Greg Hurwitz returns with his popular Orphan X series (a favorite) with #10, NEMESIS, taking us even deeper into the complex personality of Evan Smoak, The Nowhere Man, in this action-packed thriller, leaving fans anxiously awaiting the next in the series.

NO GREATER FRIEND.
NO WORSE ENEMY.

About...

If you have read all the books in the series as I have, you know Evan is a highly trained former government assassin who survived for years keeping a few trusted confidants and adhering to a strict code of "The Ten Commandments.

In this installment, Evan is at odds with his oldest friend, Tommy Stojack (we go back 15 years), and the rules are shattered. He is a gifted gunsmith who has created many of Evan's weapons, but now he has crossed a line. He has to track down this friend and face him face to face.

Tommy has left town to deal with a dead friend's son, and Evan is out to find him. But there is something more dangerous and sinister going down. Who will make it out alive?

My thoughts...

In NEMESIS, lines are blurred, and loyalties are tested with multiple enemies in this high-adrenaline action-packed installment. From trained killers, The Four Horseman, a crooked sheriff, and others.

We witness Evan grappling with the conflict between his Orphan Program training and his sense of humanity. He introspects and questions his friendships, and the ongoing inner turmoil adds emotional depth to this character we have grown to love.

The author brilliantly keeps his fans entertained, from the struggle between good and evil to exploring friendships and betrayals, emotions, soul searching, values, and rules. Evan, who has not had an easy life, faces his Nemesis, perhaps the most demanding challenge he has ever faced, showing us that personal growth is always possible.

In addition, fans will be delighted to catch up with Joey (age 17) as she struggles to find her place in society with social media and hatred.

Audiobook...

I enjoyed experiencing the audiobook narrated by the talented Scott Brick. His exceptional performance, with a voice that perfectly suits the story, elevates the narrative, bringing the characters, setting, action, and suspense to life. It's a must-listen for any fan of the series!

Recs...

NEMESIS is for fans of the Orphan X series, Greg Hurwitz, Evan, and Joey, and we look into the characters even more as we glimpse into them and the things they may hide from others. Highly recommend.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio, Minotaur Books, St. Martin's Press, and Netgalley for a digital advanced review copy and advanced listening copy in exchange for an honest review.

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My Rating: 4 Stars
Pub Date: Feb 11, 2025
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There are few people in Evan Smoak’s life that he considers friends. One of them was Tommy Stojack. Nemesis, the tenth book in the Orphan X series, reveals how they met years earlier when Evan had recently left the Orphan program to become the Nowhere Man. Evan lives by a strict moral code to protect the innocent. When Tommy’s sale of weapons cross the line he confronts him and their relationship is broken. Evan returns to try and reason with Tommy once again. Tommy is gone but Evan is attacked by a group of men that had been looking for him. Tommy owed a debt to a fallen soldier, who asked him to help his son. Now that son is in trouble. What Tommy finds is a group of young men involved in bigotry and vandalism who believe that they have to fight to keep their community free from outsiders. An act of harassment ended in several deaths and Tommy needs to protect the boy, while finding a solution that will bring justice for the victims. Evan is coming after Tommy and the young men involved in the death of the innocent victims.

One of the commandments that Evan lives by is to never make a mission personal. He is struggling with his feelings because Tommy was a friend, making this very personal. His beliefs are being tested like never before. He has always lived by his personal code and has survived by following the training he received as an Orphan, but the situation with Tommy has him re-evaluating his life. The disturbing scene of racial hatred and the bigotry expressed by the boys that Tommy hopes to save forces you to look at society’s divisiveness. There are, however, scenes of forgiveness and true friendship. Despite their differences, Evan and Tommy put their feud on hold when a larger threat looms. Gregg Hurwitz’s series has always been one of my favorites. With tense action scenes, well developed characters and glimpses into Evan’s past, it is a story that will keep you glued to the pages. I would like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press - Minotaur for providing this book.

Nemesis is another great addition to this series. As always, each book stands on its own, but they are more powerful if read in order. In this book, the main characters best friend has crossed a line that Evan must deal with and also find a way to come to terms with.

Orphan X aka The Nowhere Man aka Evan Smoak returns with a vengeance in NEMESIS, the tenth book in Author Gregg Hurwitz's explosive Orphan X series. Evan, once a highly successful black ops government assassin, now operates under the radar as The Nowhere Man, a protector of innocent victims only an anonymous phone call away. He lives a rigid, solitary life driven by a strict code of conduct known as the assassin's Ten Commandments. His strong belief in these commandments drive his every move, every decision, and he believes it's his duty to not only obey the commandments but to also enforce them by going after anyone who breaks one of the codes. Much to Evan's chagrin, his longtime friend and armorer Tommy Stojack has apparently broken a code by providing weapons to an assassin who targets innocents. In spite of the internal turmoil it creates within Evan, he has no choice but to have it out with Tommy. His strong moral beliefs will not allow him to let it slide. What ensues threatens everything Evan has ever known and believed to be true, turning his world upside down while leaving him questioning exactly who he is and what he's doing. Commandment #4 says: Never make it personal, but it doesn't get more personal than this for Evan. Going up against one of the only friends he has allowed into his solitary world guts him, throwing him off his game and messing with his ability to focus leaving him vulnerable to other outside deadly threats currently slivering through the shadows. When the smoke settles, who'll be left standing? Will Evan be able to live with the consequences of his actions?

Author Gregg Hurwitz knocks it out of the park with this addition to the highly successful, epic Orphan X series. Through introspection, readers are allowed inside to witness Evan's inner turmoil and moments of self-reflection as he deals with personal issues he usually keeps locked away. It's a side of Evan fans of the series haven't seen before - a crack in the armor of this cold, deadly assassin, and it's a reminder that he is indeed human. Side plots involving Tommy honoring a promise to an old friend and Joey dealing with her own identity crisis while trying to fit in add to the suspense while driving a fast and furious pace forward through revelation after revelation. The action is nonstop, as always, from the first page through to the last, and the tone is dire. This reader refused to put the book down until the dust settled at the end.

NEMESIS is a story of friendship, self-reflection, loyalty, forgiveness and emotional turmoil. It's a lesson in making the correct decision based upon one's interpretation of the fine line separating right and wrong and knowing the difference. New readers to the series will have no issues reading NEMESIS as a standalone as the author does a fantastic job of filling in the blanks with any needed backstory. However, this is an outstanding series that is best consumed one book at a time - beginning with ORPHAN X, book one. Not only is the character development important, but the books build one upon the other, and you'll be missing a great reading experience if you choose to skip previous books. Highly recommended to fans of the series and readers who enjoy intense, high action, fast paced suspense thrillers.

This is another exciting story in the Orphan X (Evan Smoak aka Nowhere Man) series.
Evan (former government black ops assassin) finds his life becoming increasingly messy. Before he was self reliant and was able to follow his personal set of 10 Commandments, designed to keep him alive and a danger only to the worst of humanity (never kill an innocent).
As time goes on in this series, Evan finds keeping some of his rules increasingly difficult to adhere to. He has developed relationships with a few other people. He is no longer fully autonomous. These people have even become friends of a sort. He feels responsible to protect Joey, his 17 year old hacker, a wash out from the Orphan program. She was never going to become a killer.
His weapons and equipment supplier Tommy Stojack has also become a friend. So when weaponry created by Tommy were in the hands of the killer Evan went up against in the last book, he felt betrayed. How could Tommy supply such a person?
Evan confronts Tommy and the conversation doesn't end well. When Evan tries to talk to his friend one more time, he is met by gun fire and a team of killers.
This is where Evan comes up against his own rules. Never make it personal. How can he not? It's Tommy after all. Evan also breaks another of his rules without realizing it. Assume Nothing.
Tommy tried to kill Evan and now Evan is coming for him. And because life isn't so simple, there is much more involved with this story.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for the opportunity to enjoy this action-packed emotional roller coaster of an e-ARC.

I had mixed feelings about this latest Orphan X book and found it hard to read--and I've read them all. Gone was any humor and at certain points, it felt like Evan Smoak, our hero, was the bad guy. The story went off in several directions and some were very violent and disturbing. I decide to rate the book fairly high because the plot really makes the reader think--about evil, racial hatred, forgiveness, restitution, and even one's right to judge others. Not every moral issue is just black or white. What led a person to act as they did?

Many thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with an arc of this new thriller. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

In this 10th installment to the Orphan X series, Evan and Tommy faceoff, testing not only their friendship, but the codes they both live and die by. Set against the backdrop of bigotry and hate, the story focuses in on Tommy’s “mission” to save some dangerously misguided young men while Evan’s “mission” to exact his special brand of justice becomes twofold. Per usual, there is plenty of action to be had, and despite the contemporary issues it raises throughout, I struggled to fully connect with both the storyline and characters. Still, I appreciate the moral ambiguity faced by Tommy and the emotional shift in Evan’s character as he struggles to reconcile Tommy’s perceived betrayal.

I'm not sure how I feel about this entry in the Orphan X series. The action scenes were good and what we expect from this series howver the book was let down by too many plot lines that get rushed or unsatisfactory endings

Book #10 in the Orphan X/ Nowhere Man series. Evan Smoak is an assassin. As the Nowhere Man, he was trained to kill with no regrets or thoughts before or after the act. When it became clear that he could not/ would not kill without question, Evan morphed into Orphan X, a man who kills to protect the innocent and/or even the odds in the battle of good vs evil. His way of life leaves little space for friends, anyone he cares for could easily be used as a weapon against him. Those few he does keep close are all aware of the code Evan lives by. When he has cause to question the loyalty of Tommy Stojack, not just his friend but his armorer on many assignments. his code leaves him no room to consider the options. This is one story arc that will influence the men's actions throughout NEMESIS.

The Orphan X series is definitely an action/ thriller that will satisfy the most hardened fan. But, it's also the story of Evan's life and the consequences he accepts with each challenge. As his character has matured and developed a code of honor that brings him into the fight against any and all who would harm the United States and it's people, or compromise the safety and security of those who would do no harm, the series has developed a depth that touches the emotions of readers. This is the first book in which Evan displays more emotion than usual, but it suits the man he has become. To do yourself and the series justice, it should be read in order.

This is the 10th book of the Orphan X series, one of the more consistent thriller series out there. This is grittier then most of the books, with a more grounded story and is almost a two hander with the main character Evan Smoak finding himself at odds with his close friend and gunsmith Tommy Stojak. Tommy was a side character in the previous books, but is co-lead here, and much of the story is centered around his relationship with a sad sack group of white supremacists. Those parts of the book feel more like a gritty Jordan Harper hillbilly crime novel, then the whiz bang fireworks of the other Orphan X books, and I thought the dissidence worked. This felt on initial read, like the best of this series, and a must read for fans of this genre.

Gregg Hurwitz has built the best characters and they just keep getting deeper and deeper. I have never been disappointed by one of Orphan X’s stories and this was certainly no exception.
Nemesis is an excellent combination of amazing action, pulse-pounding suspense, and complex character development.
Super entertaining and fast paced with some shockers and edge of your seat suspense. This was so much fun to read.

4.25⭐
When February, my least favorite month of the year, rolls around, at least I have one thing to look forward to...a new Orphan X/Nowhere Man. Ten years into the series and Hurwitz still manages to make it like the return of a friend, yet still fresh every time. What Evan considers a moral failure, tantamount to betrayal, has set him on the path of retribution against his armorer and friend, Tommy. As always, an insane amount of action, but continuing the trend from the last few books, we see both Evan, and Joey, trying to figure where or how they fit into this world. Always a thrill ride, but now showing more depth and complexity. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This story resumes Evan's pursuit of the weapon's supplier from Lone Wolf. Even though there is enough backstory to have you follow along with the plot, the depth of friendship between Evan and Tommy is at the core of this installment, and their internal battle to retain that connection cannot be appreciated without reading the prior books.

Nemesis is a slight departure from the usual series installment. Evan Smoak (aka Orphan X/the Nowhere Man) is seeking personal justice rather than working a pay-it-forward mission. His strict commandments have kept him at the top of his game and the structure has helped him retain some degree of humanity. But when his old friend Tommy Stojack challenges his commandments, Evan struggles with his sense of justice and what a violation requires.

As Evan muscles his way through the moral dilemma, Tommy finds himself fulfilling his promise to look after the son of one of his deceased Army buddies. The young man is in trouble, a ton of it. This is when the story shifts its focus, and Tommy takes centerstage as he tries to right an impossible situation involving racism and corrupt law enforcement in a small town. Tommy is a strong character and I do love his in-your-face nature and sarcasm, but I obviously favor Evan to carry the story. Admittedly, it took effort to push through scenes with the additional Tommy-mission characters who were relentlessly frustrating. Thankfully, the author expertly weaves in additional elements involving Evan's relationship with Joey, a super villain named Janus, and a band of assassins on their killing spree. When Evan finally retakes centerstage and the different plot elements intersect, the story delivers the powerhouse Orphan X action I've come to expect from each book. Side note...the ending hits hard.

While this was not my favorite book in the movie-worthy Orphan X series, on it's own merits, Nemesis is a great story with a complex plot filled with emotional depth and page turning action.

Another installment in the Orphan X series , filled with non stop action as the continued saga of Evan Smoak and Tommy Stojavk brings us to an unanticipated crossroads. Tommy has veered from a long standing code of ethics when he provides weapons to an indiscriminate killer who has no qualms about murdering the innocent. Evan cannot abide by this betrayal and so ends a lifelong friendship which pits the two friends against each other

I guess I am just not the right audience for this book. While it is well written and action packed, it is just too violent for me. This is not simply a tales of righting wrongs and stopping evil forces but instead an emotionally fraught fight between two friends who are now at odds with each other. It seems they are at war with no,peace talks on the horizon.

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur books for an ARC in exchange for my review. Readers of this series will be glad to know that the publication date is Feb 11, 2025.

Nemesis, the tenth novel in the Orphan X series, reads a little different than the previous nine, at least to me. This is still a great thriller, with the details of fights and assassinations readers have come to expect. And while all of the books give us glimpses into Evan's background and how his past life led him to become Orphan X and then the Nowhere Man, this book seems to focus on that even more.

First of all, the thriller part. The bad guys Evan is after are "torn from the headlines," young white men who are militia wannabes, and the corrupt sheriff's department that is covering up the murder two of them committed. Evan arrives in the small town that is unhappy with all of the Mexicans living in the nearest next small town over. Once he meets the parents of one of the victims, Evan is dead set on a trail for justice. Or vengeance.

But are the bad guys really bad guys? Evan's friend Tommy, one of a very few friends he has, is staying with the young men, hoping he can turn them away from the prejudice and rage and dead end life they are living, and he tries to stop Evan's plan to kill them all. Because the book is written from both Evan and Tommy's point of view, the reader sees both sides and it isn't always completely clear who is good or bad, who is right or wrong. We see the treatment and events in the lives of everyone, not just Evan, to get a glimpse of understanding into how they became the people they are.

Tommy and Evan are already on opposite sides when the book opens, before we even meet the rest of the characters in this story. Tommy is Evan's weapons dealer, but Tommy has provided weapons to people Evan classifies as bad because they kill innocents. When Evan goes to Tommy's house to discuss this and/or kill Tommy, he finds a crew of assassins waiting to kill him. This sets him off to find Tommy and eliminate him, which leads him right into the wanna be white nationalists. But even here, things aren't necessarily what they seem. Did Tommy hire the killers? Or did someone else?

Once Evan eliminates the first group of assassins, a new group is activated, and we also get part of the story from their point of view. This is the one part of the book I didn't much care for. Moving to the perspective of these killers as they completed their previous mission before taking on the new job, didn't really add much to the story for me. But the chapters about them were short, so it wasn't a major issue.

Joey, Evan's other friend/partner/ward, does show up in the story for all the Joey fans, but her role is fairly small here. Her scenes show that she also is struggling to find her way in a world that seems determined to divide us all into factions.

That seems to be a key point of the book, underlying all of the plotting and revenge and violence that comes with an Orphan X novel. There are plenty of action scenes, and we can read in detail about Evan's almost supernatural fighting skills, but there are also lots of passages about how the past of these characters has created who they are in the present, how the divisions among us maybe shouldn't matter, and how difficult it can be sometimes to know who is our friend and who is our foe.

Another good book in the series. I always think readers should start with the first novel in a series, but if you jump in here you'll actually get all the background you need to understand Evan and his relationships with the people and the world around him.

He has the emotional intelligence of a fruit fly

So Evan Smoak is told by Joey, the teenaged uber-hacker who is his de facto charge/kind of niece/colleague, and she isn't wrong. As an orphaned child he had been selected for inclusion into the Orphan Program, trained in all manner of lethal skills to function as an expendable weapon to be used (by a black ops division of the DoD) to do things that the US government wants (but isn't supposed) to do. As the 24th recruit in a group where each member is known as a letter of the alphabet, he became Orphan X, one of if not the best of the Orphans. Until, that is, he decided to step away from that life and go off the grid, entering the world as a mild mannered importer of...something... by the name of Evan Smoak and living in a (highly enhanced with the ultimate in security measures) condo in LA. His former handlers haven't been able to kill him (yet), and he tries to make peace with the dead bodies he's left strewn behind by becoming someone that people in dire situations with nowhere left to turn can call for help, the Nowhere Man. He was trained to be a killer but also to remain human, and crafting an existence that balances the two has proven challenging if not impossilbe. Two of the people who know him best and are the closest things he has to friends or family, Joey and Tommy (the man who for the last 15 years has procured and crafted the weapons and other tools of the trade that Smoak needs) have all of a sudden turned on him. Joey, attending UCLA at Smoak's insistence and trying to fit it with normal girls her age, has become involved with an activist group on campus and on their behalf is creating digital images for their cause which to Smoak's view could become potentially dangerous propaganda, and Joey doesn't take kindly to his pointing that out. As she rebels and freezes him out, Smoak also is coming to terms with the fact that Tommy has crossed one of Smoak's red lines by selling weapons to someone who used it to kill an innocent person. Smoak goes to Tommy to try to reconcile this breach of his code, and it goes south fast. With Joey refusing to talk to him and Tommy trying to kill him, things are bad enough....but when Tommy responds to an SOS from the son of an old comrade and finds himself sorting out the situation in which the boy and his racist friends find themselves (it involves them having killed innocent people whose only crime was to have been Mexican immigrants) and Smoak finds out, Smoak and Tommy are again on opposing sides of a dangerous situation, and one of them is unlikely to survive.
In this tenth installment of author Hurwitz's Orphan X series (which can be read as a standalone thriller, but those who have read earlier books in the series will have a more nuanced grasp on the relationship between the three principal characters) the reader gets a peek at how Smoak and Tommy first met and bonded, which in turn sets the stage to show why Tommy's betrayal hits Smoak so hard. Tommy heads off to honor his promise to his dead colleague and help a boy in a bad situation, through his actions becoming a more developed figure, while Joey's attempts to fit in to the world of regular college students when she is anything but makes the wisecracking teen more relatable. And then there is Smoak, trying to integrate into a world from which he has always kept himself at a distance and dealing with the fracturing bonds he has with the closest thing he has to a best friend and the young woman who is quasi family. Oh, and as always there are shoot-outs, ambushes, plot twists, and truly nasty villains who should have taken greater pains to either stay off of Smoak's radar or to have taken him down before he knew they wanted him dead. Because there is no greater friend, and no greater enemy, than someone like Evan Smoak. Fans of the series will enjoy this latest effort, especially the expansion of Tommy's character, and readers of authors like Lee Child, Mark Greaney and James Byrne should latch on to this series if they haven't already. My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for allowing me access to a copy of Nemesis in exchange for my honest review. I always enjoy spending a few days with Smoak, and look forward to his future exploits.

I held my breath when I started reading, as #9 left my jaw on the floor. Book #10 took my emotions every where and left me feeling like I was put through the ringer. Evan struggling with the ultimate betrayal, Tommy trying to keep a promise to someone else and other parties are involved. I apologize for not sharing story line, as I believe you can get that from the blurb. I am someone who shares how a book makes me feel and if I would recommend. I HIGHLY recommend this series and that you start at book 1. Be aware each book you will become more invested in Evan Smoak and you won't regret a minute. Thank you for the advanced copy. I freely share my honest thoughts and opinions. #Nemesis #OrphanX #GreggHurwitz #StMartinsPress #MinotuarBooks #NetGalley

This is book 10 in the Orphan X series and Evan is still struggling with who he is.

Its hard being the worlds most feared assassin and also find yourself drawn to care about some people and what happens when they disappoint you. This book really focuses on Evan's code and his best friend Tommy. They aren't sure if they should be killing each other, helping each other or making up.

Answering a call for help Tommy travels to a small racist town to help the son of a long time friend. Evan also travels there to confront Tommy and his sights are also set on two boys that Tommy is protecting.

The ending of this book shook me and I'm not sure where it's going to go from there. But once again this is an excellent installment of this series.

I've always been a promoter of this series because despite the graphic, gratuitous and cartoonish violence, Hurwitz has always had a deep thread of heart running through Evan Smoak, the Orphan X. This time out though I struggled to find it. Evan has gone after Tommy (and we get their origin story), his long time friend who he believes betrayed him by arming a ruthless assassin. Tommy has taken off because he's under threat not only from Evan but also from Janus and the two of them converge in a small town filled with prejudiced awful men who have killed a family, among other things. Meanwhile, Joey who thought she made a friend by making a meme finds herself in the middle of a bigger argument. Evan's righteous anger collides with Tommy's. I almost gave up on this because I didn't see any light in it. I admit to having flipped through the initial fights at Tommy's place and started to do the same with the body of the novel but then I settled back into it. Fans should know that Mia is absent, that there's only a couple of vodka scenes, and that there's flashbacks to Evan's training. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. It wasn't the Orphan X novel I hoped for but it is a page turner.

I love this series! This installment focuses more on Tommy Stojack, X's long-time friend and provider of weapons and all things tactical. Meaning this book has so much more of Tommy's no-bullshot way of talking with some of the most colorful language ever (and I don't mean all swearing). Currently, Tommy and X are at odds and can't decide if they need to kill each other or kiss and make up. I was holding out for the latter throughout the book. I won't tell though if my wish came true.

Tommy is called to go sort out a group of teenagers whom he feels compelled to straighten out as he promised the father of one. These idiot kids have got it in their heads that they are in a race war and have gone too far. Tommy has got his work cut out for him with these morons with his own special kind of tough love. And, of course, X thinks they need to pay for their crimes with their lives.

Graphically violent like the earlier books, maybe a little more so in this one. But if you're not squeamish or a skinhead then you should really enjoy this one. This one really needs the back story so if you haven't been following along. I would back up and start at the beginning.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for providing me with an advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.