Oh my. This might just be the best Orphan X book yet. I've probably said that before, but I really, truly mean it this time. (Or maybe I'll be saying the next thing with book 11? Because that better happen.) It's been a long time coming, let's put it that way. The character development throughout this series is absolutely phenomenal, quite possibly the best I've ever seen. In Nemesis, it feels like the wave that's been building over the past few books has finally reached its peak, where there's nothing left for it to do except crash. And crash it does, spectacularly.

I knew Nemesis was going to be explosive given the ending of the previous book, Lone Wolf, but I was blown away once more. The conflicts, large and small, all felt so true to the characters at the center of this story. I couldn't stop reading, I just had to know what was going to happen next... even if it could destroy me. It's hard having characters you've grown extremely attached to across many years pitted squarely against each other on opposite sides of a fight, but I also had to appreciate how well-written it was. If you're a long-time fan of the series, you know what to do when this one releases. For everyone else, I urge you to consider picking up Orphan X. You never know, it may just become one of your favorite series.

As for that ending... I'm reeling. Someone tell me how to be okay after that rollercoaster.

Nemesis is part of the Orphan X series and is probably best read in order because some of the story carries over from the previous book. Evan’s need for justice has him pitted against one of his few friends in this page turning thriller. Feeling betrayed by Tommy, Evan is ready for a showdown but Tommy has problems of his own someone besides X is gunning for him and promises are coming back to bite him in the behind. While trying to honor the promise to an old Army friend, Tommy is faced with helping a young boy and his friends who are full of hate and stupid choices that have lead to atrocities in the name of racism. X’s sense of retribution has the young men on his radar while Tommy is trying to find justice but protect his promise. Action packed shootouts keep the pages turning and the war between Evan and Tommy kind of breaks your heart a little bit as both of them try to do what they think is right. The ending is full on trauma as you think all is going to be okay just to be blindsided by another twist. This is another hard to put down thriller in the X series but this one will hit you in the feels for real. My voluntary, unbiased, and non-mandatory review is based upon a review copy from NetGalley.

Gregg Hurwitz delivers another pulse-pounding installment in the Orphan X series with "Nemesis," the tenth book, pitting Evan Smoak against his closest ally. This bold move creates a tension-filled narrative exploring the limits of friendship and honor.

Unlike previous entries, "Nemesis" doesn't focus on a typical Nowhere Man mission. Instead, Evan finds himself embroiled in a personal vendetta, seeking justice for murdered Mexican immigrants while simultaneously confronting his former best friend, Tommy Stojack. This departure from the usual formula allows Hurwitz to delve deeper into Evan's psyche, showcasing his character's growth as he grapples with newfound emotions during his mission.

The novel shines in its action sequences, particularly the ambush in Tommy's workshop and a spectacular old-fashioned shootout in a Western town. These set pieces demonstrate Hurwitz's skill in crafting visceral, edge-of-your-seat moments.

"Nemesis" also explores the consequences of rigid adherence to principles, as Evan's unwavering commitment to his assassin's Ten Commandments puts him at odds with the concept of friendship. This conflict adds a layer of moral complexity to the narrative, elevating it beyond a simple thriller.

While the focus is primarily on Evan, the novel also showcases growth in supporting characters, particularly Joey, who learns hard lessons about the consequences of trying to fit in.

Overall, "Nemesis" is a solid addition to the Orphan X series, offering high-stakes action, complex character development, and a fresh twist on the established formula. Fans of Evan Smoak will find plenty to appreciate, even as it pushes the boundaries of what they've come to expect from the series.

A big thank you to St Martins Press and NetGalley for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve been a fan of Orphan X since the first book, and while this one was not my favorite, that's not going to dim my enthusiasm for this terrific series. This one features a conflict between Evan Smoak and his best friend, Tommy Stock, whose actions in the last book seemed like the ultimate betrayal. Of course, when lethally armed, highly trained men of few words and fewer friends have a falling out, they aren’t going to just have a beer and get to the bottom of things—or even throw a few punches and then bro-hug it out. Mystified by social interaction, sans armorer, and having alienated even Joey, Evan has to go it alone (almost) against various bad guys and set out to find Tommy. As always, it’s fun to watch how our hero gets himself out of near-impossible situations. Meanwhile, some villains targeting Evan demonstrate how extra-bad they are by committing the grisliest and most sadistic of murders; I ended up skimming over these scenes because they were just too revolting to read. Maybe this is to make the usual trail of dead bodies in Evan’s wake seem less problematic. I hope that the next installment brings X less personal trauma and gets X back to answering his special phone and deploying his elite skills (and Joey’s) to help someone out of a jam.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for a digital advance review copy.

Nemesis, the 10th book in the Orphan X series by Gregg Hurwitz continues an outstanding series with another incredible book. I would argue that this has been the most consistently great series over the last decade. Every book in the series has been one of my personal top 10 favorites in the year of release. I can confidently tell you that this book, Nemesis will easily be a top book of 2025. Hurwitz has a writing style that just flows effortlessly off the page. His character development is top notch, whether he is writing for the protagonist, the protagonist’s allies, or the villains in the story. I cannot say this with more emphasis, preorder this book it is incredible. Many thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy for my honest review.

I’ve read all the Orphan books and will continue to read them. Although this was not my favorite one. I didn’t enjoy the group of assassins that Janus hired and felt like the murders they committed didn’t add anything to the story. And I hated Evan and Tommy being at odds with each other. But it’s still a great series and you need to read this one.

Evan Smoak aka Orphan X aka The Nowhere man is back in Nemesis. This installment picks right back up where Lone Wolf ended and Evan finds out that his armorer, Tommy Stojak, has (in Evan’s mind) betrayed him. Evan built his life and career around the ten commandments instilled in him through Jack Johns. It is safe to say, that no one expected Evan to go rogue, leave the orphan program and try to find a way to do the right thing. Sometimes the commandments don’t always work and may need to be evaluated or added to. (yes… there is an 11th amendment. No, I am not telling you)
Evan’s character has grown and changed with every single book. Being an assassin with emotions would be a delicate balance. Evan’s training keeps him in check and centered because ‘the price for violating a Commandment was chaos’. While Evan is deciding how to deal with Tommy, he runs into another problem. A family of innocent people is run over and an 8-year-old boy is murdered. Evan is a ‘hunter of humans. The monster sent to kill monsters.’
True to Gregg Hurwitz’s style, this book is full of hand-to-hand combat scenes, shootouts and intense fighting that is perfectly written you can see the splinter in the wood when the door flies off the handle! Evan Smoak is evolving. He is changing. He hurts. The fact that I finished this book two days ago and I still have a hard time understanding that The Nowhere Man can have feelings should make you reflect on the journey this series takes you.
Yes, this is fiction. I understand that, but Nemesis covers current, real-world issues that American’s deal with on a daily basis. Violence, racism, bigotry, corrupt politicians and more are all found on these pages. Read it. Talk about it. Change some things. Cheer on Orphan X!

oh.... this comes out on my birthday next year!!

Gregg Hurwitz has done a great job differentiating Orphan X from many other characters that could be considered similar if only given a cursory glance. In Nemesis, Hurwitz is firing on all cylinders, producing the most tense and emotional chapter of the series. The stakes are high, while simultaneously remaining deeply personal between Evan, Tommy, Joey, and a handful of new characters linked to Tommy's past. The story makes the reader think no one is safe and every outcome, bad or otherwise, is a possibility for each character. An excellent addition to the Orphan X series! Thank you Netgalley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read an early e-copy of this book!

I’m a big fan of Orphan X. I’ve read all the previous novels and short stories.

This was my least favourite book of the series. It’s not the usual page-turner; I found the pace often quite slow. I wasn’t interested in Joey’s issues. Perhaps too many characters; it was hard to keep track of all of them. The action was ok but mostly at the end of the book. The conflict between Evan and Tommy should have been resolved earlier. I missed Mia Hall.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Greg Hurwitz's Nemesis (Minotaur Books 2025), Book 10 in the Orphan X series, is another excellent chapter in the Nowhere Man’s life. Trained as a government sanctioned assassin to be tougher and smarter than anyone around him, he tires of the soulless work and applies his formidable skills to help people who have nowhere to go to solve their problems. He charges nothing except that when he succeeds--and he will--the person passes his name on to another individual who is desperate. In this way, he hopes to assuage his guilt for what he did in the formative years of his life. This case is particularly heinous because Evan must face off with one of his few friends, a man who mentored him when he was young, but now, turned to the dark side. Evan can't let that go.

Excellent series. Each as good as the next. And easily read as stand alone books.

Orphan X, never disappoints. During the Covid, I found this hero. This is a genre i normally don’t read. But. After reading Orphan X, I started reading the rest of his books.
Evan meets up with at one time, his best friend Tommy. Evan is under attack when he goes to see him, by another group. Evan in all his training survives this attack. In the meanwhile Tommy has his own story. Which brings in so many issues that we are facing today.
I give this book 5 stars, if you’re a fan, you’ll love it. If you’re like me and just pick up one of theses books., you’ll be a fan forever.

Read like a slick update of Don Pendleton's Executioner series. Lots of gun fetishizing, a mainly infallible hero, and some Manly Man posturing and editorializing. The action is thorough -- detail that found me skimming sometimes -- but there's little of the inventiveness and wry humor that brings me back to Thomas Perry and Lee Child again and again. I love the genre, but not this execution; other lovers of this kind of book may experience widely varying mileage.

Let me count the ways this book doesn’t work. Its heart is in the right place, but that doesn’t make for a good thriller. I’m happy Hurwitz is disgusted by his MAGA fans, but shoving a didactic plot with zero plausibility down their throats is not going to persuade them. And the whole Islamophobic-meme side-plot seems bizarrely forced. And the Jordan Peterson epigraph, really? And someone should tell Tommy there aren’t “ten billion” Muslims on the planet. There are around eight billion people total.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I couldn't finish this one - I think I'm done with X... I know, I know - I can't believe it either, but things have been going downhill for me with the last two books, and this one sealed it. I just didn't care. Didn't find the "war" between X and Tommy believable or enjoyable to read. It didn't have the resonance that the earliest books in the series did for me. I got, well, bored. It's a feeling that has been developing in the last two books, and just finally hit the wall for me with this one. I'm not sure what it is, but the writing feels different here (and like it's been shifting for a while). I don't read series like this for emotional growth and exposition, but for vengeance and justice and action. Yet it feels like Hurwitz has been trying to shift his focus toward more personal development, and it just doesn't ring true for me. Not that I don't want to see characters (even action heroes) grow and change over time, just that it needs to feel more organic to the stories being told - and I just don't feel the same sense of compulsion to read about Evan's life anymore...

Another riveting book from Gregg Hurwitz following Evan Smoak from the Orphan X saga. We follow Evan Smoak as he attempts to cope at the end of the previous installment, from the betrayal of a friend that he trusted. Going through the Orphan program has prepared him to be an assassin, a chameleon, and a tactician of violence, not a friend. He was never shown how to care about other people in the same way the normal population does. His commandments help guide him through life, attempting to right wrongs, in a hope of redemption, but feelings are not included with that plan.

Fourth Commandment: Never make it personal

This is a commandment that Evan must face in this chapter. After finding out Tommy Stojack, his trusted gunsmith for many years, knowingly assisted an assassin that was intertwined with one of Evan’s missions. An assassin that attempted to kill Orphan X.

The story picks up with Evan trying to decide what to do. He feels a sense of betrayal, and pain, two feelings he does not normal have. This leads to an internal struggle about following his commandments, dispatching a former friend, or trying to find a way, a reason to forgive, something he is not accustomed too.

Gregg Hurwitz writes another compelling story, and I felt that this one was a little different from the others. It was not a clear-cut good guy bad guy struggle, but instead a friend vs friend. Hurwitz instead focuses more on Tommy Stojack from how he met Evan, to other individuals from his past. Tommy runs and attempts to help some boys of a friend of his. He tries to teach them how to be better people, and let go of the hate in their hearts causing them to hurt others. Problem is, Orphan X is hunting Tommy and now he found out about a night with a truck that left four people dead and put the boys on his radar. This book was an amazing change of pace and was exciting to see how it was going to end between these two colossal characters. Another amazing book in the series, highly recommended.

Thank you NetGalley, Gregg Hurwitz, and the publisher for this ARC.

I have been a big fan of the Orphan X series over the last few years, so I was very excited to get this ARC from NetGalley. In Nemesis, Evan finds himself pitted against one of his closest friends and allies, Tommy. I really enjoyed parts of the internal conflict Evan faced in this book while trying to resolve his friendship with Tommy and the commandments he lives his life by.

"𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜."

"𝙉𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡."

Tommy's character makes for a great antagonist. We know how skilled he is and he knows how Evan operates. We've seen them build a solid friendship over the last few books and now Evan struggles to come to terms with new information he has learned and what it means for, not only this friendship, but for any friendships at all. And Evan's biggest fear of all....is he getting soft?

Unfortunately, I felt like this was a backstory for the real plot of this book. Tommy gets a call from a son of an old "friend" and decides that he'll do whatever it takes to protect him. Why Tommy decides to do this even after he learns about what these men did and continue to do is a mystery to me. The biggest problem I had with this storyline was the portrayal of the murder of four innocent people as "the reckless stupidity of the boys" instead of what it actually was, the racially motivated murder by a wanna be militia of grown men. Why does Tommy decide that saving these men is the hill he wants to die on? Your guess is as good as mine.

Otherwise, this book has everything we expect and love about an Orphan X novel. I always love the scenes of Evan trying to navigate his relationship with Joey while Joey is figuring out who she is as a 17yo girl who was raised to be a killer but is instead going to college and struggling to fit in. Joey definitely gets herself into an interesting situation and Evan puts his foot in his mouth a few times.

This was an enjoyable read, but was not my favorite book of this series.

Thank you to NetGalley, Gregg Hurwitz, and Minotaur Books for the ARC of this book!

This book gave me all the feels. Every emotion one could possibly feel from a book about a lethal assassin – apparently it's a lot – came to light in this book!

There were some more serious subject matters covered in this book compared to past ones in the series and it was refreshing and interesting to see how Evan handled everything without bullets flying everywhere. I also felt this one had a lot less action and bloodshed than the previous books, but regardless, I read this from start to finish in a few hours because I couldn't put it down.

10 books in and I am still just as obsessed with this series as I was when I finished the first book. Not sure how long we're keeping X around, but I'll be here for the next 10 books if that's what we get. All the praise!

Another thrilling Orphan X novel. I wasn't sure about the thing with Tommy - cause he's a great character, but it worked. Lots more of an ensemble cast in this one - I love getting other perspectives.

I have read all of the Orphan X books and this is one of Mr Hurwitz best. Evan/Orphan X always fights to keep his humanity and this time we see that happening just a bit more than usual.
I loved to see much of the book centering on Tommy this time and his 'reclamation project.' 5 stars+ and can't wait until the next book!

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of “Nemesis” in exchange for an honest review.

Evan vs. Tommy. That is the battle royale at the center of “Nemesis”, the latest entry in the terrific Orphan X series. Tommy has been Evan’s closest friend and weapons supplier for years, but has now seemingly violated Evan’s code and may require a dispensing of justice not unlike the many that Evan has handed out to other evildoers during his time as the widely feared “Nowhere Man”.

Meanwhile, there are some other situations developing elsewhere, such as Tommy protecting some shady characters to fulfill a promise he had made, as well as another group of lethal assassins called the Four Horsemen that are closing in. Much of this is window dressing though for the inevitable showdown between Evan and Tommy, leading to a surprising and emotional conclusion.

Overall, another stellar outing for Orphan X. 4.5 stars (rounded up to 5).