Orphan X Review - Not Your Typical Thriller Hero

For a few years now, the Orphan X series by Gregg Hurwitz, has been circling my radar. I'd download a sample onto my Kindle, but never get around to it. I'd see the second, third, and fourth books in the series be published, but still I didn't move off high center.

Until late last month.

In that timeless week between Christmas and New Year's Day, I was at the paperback racks at a Barnes and Noble in far west Houston and saw OUT OF THE DARK, the fourth volume in the series. My new standard for reading books is to read the book that captured my attention, no matter what number it is in the series. But when I realized it was an Orphan X novel, I was reminded that this series is one I should try.

From the beginning.

Evan Smoak - Not Your Typical Action Hero

If you read ten thrillers, how many of them open with the main character--or a side character--running? Seven? Eight? It's a perfectly acceptable trope for the genre, but I was happily surprised ORPHAN X didn't begin that way. True, Evan is bleeding from a knife wound and he's trying to get back to his apartment in Los Angeles, but there are no bad guys chasing him. Instead, we get a domestic scene with Evan trying not to show fellow tenants of his high-rise apartment he's bleeding. Not the nosy old lady nor the single mom who lives a few floors below. But her son suspects the truth. The entire tension of chapter one is whether or not Evan can make it up to his apartment without anyone noticing he's bleeding.

That is how ORPHAN X starts, and it makes all the difference.

It tells you that you're in for a different type of thriller, one I couldn't put my finger on until I saw Gregg Hurwitz at Houston's Murder by the Book on Monday.

A Normal Situation

Another thing Hurwitz does well is showing you what Evan's typical life is like. As an orphan, he was taken out of foster care and trained to be an off-the-books assassin. The kind with complete deniability. The only contact he has is his father-figure/trainer/teacher Jack Johns. For years, Jack trained Evan until--as we learn in the middle of the book--an even takes place that causes Evan to leave that life and disappear.

Now, he's the Nowhere Man, a man hiding in plain sight. Like the A-Team, if there's a person who needs help, all they have to do is call the special number: 1-855-2NOWHERE. Evan will help you. The only payment: pass his number--once--to another person who needs help.

Thus, the opening section of the book, we get an example of this "normal" life Evan has made for himself. You see him plan how he's going to help teenaged Morena, the terrible situation in which she and her younger sister find themselves, and how he goes about solving her problem. Intricate detail that reads fast and swift, never losing tension and anticipation.

It's when the next person calls--presumably Morena's pay-it-forward charge--that things really kick into a higher gear.

The Layers Unravel

Interspersed throughout the novel are flashbacks to Evan's training days and his early assignments. You get a deeper sense of what kind of man he is, what kind of person Jack Johns is, and how the two ultimately bring out nuances in each other both probably didn't expect.

I never saw the twists coming, which made for an even more entertaining read. It's no surprise--it's on the dust jacket--that some of the people after Evan are fellow Orphans, so he's not going up against run-of-the-mill thugs, but highly trained adversaries. Hurwitz, I learned on Monday night when I attended his author event, has done his research. But I already knew that. The details not only of the fighting but the weapons and accouterments are rich and descriptive.

Why is This Book So Good?

I knew going into the book the action would be good and thrilling. What surprised me, however, were the character moments. The time in the elevator I just mentioned. The times when he's having to worry about the bad guys and some busybody confronts him about not attending the HOA meeting. In addition, seeing Evan at home, in his apartment, what he did, what he drank, how he ate, all of that is there. I gravitated toward those moments just as much, if not more, than the action.

Why?

Well, on Monday night, Hurwitz commented that part of the genesis of Evan Smoak was the idea that you never saw James Bond go home.* You never saw Jason Bourne have an awkward conversation with regular folks.

That was the key to why I enjoyed ORPHAN X so much. That's why I'll keep reading the series.



*In the novel MOONRAKER (1954)--which is nothing like the 1979 movie--Ian Fleming writes a lot about Bond in the office, in his house, and playing cards. Not exactly pulse-pounding excitement, but wonderful to read. But the point Hurwitz is probably making is that none of the films show Bond in a normal setting. Not coincidentally, it is these scenes in MOONRAKER I remember well and hardly any of the larger plot. But hardly anyone remembers the original novel. You see? Hurwitz was onto something.

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@Barrie Summy

Gregg Hurwitz in Houston

Sometimes an author can deliver a sales pitch so good, you can't wait to see what he's talking about.

Gregg Hurwitz may be a new-to-me author, but I wasn't sure what to expect when he showed up at Houston's Murder by the Book on the first Monday in February. He was the author of twenty-one books--a fact on which he corrected me when I asked him  a pair of questions--so clearly many are reading.

Turned out the answer was a capacity crowd. By the time I walked in the door at 6:15 pm, there were no more seats. Didn't bother me. I have a standing desk at the day job, so I was perfectly fine with standing. I was even more excited to find stacks of the second Orphan X novel, THE NOWHERE MAN. You see, I'm new to Hurwitz's fiction and, as discussed in a prior post, was having the devil of a time securing a copy of the second book in the series. Leave it to Houston's best mystery bookstore to have my back.

The folks at Murder by the Book are nothing if not prompt, so a tad after 6:30, Hurwitz, dressed in black jeans, black shoes, and a black pullover took to the microphone. It's a never-ending trait of author events when you finally see these men and women in person, you realize they're just regular folks. You may be an engineer, a stay-at-home parent, a marketing writer, or an electrician, but these authors are just doing a job. Granted, their job is to make up stories for a living, but it still requires the nuts-and-bolts aspect of sitting down and hammering on a keyboard until they get to a 'the end.'

Hurwitz was the rare author who actually brought notes with him. It told me he was prepared for the evening and knew what he wanted to say. A professional, in short. Have to admire that.

His spiel centered on INTO THE FIRE, his newest novel and the fifth Orphan X novel to feature the character of Evan Smoak. He talked about where Evan finds himself at the novel opens, and the setup for the person who makes the fateful call to the Nowhere Man. Hurwitz discussed some of the returning characters, some I recognized having just read the first book in the series--ORPHAN X (my review)--and others I hadn't met yet.

I've only read the first book and it resonated with me. I knew why, but it was a phrase Hurwitz used that crystallized it: "We never see James Bond go home. We never see Jason Bourne have an awkward conversation." In short, we never see our famous professional killers in an everyday environment. It was that very aspect of ORPHAN X I loved the most. Sure, Evan was going to take out every bad guy he encounters no matter the personal cost, but his conversations with the old lady who lives in the apartment above him or the single mom a few floors below were some of my favorite parts.

After a short reading, Hurwitz took questions. It was cool to see a fellow Houstonian be recognized by the author by name. She was clearly a long-time fan. As an author myself, those are the best. She asked about the character Max (I think that's what she said) who is the one who calls on Evan for help in INTO THE FIRE. The new novel was released last Tuesday and clearly she'd already flown through it. She wasn't the only one. Hurwitz's answer focused on the difference between stories featuring a hero vs. a villain and a tale with a protagonist and an antagonist. There is a distinction. Remember: the best villains are the ones in which they think they're the hero of their own tale. There is room for nuance and character building. Conflict naturally comes from the clash of two protagonists who naturally become antagonists.

Late in the Q&A session, I got in two. The first was how he came to dream up and write ORPHAN X. At the time (2016), he had been writing professionally for over fifteen years. Did he always want to create a franchise character that would appeal to a broad audience? He answered by saying he dreamed up the concept of Evan Smoak years before the book was written and published, but he specifically wrote three other books in between. He needed Smoak to percolate in his mind. By the time he came to write the first book in the series, he and his talents were ready. The success of the series is proof that marinating with an idea can yield spectacular results.

Although I am new to Hurwitz's novels, it wasn't until I had finished ORPHAN X and did a little research that it finally clicked where I knew his name: he wrote Batman comics. I asked him how he got the Batman gig. His answer proved instructive to any creative, myself included.

After a brief stint at Marvel, DC Comics wooed Hurwitz with a tantalizing offer: you can write anything you want. Thinking of how THE KILLING JOKE is often referred to as the definitive Joker story, he wanted to write the definitive Penguin story. He got his chance, and, in 2011, PAIN AND PREJUDICE was released. The mini-series got good press and fan reaction that DC offered Hurwitz a writing gig for one of the monthly Batman books. By opting for a true passion project, new opportunities opened up.

I stayed in line, talking with some of the folks. A couple thanked me for asking the question about the comic books. They had no idea. Maybe they'll head to Bedrock City or Third Planet and track down Hurwitz's comics. One lady learned I was a writer as we discussed Hurwitz's material and I gave her my website address. Who knows? Maybe I gained a reader.

Hurtwitz certainly did. I've enjoyed witnessing my wife's reading habits. When she discovers and author with an extensive back catalog, she plows through them all. Now I've found one myself. Twenty more books to go.

I got Hurwitz's signature in THE NOWHERE MAN and am eager to read it. I really enjoy Evan Smoak as a character and Hurwitz's writing style. Then there's that one intriguing little thing Hurwitz mentioned about the end of INTO THE DARK that hooked me even more: "The last three words change everything."

How's that for a sales pitch?