(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Spoken about only in whispers, the Nowhere Man can only be reached by the truly desperate, he can —He will do anything to save them.
Evan Smoak is the Nowhere Man.
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.
But his new life is interrupted when a surprise attack comes from an unlikely angle and Evan is caught unaware. Captured, drugged, and spirited off to a remote location, he finds himself heavily guarded and cut off from everything he knows. His captors think they have him trapped and helpless in a virtual cage but they don’t know who they’re dealing with—or that they’ve trapped themselves inside that cage with one of the deadliest and most resourceful men on earth.

*4.5 stars*

First, let's start by saying that you should read Orphan X first - the background to Smoak and The Program is kinda vital before digging into this one...

But, be warned, once you have read Orphan X, you will DEFINITELY want to read this one...

What's to love? Action, action, action! Even though Smoak spends most of his time in this book as a prisoner, it doesn't stop him from taking out the enemy, one by one. He is clever, resourceful and quick. And that makes him extremely dangerous.
Also, the way Hurwitz brings some characters back from the first book is very cool - some definite surprises there.
Finally, the way this book finished, and the way it was left open for the third book, was worth the price of admission alone. I don't normally like those kinds of endings but you just can't fault the execution here...

What's not to love? Well, the biggest fault I could find was that at no stage did I ever really feel like Smoak was going to remain a prisoner forever. There was always that sense of "He'll be fine", which obviously detracts from the suspense somewhat.

However, that is a small annoyance in the midst of a brilliant thriller novel. Go read them both!


Paul
ARH

Fabulous book. Thoroughly loved. Highly recommend!

I really enjoyed Orphan X due to its fast pace and intriguing character Evan Smoak. He is the typical macho man who drinks vodka and makes smartass comments, I loved it. I wanted to read the rest of the trilogy, but did not want to wait so long between books, so with Hellbent coming out at the end of this month, I picked up Nowhere Man. The story picks up where Orphan X left off. Evan is still helping those in need, but in this story, he is actually captured by a psychopath and has to escape. There was a lot of violence in the story as he kept killing guards and they kept being replaced. The story was fast paced for the most part and kept me in suspense although knowing there was a third book meant he was going to get away. Some of the characters from the first book make a reappearance and we learn a bit more about Evan's early life. Of course Van Sciver is still trying to find Evan a erase him which only adds to the action. A good thriller but if you do not like violence, then do not pick this one up. I can't wait to see what the next book has in store for us. Based on the ending of this one, it is going to be another good ride.

I enjoyed the focus on Evan and learning more about him. There was a lot of action so this seemed like it should have moved pretty quick, but it was just too long. It really dragged in the middle. I did enjoy the last part of the book and where it is going for the next book in the series.

While the first book in the series was one of my favorite books of 2016, this follow-up was not a book I enjoyed. I am still going to try the third book in the series, as I think the smaller setting in this book was what made me dislike it. I still find the Nowhere Man an intriguing character and concept.

Just kept me gripped from the get go. Loved how no matter amazing Evan was, he still fell slightly short of the mark. Really great series.

Greg Hurwitz returns with highly anticipated THE NOWHERE MAN following Orphan X (Evan Smoak, #1) landing on my Top 50 Books of 2016 and Buy a Bullet (Evan Smoak #1.5), also highly recommend.

“How deep do you need to bury the past before it will stay dead? “—Alan Moore, Swamp Thing

Antihero, Evan Smoak returns for the most intense task yet. “He finds himself in the tightest spot, both emotionally and literally – he’s ever been in.”

With a highly creative twist reversal, the author places Evan in exactly the kind of situation he usually rescues other people from. Readers are able to see both sides of the man.

For more than a decade, he had been the top asset in the top-secret government operation, The Orphan Program. Trained by the US military as killers. Mission: to assassinate government’s designated enemies. He is trained, skilled, intelligent, and resourceful.

Now, Evan is "The Nowhere Man." A personal mission--to help those with nowhere else to turn. The Tenth Commandment loomed above all else. Never let an innocent die.

He is known by some as Evan Smoak. To a few, Orphan X, but in general he is not known at all. The Nowhere Man. Evan has gone rogue to do right. In the previous book and novella, Evan he has been using his talents to pay it forward to those who need his skills.

Evan still faces many enemies who wish him grievous harm even while off the grid. One of them is Charles Van Sciver, the most brutal of the Orphans, who’s now running the program and is on a mission to hunt down former members of the organization.

Now he's been kidnapped, drugged, and hidden away by order of the new head of the Orphan program, who intends to have him eliminated. Trapped without hope of escape. Psychological terror.

The book starts out with the secret Facebook of Hector Contrell. Trolling the middle schools. Girls. A sales catalog. Given immigration confusion, gang influence, and splintered family trees, disappearances aren’t rare when you’re dealing with broken ethnic girls. A renewable resource.

Something awful is coming. A girl needs help. 1.855.2. NOWHERE. A magical fix-it line. The first commandment Assume nothing – demands it.

A task, a purpose, an act of empowerment that transitioned them from victim to rescuer. Evan knew all too well that some wounds never healed, not fully. But there were ways to contain the pain, to take ownership over the scars.

The seventeen-year-old girl locked inside Container 78653-B812 being delivered to Jacksonville Port Authority. Who has purchased her?

Evan has so many days to rescue the girl. He has to save himself first. A race against time. During this time he faces every danger imaginable (nail biting terror). Being held captive, taken to a secret location and tortured by a very powerful and devious man, René Peter Cassaroy who had at his disposal an army of ruthless men.

Who will be the next client to pass on the Nowhere Man’s number? How many more Hector Contrells would he face? The RoamZone vibrates. Do you need my help?

Classic. Bold. Innovative. Action-Packed Adventure. Explosive. Suspenseful. Non-Stop thrills. An electrifying and entertaining series! Can’t wait for the next.

Hurwitz is already under contract for three more Orphan X novels, and Bradley Cooper’s production company has picked up the film rights. (Hurwitz, who has published 16 novels, scripted comics for Marvel and DC, written for network television, and sold numerous screenplays, is penning the big-screen adaptation himself.) I would say, he knows what he is doing!

A special thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

JDCMustReadBooks

Evan Smoak is back and what a ride!
He returns in the sequel to the national bestseller Orphan X.
Evan Smoak is the Nowhere Man! When he is reached by the very desperate, he can and will do anything to save them.
In the course of rescuing someone, Evan is captured by a sociopath, drugged, and taken to a remote location which is heavily guarded. He attempts to outwit and overpower his captor at every opportunity which leads to many suspenseful and pulse racing scenes. A game of cat and mouse ensues where we witness him using the numerous skills taught to him as a youngster in the Orphan programme.
An exceptional ending that leaves us wanting more.
Gregg Hurwitz fails to disappoint and I can hardly wait to read his next thriller starring Evan Smoak!

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for an advanced readers copy.

I loved Orphan X and couldn't wait to read more about Evan Smoak in The Nowhere Man. In this installment, Evan is still being sought by the new head of the Orphan program, but the biggest threat comes from another direction. Evan is captured and held, heavily guarded, and even drugged. Fortunately, his captors don't realize exactly what kind of man they are dealing with.

I felt badly that Evan was held captive for much of this book. Even while being held, he was more concerned that he couldn't help people in need of him than he was about what would happen to him. Toward the end of the story, Evan is in for one big shock.

While I did enjoy this one, I didn't think it was as good as the first book. I got a little tired of Evan being a hostage for so long, and once that part was resolved, I felt like the book should have been near the end. This one dragged for me, where I couldn't get enough of the first book. It was still good, and I'm glad I read it. I'm really looking forward to more Evan Smoak and hope the next one will be up to the level of the first.

If you enjoyed Orphan X, you will be equally pleased with this next installment in the series. This one is also filled with pulse pounding suspense and a unique story line.

The Nowhere Man is the second book in the Evan Smoak series by Gregg Hurwitz. I read the first book in the series, Orphan X, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The Nowhere Man is just as riveting.

The Nowhere Man is an excellent thriller. My heart was beating ridiculous fast at times. The Nowhere Man is a hard book to put down. You need to know what is going to happen next.

The Nowhere Man is a great book for people who love thrillers!

I was given the opportunity to read an electronic copy of The Nowhere Man. This is my honest opinion of the book.

This second book in the Orphan X series is no less thrilling than the first. Evan Smoak has broken with the Orphan program and has reinvented himself as the Nowhere Man. Trying to stay off the grid as much as possible but still help those in need, Evan ends up involved in a terrible situation with a new enemy. As the threat to his very existence continues, will Evan find a way to extricate himself? Will the Nowhere Man finally run out of places to be safe?

Orphan X was easily one of my favorite thrillers in 2016, so I was curious to see if author Gregg Hurwitz would be able to recapture the feeling of that first book. As he delves deeper into Evan's past, the author was able to give Evan a more complete characterization than I thought possible. I like the fact that Evan is not infallible because this makes him seem more human. The fast paced plot coupled with the interesting background on Evan really helped to pull the book together. I would strongly recommend reading the series in order, as The Nowhere Man builds upon the premise and characters from Orphan X. The ending points to a third book, so I eagerly await the next installment in the series.

I had read one of his earlier books and truly enjoyed it. This novel held my interest but did not seem to have as much character development as the earlier work. It was fast paced and intriguing but felt predictable in the story line.

Good book., I like this series, but find it a bit predictable. I would read more with this same character as it is entertaining.

Published by Minotaur Books on January 17, 2017

As an action novel, The Nowhere Man rocks. It’s full of chase scenes, explosions, shoot-outs, and fistfights, some of them quite clever. As an action novel that makes sense, The Nowhere Man is lacking. I took a sort of guilty pleasure in enjoying it, but I found the enjoyment to be almost equally balanced by aggravation.

Fiction often demands the willing suspension of disbelief and I’m happy to do that for the sake of a good story, but sometimes the challenge of believing the impossible impairs my ability to lose myself in the book. That was the case with The Nowhere Man. I liked the action but I have serious reservations about the plot.

Kidnapped American girls who are sold as sex slaves is the latest fad in thriller crimes. Investigate the real-world statistics and you’ll find the crime almost never happens, but exploiting every parent’s nightmare is this year’s way to sell books, and Gregg Hurwitz has jumped on the bandwagon.

Fortunately for teenage American girls who are about to be shipped to Serbia, Evan Smoak, the Nowhere Man, is there to help. Evan is one of those thriller heroes who was recruited by the military from an orphanage and turned into a killing machine. There are so many of them in thriller world that one of them is probably your neighbor. And, of course, the government is trying to track him down and kill him, because that’s always what happens to government-produced killing machines in thriller world.

If it’s easy for abused kids who have nothing to contact Evan, it shouldn’t be all that difficult for the government, with all its resources, to find him. Evan’s ability to stay beyond the reach of his pursuers while spreading word of his existence to anyone who might know an abused kid is my first reservation about the plot.

As Evan is working against a deadline to rescue a kidnapped girl from a container ship, he is himself kidnapped. That leads to a lengthy story that departs from the “dark hero rescues abused kids” theme, changing the plot into “dark hero rescues himself.” While the reason for Evan’s captivity is improbable, the story moves fast and it gives Evan a chance to show off his talent for killing bad guys. The fact that he is given so many chances to kill bad guys instead of being hogtied is ridiculously improbable. In fact, the bad guys almost make it easy for him to kill bad guys, and that detracts from the story.

Near the end, Evan twice shows up in a spot that allows him to inflict mayhem on bad guys with no explanation at all (probably because none could be imagined) of how he got there.

Evan is a little crazy and that’s always an interesting feature in a protagonist, but his craziness is forced. None of the other characters exist in more than one dimension. The primary villain is a bigger cartoon than Snidely Whiplash.

I like the pace of The Nowhere Man. Most of the action scenes are very well done and I enjoyed reading them. The story would probably make a great action movie, because the special effects would distract the reader from all the implausible things the reader is asked to accept. In a book, however, the reader has time to think about those things. On too many occasions, I thought “Why is this bad guy being so stupid?” or “How could that possibly happen?” That makes it difficult to recommend the book with any degree of enthusiasm, despite my appreciation of some of its parts.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS

I love Gregg Hurwitz books. This one was really not for me. I gave it 4 stars due to the writing. I know it's not my genre and not my style, but I know that there are people out there that will go crazy over this stuff.

When I first started reading it, it was like reading the steps a video game would take. Not sure if you get that, but that's what it was like. Instead of watching a video game, your reading it.

I am sure there are teenage boys and young men that would be all over this and I think that's a good thing. We need to get more young people involved in reading.

Like I said, not my style, not my genre, but I think it was written very well and needs to be recognized.

Thanks Minotaur Books and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

I haven't read the first book in this series yet, but I think I just may have to ;)

The beginning was gripping. I loved how the story started, but after awhile it felt repetative. The action was great and Even is a great character. There is a lot going on in this story! Overall I found it well written and a good read!

Once again with Orphan X, our man with no name from a secret government program where no one knows him but everyone on Earth now wants to kill him. You know that kind of protagonist. He effortlessly kills anyone and knows about every kind of device, tech or killing. Now he is the Nowhere Man, determined to cleanse his past by rescuing people from evil-doers. As luck would have it, there are plenty of those around. Separately, one such bad guy decides to steal all of X's money and hide him on a hilltop until he can get the rest. This is a set-up for a game-changer as the prey decides to wreak havoc upon the hunter. This is an exciting, action-filled book that just doesn't calm down once it starts. Luckily that #2 after his name in the title indicates we can count on more. Because this book was just as much fun as the first.

Evan Smoak became my favorite character of 2016 after reading Orphan X. He was taken from an orphanage and turned into a weapon. When his mentor dies, he decides he will use his gifts for good, helping those who have nowhere else to turn. In this installment he just begins getting to work on a trafficking monster when he is taken. Now Evan must use all he has learned to help himself. He has not only been taken by a monster, but he has others hunting him as well. Figuring out where he is, how many are involved and how he can escape is on the edge of seat suspenseful with a twist that changes everything. You will find yourself rooting for Evan all the way in this non-stop action thriller, This book will also make my favorite of 2017 list. The only thing that would have made it better was listening to Scott Brick's fantastic narration.