Who is orphan x?
The Nowhere Man is a legendary figure spoken about only in whispers. It’s said that when he’s reached by the truly desperate and deserving, the Nowhere Man can and will do anything to protect and save them.
But he’s not merely a legend.
Evan Smoak is a man with skills, resources, and a personal mission to help those with nowhere else to turn. He’s also a man with a dangerous past. Taken from a group home at twelve, Evan was raised and trained as part of the Orphan Program, an off-the-books operation designed to create deniable intelligence assets—i.e. assassins. Evan was Orphan X. He broke with the Program, using everything he learned to disappear and reinvent himself as the Nowhere Man.
”Put Jack Reacher and Jason Bourne into a blender. Add one drop of nitro-glycerine and three of sulphuric acid. Switch on, and don’t be surprised if the lid blows off. You’ve just mixed your first Orphan X.”
—Richard and Judy Book Club Pick
“This series just gets better as it evolves.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Hurwitz is a terrific thriller writer, and with this series he gets better with each installment. Amid the mayhem, he crafts a tender tale of what it truly means to be a parent and the importance of family. He also has a knack for moments of sheer fun and humor mixed with the action, making the characters believable."
—Associated Press
"Hurwitz is a master —one of the very few —of the unexpected. The array of knowledge and talents that comprise his skill set is fully on display here, all but guaranteeing a long and successful history for this series and its primary character."
—Book Reporter
"One of thrillerdom’s most compelling characters"
—Booklist
"Big Bourne and Reacher energy"
—The New York Times
"Nobody walks the line between blistering action and searing character development better than Hurwitz."
—Providence Journal
"Gregg Hurwitz has cornered the market on first-rate thrillers."
—New York Journal of Books
Lone Wolf
BY GREGG HURWITZ
Once a black book government assassin known as Orphan X, Evan Smoak left the program, went deep underground, and reinvented himself as someone who will go anywhere, and risk everything to help the truly desperate who have nowhere else to turn. Since then, Evan has fought international crime syndicates and drug cartels, faced down the most powerful people in the world and even brought down a President. Struggling with an unexpected personal crisis, Evan goes back to the very basics of his mission - and this time, the truly desperate is a little girl who wants him to find her missing dog.
Not his usual mission, and not one Evan embraces with enthusiasm, but this unlikely, tiny job quickly explodes into his biggest mission yet. One that finds him battered between twisted AI technocrat billionaires, a mysterious female assassin who seems a mirror of himself, and personal stakes so gut-wrenching he can scarcely make sense of them.
Evan's mission pushes him to his limit - he must find and take down the assassin known only as the Wolf, before she succeeds in completing her mission and killing the people who can identify her - a teenaged daughter of her last target, and Evan himself. Matched skill for skill, instinct for instinct, Evan must outwit an opponent who will literally stop at nothing if he is to survive.
The Last Orphan
BY GREGG HURWITZ
A heavily-armed counter-assault team, a convoy of tactical vehicles plus decoys, air support, a sedative more commonly used to knock out large animals, arm and leg restraints, a hood, mouthguard and a Secret Service Agent asking for a selfie.
This was not your average invitation to meet with the President.
But then Orphan X is not your average guest. The last survivor of the off-the-books programme that raised and trained him, Evan Smoak was sent around the world to do his government's dirty work. Until he escaped.
Now once again in need of his particular skill-set, the President tracks him down and offers him a deal: kill a man she deems too dangerous or be executed himself.
Evan must decide whether to accept. He's spent years trying to atone for his former life. But if by taking on the mission he must betray the very principles he now lives by, what is left?
One thing becomes clear to the President soon enough: no one should ever try to force Evan's hand. Because putting Orphan X in an impossible spot only makes him more dangerous ...
DARK HORSE
BY GREGG HURWITZ
Can you remain a good man when you help a bad one? . . .
Former government assassin Orphan X, Evan Smoak broke free to use his skills to help the good but powerless. But what if the person asking for help is neither?
When the daughter of a Texan crime boss is kidnapped by a ruthless drugs cartel, he asks Evan to rescue her.
The girl is innocent of her father's crimes.
But in taking the case is Evan crossing a line?
To find out he must break into an impregnable Mexican fortress.
Then somehow get her out alive . . .
PRODIGAL SON
BY GREGG HURWITZ
As Orphan-X, Evan Smoak was trained to be a secret government assassin - until he quit.
As the Nowhere Man, he's the guy to call if no one else can help. He'll save you.
But when a woman gets in touch claiming to be his mother, he can't know if his true family needs help or this is a trap.
Has Evan's past reached out to claim him?
Or is someone out to ensure he has no future?
INTO THE FIRE
BY GREGG HURWITZ
HE WANTED TO END IT. BUT IT CAN NEVER BE OVER.
Evan Smoak - former government assassin, 'Orphan-X', turned white knight of last resort - is hanging up his gun.
When he gets one last call.
A man, left a package by a murdered cousin, has an assassin on his trail. Easy work for Evan.
Except behind the assassin is someone worse. And behind them something darker still.
How long can Evan keep standing?
How many times can a man step into the fire?
OUT OF THE DARK
BY GREGG HURWITZ
HOW DO YOU STOP THE MOST POWERFUL MAN ON EARTH?
Evan Smoak, code-named Orphan-X, was raised in a secret government programme.
He left it behind long ago but now someone has been killing off the orphans - and all evidence of the programme.
Only one person would and could do this. The man who created it.
He'll do anything - anything - to save himself.
But what can one man - even an Orphan - do alone?
Against the President of the United States . . .
HELLBENT
BY GREGG HURWITZ
TO THOSE WHO TRAINED HIM, HE'S ORPHAN-X. TO THOSE WHO NEED HIM, HE'S THE NOWHERE MAN.
Once a secret government assassin, Evan Smoak walked away to help others.
But when his old handler calls with a warning - the Orphans are being killed off - he also receives a final mission.
A young girl - the last Orphan recruit - is in danger. First, Evan must find her. Then he must protect her.
But those tasked with her elimination will not stop.
And leading them is one of Evan's fellow Orphans - who'll do anything to see him dead . . .
THE NOWHERE MAN
BY GREGG HURWITZ
INSTANT INTERNATIONAL #1 BESTSELLER
THEY TRAINED HIM TO HUNT. NOW HE'S THE HUNTED . . .
A former government military asset code-named Orphan-X, Evan Smoak works as the Nowhere Man out to protect the helpless.
Until the night it all goes wrong.
Ambushed, drugged and kidnapped, Evan wakes in a locked room. He's outnumbered and outgunned. His captors are sure they've outsmarted him.
But they've got it all wrong.
He's not locked up with them.
They're locked up with him . . .
ORPHAN X
BY GREGG HURWITZ
INSTANT INTERNATIONAL #1 BESTSELLER
'Do you need my help?'
It was the first question he asked.
They called him when they had nowhere else to turn.
As a boy Evan Smoak was taken from an orphanage.
Raised and trained in a top secret programme, he was sent to bad places to do things the government denied ever happened.
Then he broke with the programme, using what he'd learned to vanish. Now he helps the desperate and deserving.
But someone's on his trail.
Someone who knows his past and believes that the boy once known as Orphan X must die . . .
Short Stories & Bonus Content
Listen to a redacted chapter read by Scott Brick:
