Evan Smoak was once known as Orphan X. He was trained by the government to be an assassin. He became one of the most feared men in the program. Eventually he broke free and re-invented himself as The Nowhere Man, known for helping the truly desperate.

Max Merriweather is, indeed, truly desperate. His cousin was viciously murdered, leaving behind a key for Max. But someone, somewhere, really wants that key ... and will do anything to get it.

Max puts himself in the line of fire to not only protect Max, but discover who wants that key...and why.

This somewhat complex plot explores twists and turns that seemingly pop out at every corner ...breath taking at times. Although 5th in the series, this is easily read as a stand alone. I would recommend starting at the beginning .... from Orphan X to The Nowhere Man is an adventure you don't want to miss.

Many thanks to the author / St Martin's Press / Netgalley for the digital copy of this thriller. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Published by Minotaur Books on January 28, 2020

The Orphan X series has evolved into an enjoyable interpretation of the tough-guy action thriller. The series began by combining two unoriginal premises. The first positioned the protagonist, Evan Smoak, as a hero in the Jason Bourne mold: trained from an early age to be a deadly force in the service of a shadowy program. The second had Smoak giving away his services to victims who find themselves in threatening situations, in the manner of the Equalizer and other vigilante heroes. Two eye-rolling premises is at least one too many.

Thankfully, Gregg Hurwitz laid the Bourne premise to rest, at least as a plot-driver. Smoak extracted himself from the clutches of his would-be masters in Out of the Dark, putting an apparent end to Smoak’s concerns about being assassinated by the conspiratorial forces of evil that created him.

What used to be a subplot — helping the unfortunate by smiting their oppressors — turns into the main plot in Into the Fire. The series benefits from the new focus.

The story begins with a fellow named Terzian (a/k/a “the Terror”) bringing Grant Meriwether to the hospital for treatment after torturing him. He resumes the torture after killing the doctor who patches Grant up. Terzian wants a name from Grant, which he finally gets: Max Meriwether, Grant’s cousin. In an effort to avoid the same fate as Grant, Max contacts Smoak, who goes by the name The Nowhere Man.

While Smoak started the series as a fairly standard action hero (the kind of tough guy who isn’t known for depth), he has become a contemplative, self-questioning tough guy, giving him a more interesting personality than someone like Reacher, who has never had a moment of self-doubt in his life. Smoak became the Nowhere Man to seek something like redemption, an “imperfect word” to describe his need to confront the world “with his own code, illuminating the darkness with the guttering light of his own morality,” a process of becoming “less sharp. More human.” To that end, he is thinking that helping Max might be his last mission.

Smoak is attracted to a neighbor named Mia, although she is appalled when she learns just how much violence he exercises to solve the problems he confronts. Mia is a law-and-order prosecutor, but she becomes more forgiving of Evan after he does her a violent solid involving her endangered son.

The attention that Hurwitz gives to characterization does not shortchange the action. The story moves crisply as Smoak unravels the mess that Max inherited from Grant. After stumbling upon the corpse of a journalist who had been communicating with Grant, Max gives Smoak an envelope that contains an object the Terror would like to retrieve. Smoak successively battles Terzian’s thugs, a dogfighting ring, Terzian’s boss, a couple of bent cops, and the top boss, who is safely imprisoned and not easily killable. Each time Smoak solves one problem (violently), another pops up. Along the way, he sustains a concussion, and then another, creating the practical problem of which bad guy to shoot when he’s seeing double.

Smoak’s young hacker friend (and former Orphan) Joey Morales adds some youthful snark to the story, while a dog rescued from the dogfights softens the characters of both Smoak and Joey. I always say that the addition of a dog makes every story better. Of the various ways to manipulate readers into caring about characters, portraying a character as a dog lover is the best.

Will Smoak give up being the Nowhere Man and retire to a life that doesn’t require him to kill people every day? It looks that way until Smoak gets a startling call in the last chapter. I assume that means the series will continue. In my judgment, that’s a good thing.

RECOMMENDED

4.5 stars.

The fifth book in Gregg Hurwitz's Orphan X series, Into the Fire is a pulse-pounding thriller with emotional heft to it.

Evan Smoak has been moving since he was young. Pulled out of a foster home and recruited into a super-secret government program, he once was Orphan X, one of the most lethal assassins ever.

When he had enough of killing because people told him to, he reinvented himself as the Nowhere Man, a guardian angel for those in the most desperate of situations. He’ll do whatever it takes to help those truly needing the kind of help he can provide.

Max is that person. Living a desolate, lonely life, his cousin, a forensic accountant, was just brutally murdered. The same cousin who once gave him an envelope with a key in it and told him what to do in the event he died. And now people are looking for the key, some who are clearly evil and some who hide their evil deep below the surface. Max may not be happy with how his life turned out but he doesn't want to die yet.

What seems like a dangerous but fairly simple operation for Evan turns out to be anything but. And as the puzzle becomes more and more complicated—and deadly—to solve, he is torn between this mission of the Nowhere Man he gave himself and the desire for a “real” life.

"'Redemption' was an imperfect word for what he was seeking. Confronting the world with his own code, illuminating the darkness with the guttering light of his own morality—that was a process of becoming. Becoming less sharp. More human."

This is one of the best thriller series out there. Evan Smoak is such an incredible character and Gregg Hurwitz has created an amazingly complex world, and in doing so, has written a thriller series that balances incredible action scenes with rich character development.

I can’t wait to see where Hurwitz goes with this series. My thanks to NetGalley, Minotaur Books, and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review!!

I think this may be my favorite Orphan X book yet. Evan Smoak is back, this time trying to save Max Merriweather from harm. Just when he thinks Max is safe, more threats show up. This is a tough, complicated case, even for Evan.

Into the Fire is a fast-paced thriller with action galore. I love the character of Evan Smoak, and he is at his best in this book. His interactions with the people he is trying to help are always good, but the ones with the neighbors in his building take the cake! Those moments insert some levity into the tenseness of this thriller.

Great book!

Really enjoyed reading this book, when I finished found out it was number 5 in a series about the main character so now I'll have to go back and read the previous novels. The story is fast paced and keeps you guessing and on your toes . The writing is excellent and I l look forward to reading more about this character.

This is the fifth book in the series, but the first one I read. It seemed to work OK as a stand alone but I definitely felt I could use some additional background at times. Evan is knows as NoWhere Man and his mission is to help others. I really enjoyed his character. The book is full of non-stop action with a few twists and turns. Now time to go start the series from the beginning. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC copy.

Into The Fire is the fifth book in the Orphan X series by best-selling American author, Gregg Hurwitz. With perhaps the idea of having something like a normal life, Evan Smoak vows that whomever Trevon Gaines sends him, it will be his last Nowhere Man mission.

When forensic accountant, Grant Merriwether is murdered, his cousin Max quickly realises that the “in the event of my death” envelope Grant gave him is going to spell trouble. Max narrowly escapes walking in on a thug ransacking his apartment, and the LA Times journalist to whom he was meant to take Grant’s letter has been brutally slain. Desperate, Max clutches the straw he has been offered: the Nowhere Man’s number.

Evan is, as always, efficient and dispenses with the threat quick smart. So why is someone still shooting at him and making threatening phone calls? Is there another tier to this mission? He needs to get this sorted so Max (and Evan?) can start living a normal life. Although if a normal life involves Home Owners Association meetings, he might have second thoughts: “A familiar feeling of unease resurfaced, that Evan was a traveler in a foreign land, observing native customs and rituals without understanding their purpose. Being concussed didn’t exactly clarify matters.”

In this instalment, Evan: inflicts a designer wound to facilitate tracking; gets into a dog fight; has a bedroom magnet mishap; rescues a puppy; provides a form of crudités to a meeting; mugs a mugger; goes to jail, and escapes, and does much of it while suffering concussion. It’s no surprise to readers of Out Of The Dark that Trevon Gaines makes a reappearance, and Joey Morales’s participation is virtually a given.

As always, it’s a good idea to suspend disbelief when reading this series, or you’ll start thinking that it’s as well Evan Smoak doesn’t have a paying job because when would he get time to maintain all his safe houses and vehicles, and who cleans his house? Washing clothing and cleaning shoes seems to be a moot point as they end up in the fireplace, replaced by an endless supply of identical new items. Another entertaining action thriller: bring on number six!
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and St Martin’s Press

I read and enjoyed the first book in the series, Orphan X and although I usually don’t read a series out of order, I decided to jump into this latest release. It worked well as a standalone, and now I have the pleasure of going back and reading the three I missed.

Evan Smoak, AKA Orphan X, AKA The Nowhere Man, is a man with a troubled childhood, saved by the government as a 12 year old and trained and used for their own dark purposes. The same government who then wanted to eliminate him. Now his mission is to help others who need his particular set of skills, which are numerous.

Evan is at loose ends and wanting out when he is contacted for what he expects will be his last case. What fun to immerse myself in this story and enjoy the suspenseful wild ride with Evan as he finds himself in ever more dangerous and precarious situations. Watching him get out of these scrapes using his significant intellect and skill set is fantastic. Adding to the fun is the snarky humor.

This is pure page-turning fun – highly recommended!

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. A full review will be posted on Amazon and Goodreads

Orphan X is back and I couldn't be happier. Evan Smoak is known as the Nowhere Man and is committed to helping anyone who calls.

Enter Max Merriweather and he has trouble coming out his ears. He agreed to help his cousin but after his cousin is murdered, Max finds himself a marked man. He needs Evan to not only keep him safe but to help him figure out who wants him dead.

Evan wants a normal life but he is trapped by his past and can see no way out. He'll get no help from the government that created him and Orphan X wants a clean slate. He gets help from a cast of characters that are interesting and really well developed.

Gregg Hurwitz is a fantastic writer and I will always read anything that he writes!

I needed to binge read the previous books in this series in order to read this one for review. My ratings for the previous books:
Orphan X ★★★★
The Nowhere Man ★★★★★
Hellbent ★★★★★
Out of the Dark ★★★★

This is a fabulous series and you should absolutely read it. You definitely need to suspend your disbelief at times, but it is worth it. I find the writing to be engaging and I love the characters.

Once again, our MC, Orphan X, is helping out a person in trouble. He is engaged in nonstop action from beginning to end. This makes for an exciting ride, but it is Evan's thoughts and underlying story that make the books even better for me. Also, I think some of the best parts are some of the giggles to laugh out lot moments. Hurwitz does an admirable job of adding in some humor to his stories without going overboard. All of this leads to a multilayered story hidden in an action novel.

The end of the novel threw in a little twist that I'm not sure I love, but I am really curious to see where it goes. I will be impatiently waiting for the next release, but in the meantime, I am certainly going to have to go back and read the short stories that go along with this series! Due to binge reading this series, I think I may have some Nowhere Man withdrawals.

I really do look forward to each new book in this series. The stakes in this one just kept building. The parts of these stories in which Evan is trying to understand regular human interactions are the most fun for me, and it is easy to become invested in whoever he's trying to help. I could have done with a fewer repetitions of the medical risks in this case, but that's a minor complaint. Overall I enjoyed the story.

Orphan X, AKA Evan Smoak is back and he’s as good as ever! Seriously, if you like thrillers this series is a must read. I would highly suggest starting with book 1, Orphan X (it’s amazing by the way) and reading in order. If you don’t want to or want to jump in with this one, you can and Hurwitz gives enough backstory that you’ll be familiar with Evan’s past but you will miss a lot. Into the Fire resumes where book 4 left off but we learn right away that Evan is tired and is contemplating having his next mission be his last. Evan is a former covert government operative turned vigilante serving justice to really bad people while helping the victim that calls his super secret number when they are in dire trouble. When Evan;’s phone rings this time it’s a man named Max who’s running for his life after his cousin asked him to get something secretive to an LA times journalist if something ever happened to him - no spoiler but his cousin is dead and he had SECRETS galore. What follows is a fast paced, intricate game of cat and mouse with subplots and characters that you will despise as well as love. Hurwitz is a genius at creating action scenes filled with suspense, with Evan using some of the most creative technologies and gadgets I’ve ever read. Plus the supporting characters - Joey and Tommy- are fantastic...seriously, I want to have a sit down with both of them, they felt incredibly real! And that ending....perfection!!

I almost had to stop reading this book pretty close to the beginning, but I am glad that I didn't. The dog fighting operation was just something I could not stomach. Especially as the owner of a Rhodesian Ridgeback mix, with the bait dog being a Rhodie puppy.. Nope. Nope. Nope. Thankfully, that was only a short part of the story, and it did not play any continuing role in the plot. The rest of the story was good, although there were times I felt like Evan: will this mission ever end? I must confess, I did not anticipate the book ending on the note it did. I look forward to the next installment.

Max’s cousin has been murdered and for some very odd reason, he left Max a clue. Max is not known for doing the right thing. He is actually a messed up person who tends to screw everything up. So it is a real shocker when he leaves the Max information to find his killer. Max, as you would expect, ends up needing a lot of help. Enter Evan, or Orphan X!

Evan is a character which is an enigma. He has been trained by the government to be an assassin. But, he left the government program to, basically, do good. I just love this character. Not only is he tough as freaking nails, he has one of the biggest hearts you could ever imagine. He just wants to do what is right for the underdog! This story is no different. Max just can’t help but get himself in a mess. But when Evan shows up…you know it is going to turn out right…or is it. Evan finds himself…almost…over his head. His training and his abilities help keep him and Max alive through some very tough situations. Let me tell you….INTENSE SITUATIONS…is an understatement!

If you need a good, action packed, thriller series…THIS IS IT. I have been a fan since the first Orphan X book. All of the books are fast paced, full of intrigue, energy and emotions. Plus, all the characters in the books are relatable and touch you, as a reader, on some level. So get started today!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

I have not read any of the previous books in the series, however, I was easily able to get the gist of what was happening.

I enjoyed the fast pace, action filled style from start to finish and will go back and read the first books in the series.

I have voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this title given to me via NetGalley. Wow what can I say about this title it was just an awesome read. This book was just something so wonderfully different I’ve never quite read anything like this. You should read to find out you won’t be disappointed. I’m definitely going to read more by this author.

Into the Fire by Gregg Hurwitz is the fifth book in his Orphan X series. This latest offering is a thriller of the first order. Orphan X continues his exciting personal missions.

Evan Smoak, the operative formerly known as Orphan X, ditched the covert Orphan Program but kept his other alias, the Nowhere Man, and now devotes himself to helping people in dire circumstances. His clients reach him by calling a little-known number, 1-855-2-NOWHERE. Each client is tasked to pay it forward and pass his number to someone else in desperate need. Trevon Gaines, Evan’s last client, honors the agreement and passes the number to an apparently desperate, Max Merriweather. Max’s cousin, Grant Merriweather, left him information that someone is willing to kill for. Evan just has to determine what the information is and who’s willing to kill to get it.

Though part of a series, this novel works well as a standalone, but background from the previous books is helpful in understanding the mindset of the main character. Hurwitz has created a captivating cast of new and recurring characters with complete backstories. These characters are complex but not confusing. Thus, characterization is my favorite element of this novel and the series. The plot is fully engaging with twists that are far from predictable.

Into the Fire is a complete success. I give it 5 out of 5 stars and recommend it to lovers of thrillers with political intrigue and constant action. There is some violence but not enough to deter the average reader, though the very squeamish may be offended.

My thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. However, the opinions expressed in this review are 100% mine and mine alone.

News flash! The Nowhere Man is human. Yes, Evan Smoak bleeds, has aches and pains and even can get his brain rattled just like the rest of us average saps. And that's what sets Into the Fire apart from his other adventures and makes this tale appealing in a different way. Don't get me wrong -- there's plenty of mayhem, cooler-than-cool weaponry and other gear, and bad people, so you won't mistake this for an Elena Ferrante novel. It's just that Mr. Smoak discovers he'd rather be Somewhere than Nowhere. There's also plenty of Joey, who I would love to see in a hack-off with Lisabeth Salander. So lie back on your floating bed, quaff some vodka distilled from geothermal pools and Moroccan grains, garnished with a sprig from your living wall and toast Orphan X, who has just figured out Why.

Evan Smoak is Orphan X, taken from a group home in Baltimore when he was 12, Evan was trained by the government to be a weapon. After he dismantles the Orphan program, Evan is now The Nowhere Man, pledged to help others who cannot help themselves. He receives a call from Max Merriweather, who is on the run after the murder of his cousin, Grant. Max is the black sheep of the family and Grant was the golden boy. Grant left Max instructions on what to do if he disappears. Now Max is in the cross-hairs of some very bad people. The Nowhere Man helps Max uncover what Grant was doing, which was cooking the books for a power hungry cabal of crooks and there are layers upon layers of crime to uncover. Each layer that gets eliminated just creates a new problem. But, when Mia and her son, Peter, are targeted, Evan brings war right to the door of City Hall. Another fantastic adrenaline ride.