#MMBBR Review: Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz @GreggHurwitz

"Orphan X is the most gripping, high-octane thriller I've read in a long, long time. Hang onto your seat because Gregg Hurwitz will take you on a dizzying ride you'll not soon forget!" -Tess Gerritsen

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 no 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. Chosen as a child, he was raised and trained as part of the off-the-books black box Orphan program, designed to create the perfect deniable intelligence assets---i.e. assassins. He was Orphan X. Evan broke with the program, using everything he learned to disappear.

Now, however, someone is on his tail. Someone with similar skills and training. Someone who knows Orphan X. Someone who is getting closer and closer. And will exploit Evan's weakness---his work as The Nowhere Man---to find him and eliminate him. Grabbing the reader from the very first page, Orphan X is a masterful thriller, the first in Gregg Hurwitz's electrifying new series featuring Evan Smoak.

Gregg Hurwitz is the New York Times bestselling author of 15 thrillers, including the upcoming ORPHAN X. His novels have been shortlisted for numerous literary awards, graced top ten lists, and have been translated into 22 languages.

He is also a New York Times Bestselling comic book writer, having penned stories for Marvel (Wolverine, Punisher) and DC (Batman, Penguin). Additionally, he's written screenplays for or sold spec scripts to many of the major studios, and written, developed, and produced television for various networks. Gregg resides in Los Angeles.

Orphan X is covert operations with a twist.  Hurwitz takes us into the secretive world of direct action operative and handler. The Orphan program has at least 19 operatives.  Their training starts as a young children and they are very alone.  Every lie is based in truth and this is how Orphan X is able to interact in the normal world while helping those in need escape unthinkable situations.  Evan Smoak walks away from the Orphan Program with an elite skill set in firearms, martial arts, computer and surveillance tactics.  Evan is living a vigilante life helping those in need until he receives a mysterious call on his "bat phone" from a women looking for help.  The Orphan Program or someone from his past is now coming after him.  The story flashes back to Evan's training, his relationship with his mentor, his past work as an Orphan, and the very real danger and mystery that Evan is currently facing.  Hurwitz quickly sucks you in with his development of Evan, the pace of the story, the detailed research into technology, and the lingering question: Does the Orphan Program really exist?  5 stars

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