redeemable, perhaps.
And the other, the personification of the devil himself.

"El Moreno", Mexican drug cartel kingpin beset with problems in his SoCal network, believes that he may have finally found the key in one Xavier Francis, who becomes his personal "Caballo Oscuro", his Dark Horse, the anointed one who will establish a base for the drug cartel firmly in the LA area...

Don Aragon Urrea, businessman cum insatiable drug lord with a ruthless mean streak and a penchant to delve in high tech, dark web shenanigans to evade law enforcement. Incongruously, a "padrino" who provides employment, financial assistance and showers benevolence to his townsfolk, particularly those with little hope...

One of them has a major problem.
One of them calls the Nowhere Man.

But, as Joey tells Orphan X, -
. "Evan, why would you want to help the cartel?"

-----

This book can be read as a stand-alone. Incredibly, this is my first Orphan X novel though I've long heard the buzz.

An adrenalin rush-inducing non-stop action page-turner with a storyline perfect for adaptation to a television mini series or manga series, some scenarios do lend to the suspension of disbelief, and characterizations generally feel a bit caricatured (though the latter may be simply because I missed volumes 1 through 6).

Nevertheless, the way the book is written by Author Gregg Andrew Hurwitz makes for compelling reading. Definitely on my watchlist for future volumes.

A must read for Orphan X fans - and fans-to-be!

Review based on an advanced listening copy courtesy of Macmillan Audio and NetGalley.

This was my first Gregg Hurwitz book and I will be picking up more of his backlist. The action in this book was described well and the pacing was also spot on. I was impressed how various cliche literary troupes were involved and well done as the author found a unique and believable way to weave it into this story. The inner monologue of the main character also made this book higher quality than just a generic hitman. Overall this was a book I very much enjoyed and looked forward to picking up the audiobook. The narrator did an excellent job with this audiobook! Thank you to Netgalley for the opporunity to listen to this book.

Fantastic entry in the Orphan X series! And narrator Scott Brick once again delivers powerful performance.
Although this book is technically a standalone, there are references to Evan Smoak's history and there are interconnected characters from the other books.

With that said, 'Dark Horse' is one of the very best of the Orphan X books. Gregg Hurwitz continues to surprise! There is a perfect balance here between suspense, action and humor.

The author makes great use of Evan Smoak's "Ten Commandments" which Evan was taught by his own mentor. At times I was moved to tears by this thriller, which shows what an excellent writer Gregg Hurwitz is.

If you're an Evan Smoak fan, you will LOVE this book.

Thank you to the publisher for providing an audiobook listening copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Dark Horse does not disappoint. As a condition of his presidential pardon (read the other books!) Evan Smoak, the Nowhere Man, formerly Orphan X must not use his considerable skills anymore. Skills gained in an intensive program under a former administration to pluck foster children from care at age 12 or so and make them government assassins to solve those problems where legal options are not options. Evan's trainer Jack became something of a father figure and he valued instilling humanity into Evan, along with ten commandments that are Evan's own ethical code. Along the way, Evan took on Joey, an Orphan program washout who Jack also was training. Because the government is trying to wipe out all Orphans, washouts or not, Evan took teenaged Joey (Josephine) under his wing. She is a genius with computer research/hacking/you name it.

In Dark Horse, Evan promptly breaks his commitment to retire and takes on a job for a man who heads a crime family, which goes against Evan's values. However, the man's daughter eighteen year old Anjelina, has been kidnapped by a vicious crime family, known f0r torture, flooding the markets with adulterated illegal drugs that kill, taking no prisoners. Evan agrees to take a deadly chance (of course) and infiltrate the cartel that holds Anjelina. Of COURSE there are cinematically vivid scene of violence and clever choices made to take out his opponents. For me, it is this COMBINED with the backdrop of Evan trying to figure out life that makes these novels so engaging. In Dark Horse, Evan's relationship with prosecutor Mia and her young son Peter deepens. He has a parent-child like battle with Joey about her desire to go on a roadtrip with her large dog, Dog that evolves over the novel as Evan better understands, himself, Joey and what it means to have relationships. He considers whether there are grades of good and evil and demands the best of his client in saving his daughter. There are loads of great characters as usual, villains, sympathetic but not very good people, victims, perpetrators, and people trying to be better, just like Evan. I listened to this one on the audio version. I enjoyed it except for the choices of voice and tone used for all female characters. Either the tone they used in talking or the voices themselves did not work with this narrator. But as a whole I enjoyed the audio performance so I just hope he works on this weak area.

I didn’t realize this was part of a series when I started it. It didn’t matter but now I’ll be going back to read from book 1. It was a slow start (maybe bc I didn’t read the other books) but once I got into it I couldn’t put it down. I loved all the characters even the bad guys were well written.

I listened to the audiobook version and he was wonderful.

Evan Smoak was a government assassin known as Orphan X. When he left the program, he became the Nowhere Man and is determined to help the most desperate people in the darkest times of their lives. When the daughter of drug cartel kingpin Aragon Urrea is kidnapped, Evan is not interested. This is not the kind of thing he wants to get involved in. But he does and finds himself in the middle of a war between 2 cartels.

So in all fairness, I don't believe you should ever START a series with Book 7, but alas, this was where I found myself in this case. Not being at all familiar with this series, I don't know what I've missed by not reading the first 6 books, but I didn't have trouble following this one. I'm sure there was some background that would have helped, but for the most part, this was easy to read as a standalone. Evan Smoak is very complicated, and the cast of characters surrounding him - Mia, Peter, Joey and Dog - take him as he is.

I would consider reading the other books in this series since I enjoyed this one so much.

I listened to this on audio and really enjoyed the narrator, Scott Brick. He has a very pleasant voice and his pacing was excellent.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Available February 8, 2022.

I must admit that when the publisher directly invited me to listen to this one, I was initially excited to check out Hurwitz's writing as I had seen his name on the shelves before, but hadn't yet picked up anything of his. My excitement dampened a bit when I learned that this was the 7th book in the Orphan X series - and waned even further when I read the description that this was a cartel plot... I loathe to read series out of order and cartel plots in general don't hold my interest because so often it feels like the characters are more like caricatures than anything else.

Earlier this week, though I read the first book in a series and still enjoyed the book, so I decided to just dive in here and see how it goes. I started listening and was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't long before I started loving this! While it was obvious that the series didn't start here, Hurwitz offers enough background to give the characters depth without feeling like too much is given away either. The relationships described feel like they have weight and there's enough context that I never felt as lost as I feared I might be by starting here.

And as for the cartel portion of the plot, I really thought it was handled quite well. These characters were more developed than they are in TV shows and movies - some were quite likable men. There were some surprisingly funny moments, too, which helped break up some of the action and violence. And there's plenty of that - Evan is quite the efficient killer. Plus, there are cool gadgets and interesting technology. I liked the supporting characters, too. I also feel like I certainly heard this performer with another book - and I just loved his performance! He's quite talented and did a good job bringing out the humanity in the characters. I really enjoyed listening to this and am so excited that the first two books in the series are available through Kindle Unlimited so I am going to start catching up on the series today!

This is the second book I've read by the author. The first book was the Prodigal Son in the Orphan X series. This is also the first audiobook I've listened to by narrator Scott Brick.

The daughter of a major drug-dealer in south of Texas was kidnapped by his enemies. He sought the help of Evan Smoak to get his daughter back. But the kingpin needs to convince why Evan should help him when he is a bad man.


Narrator imbues his narration with dramatic and characteristic delivery to give life and personality to all the characters in this book. Kudos to him for doing the best that he can. It is so impassioned that it's almost amusing. The narration aligned with the story's sense of humor.

It is tough to give a distinctive voice to so many characters. In general, I've enjoyed listening to the audiobook.


*This review was based on a complimentary pre-release audiobook copy approved by Macmillan Audio via NetGalley.

A character driver romance between Vanessa, a successful businesswoman and app queen and Khalil, the owner of several barbershops.

I enjoyed this book. It gave excellent representation to interracial relationships and mental health. The characters were great and had a good connection which allowed them to talk so openly with each other.

Hurwitz has done it, once again! Dark horse is an adventure right from the start. You can never go wrong when it comes to the Nowhere Man.

Can the Nowhere Man control the cartel army to protect the innocent? Hurwitz studies drug distribution to see if there’s black and white, or just gray. Hurwitz finds the gray and Scott Brick tells the story. There’s never been an assassin I loved more. You really need to read or listen to this seventh Orphan X book; I believe this is the best so far.

If you enjoy action, this is a fit for you. I personally would have preferred some better character development as well as more interesting twists, but I am not generally the best audience for this genre of book.

As usual, the writing in this story is excellent. It draws you in right away and the story just keeps you engaged and needing to know what will happen the whole time. This installment had a few truly unexpected surprises in store that I did not see coming at all.

This was not my favorite installment in the series, yet it still earns a full four stars which should say something about the series as a whole. I love Evan and I love watching him grow as a character and seeing how all of his relationships develop. I'm enjoying all of the twists and turns this series takes.

What I didn't love in this particular installment was Joey. I'm disappointed that she seems to be getting less mature. I really loved her initially, but now she is becoming kind of annoying. Honestly, Peter, the nine year old comes across as more mature than Joey at sixteen. I'm hoping that a few new life experiences going into the next book will help with this.

Otherwise, this is just what you'd expect from an Orphan X book. There is action, growth of characters, changes in relationships, more new characters to enjoy. I hope to see some of the new characters pop up in future installments.

Personally, I don't think we needed the final twist. I don't think that particular aspect is necessary to keep the story interesting, but I'm happy to see where Hurwitz will go with it. I'm sure he'll manage to work it in well and develop it into something I wouldn't expect.

I'd love to see Evan take on some smaller cases and work on his interpersonal stuff a bit in the future. I love his relationships, not just with Joey and Mia, but also with Tommy and the other side characters as well. I feel like he's on the cusp of true growth and will need to work on compartmentalizing his relationships and his work. Well, that's my perspective anyway. Either way, I will be eagerly awaiting the next installment to see where Hurwitz takes Evan and us along for the ride.

I listened to the audio version of this book narrated by Scott Brick. As always, he did an amazing job. I first heard his narration with The Passage trilogy by Justin Cronin, which is also excellent. For the longest time everything he narrated reminded me of those books. Now, he has become the voice of Evan and I couldn't be happier.

Initial review:

Can't wait to read this one! I love this series!

Previous books:
Orphan X ★★★★
Buy a Bullet (1.5) ★★★★
The Nowhere Man ★★★★★
Hellbent ★★★★★
The Intern (3.5) ★★★
Out of the Dark ★★★★
Into the Fire ★★★★
The List (5.5) ★★★★★
Prodigal Son ★★★★★

4.5 stars
This might be my favorite of the Orphan X books! As ever, Scott Brick is sheer narrator perfection (though it’s pronounced V-oila, not Wa-la). ❤️
I took half a star off because I felt that the overt OCD commentary was excessive. Evan’s “quirks” were always in the background of other books but this volume had explicit and repetitive references pretty much every chapter. It distracted in this book where it felt more organic in others.
That being said, all the boxes were clicked in this book. The Nowhere Man mission was full of intrigue and adventure. I enjoyed hearing more about the relationships in Evan’s life. Once again, we were left with a bit of a cliffhanger ending. It’s a thread from a previous book that I’ve been wondering why we haven’t heard more about in the past couple of books so I’m very excited for the next installment!

I didn't realize this was part of a series until after I requested it, but I decided to read it anyway. I don't think it made a difference that it was part of a series, it was a standard thriller that read like an action film. That's not a bad thing. The narrator was good and the audio quality was good. The pacing was also spot on to keep the story going. There was one thing that didn't make sense to me though, the author had his villain in the story be very adverse to violence against women, especially sexual violence, which usually those are things that are used to make someone villainous so I appreciated that, but at the same time, the author made jokes throughout the book basically making fun of PC or "woke" culture as some people call it, but it was just very off-putting to me, because it was about identities and he just sort of made a joke out of it and I didn't like it. Maybe this is standard for this author, and this author isn't for me, but I would give another book of his a try!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CYUnpW_riNG/
https://onereadingnurse.com/2022/01/03/dark-horse-alc-review-by-gregg-hurwitz/


Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio for reaching out to offer my first Advanced Listening Copy! I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Scott Brick narrate Dark Horse by Gregg Hurwitz. I have not read or listened to anything else in this series of books, and while I didn’t feel lost at all, I do think a bit of knowledge of the background characters and events might add to overall enjoyment.

So I want to focus more on the audio, since I am reviewing an ALC! Scott Brick is probably, as far as I know, one of the most prodigious narrators out there, I mean he read the Foundation universe by Asimov, Dune, at least some of the Lee Child books, some Erik Larsson, among other things.. and I think this is another amazing performance by him.

He has to voice cartel drug leaders, sicarios, Evan Smoak of course, teenage girls, and pretty much everything in between, and I don’t think he faltered once. My favorite character was the weapon aficionado named Tommy – the way Brick had him saying “MonGOlian CLLUSter-forNIcation” had he cracking up. I think he’s a master, really.

About the book itself – so as I said I have not read any of the Orphan X books, but Hurwitz does a good job recapping who is who and bringing first time readers up on current events. Obviously there is a bit of a storyline from book to book but it can be read as a standalone for sure.

There was good action throughout the book, good pacing, and a surprising amount of introspection from various characters as well. I liked Smoak as a main character, the OCD was something a little different and I loved what he did at the end of the book. Josephine was his little found-family-co-orphan and computer hacker. I liked her too. I want to go back and find the rest of her story, and that of her dog…named Dog! It seemed like Tommy the weapons guy was featured in the prior book as well so I do definitely want to go back and read the series.

There are many things I could quote too to show the humor included throughout the book, but I will wait until a finished copy is out. I did like the themes here of starting to trust people, self reflection, honesty with peers, and the whole debate of the morally gray, vs just evil drug lord. The comparison of their parenting and values was actually pretty interesting and made Evan think about his own life quite a bit.

Anyway – I would definitely recommend this audiobook, the book itself, and potentially the series for fans of vigilante type novels, action books, with hints of romance and humor and found family elements as well. It was overall good narration and good writing!

…and … there is a lion