After completing the most dangerous, high-profile mission of his career, government assassin turned vigilante Evan Smoak is set to return on January 28, 2020 in Into the Fire, the latest thriller from New York Times bestselling author Gregg Hurwitz.
When readers last saw Evan Smoak, who also goes by Orphan X and The Nowhere Man, he was taking on the president of the United States in Hurwitz’s blistering 2019 novel, Out of the Dark. At the time of its publication, I called that book (both in my review here on The Real Book Spy and in my CrimeReads column) the one that, when it was all said and done, Hurwitz would be remembered for. Out of the Dark is so fast, so brilliant, so—just trust me, go read it—everything that I couldn’t imagine how Hurwitz would ever top himself moving forward. Well, now we know.
Turns out, for this fifth Orphan X book, Hurwitz will throw Smoak into “one of the most challenging missions of his life,” one that we “can’t survive alone.” Check out the cover art and plot details below.
The New York Times bestselling Orphan X returns—facing his own uncertain future and undertaking one last mission.
Taken from a group home at age twelve, Evan Smoak was trained as an off-the-books government assassin: Orphan X. After breaking with the Program, he reinvented himself as The Nowhere Man, a figure shrouded in shadows who helps the truly desperate. But the government didn’t let go of him easily, sending their best to hunt him down and eliminate him. All of them failed. With his deadliest enemies behind him, Evan is facing a new challenge—what is he going to do now that no one is after him?
Max Merriweather is at the end of his rope. Separated from the woman he loves and barely scraping by, Max is a disappointment to everyone in his life. Then his very successful cousin Grant is brutally murdered. Two months before, Grant left Max an envelope with instructions to take it to a reporter if anything happened to him. Now the reporter is missing and Max’s apartment is ransacked. A man at the end of his rope, he calls The Nowhere Man.
With mixed feelings, Evan takes on this mission, easily finding the men who are after Max and executing a plan to keep him safe. But it isn’t as obvious as it seems—and Evan finds himself enmeshed in one of the most challenging missions of his life, one that he can’t survive on his own. With the help of Joey Morales, a genius-level hacker and the last Orphan recruited into the Program, and the brilliant, off-the-books gunsmith, Tommy Stojack, Orphan X once more heads . . . Into the Fire.
Gregg Hurwitz is the New York Times bestselling author of the Orphan X books, including Out of the Dark. Critically acclaimed, his novels have graced top ten lists and have been published in 22 languages. Additionally, he’s written screenplays for and sold scripts to many of the major studios, and written, developed, and produced television for various networks. Hurwitz resides in Los Angeles.
Those ready for Orphan X’s return can now pre-order Into The Fire here or anywhere else books are sold.
Praised as “One of the hardest working, most thoughtful, and fairest reviewers out there” by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline, Ryan Steck has “quickly established himself as the authority on mysteries and thrillers” (Author A.J. Tata). Steck also works full-time as a freelance editor and pens a monthly thriller column for CrimeReads. For more information, be sure to follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He currently lives in Southwest Michigan with his wife and their six children.