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.

I love Gregg Hurwitz! He always sucks me in from the first page and I have to read it as quick as I can. This was no exception! Action PACKED!

I really hope there are more Orphan X books to come!!

Evan Smoak is one of the “coolest” characters I’ve read. Always willing to help those who call, but things seem to be really bad in this story. 

I’m hoping Evan will eventually find his person that will live him regardless of the work he does. 

Read this series!!

Once again, someone is in trouble and dials the 1-855-2-NOWHERE, and Evan Smoak answers. He believes this is going to be his final job as he plans to retire and leave his hidden life as ORPHAN X behind. Unfortunately for Evan (and his new client, Max), this last case proves to be bigger and more dangerous than ever.

Gregg Hurwitz’s fifth offering in the Orphan X series is just as good as the preceding novels. If you’ve never read an Orphan X story, you’re in for a treat. Evan Smoak is a modern-day knight, helping out those who are in the sort of trouble that an everyday person has no chance of rectifying. He is always approached through word-of-mouth, as the last person he saved is left with the instructions to pay him back by offering the phone number to someone else who has need of his particular services. 

As Orphan X, Evan is as close to a superhero as one can get, as some of his actions are nothing short of extraordinary. However, Mr. Hurwitz understands his genre and once his writing skills help to wrap you up in the excitement of his story, everything becomes believable. “Into the Fire” introduces Max, who has gained the attention of some unsavory characters when his deceased brother shared information that is both explosive and dangerous. When Max has a close brush with potential death, he luckily meets someone who shares Orphan X’s phone number, and the story is off on an adrenaline-building pace.

My encouragement is for you to read the first few chapters and when you start getting hooked, put the book down and read this series from the beginning. You won’t be sorry. Five stars.

Max Merriweather is asked by his cousin Grant to hold an envelope and if something happened to Grant who to call. Max tries to do as his cousin asks but that person is also dead now. He is given Evan's phone number to ask for help. There are so many layers to this mystery and Max  is lucky to have Evan to help. This is about corruption and Max's life is on the line now. He just wants to keep the family safe. Evan helps with the idea he will retire when this is all over. Will it ever be over?

INTO THE FIRE: An Orphan X Novel
Gregg Hurwitz
Minotaur Books 
ISBN 978-1250120458
Hardcover
Thriller


INTO THE FIRE is scary good. I made the smart move/mistake of picking this latest entry into Gregg Hurwitz’s Orphan X series as a nightcap which by next morning had turned into bleary-eyed adrenaline surge, thanks to Hurwitz’s perfect pacing, strong characterization, and surging, non-stop action scenes. You might ask for more, but what is more than one hundred ten percent? Hurwitz, in INTO THE FIRE, attempts to answer that question.

Evan Smoak is the Orphan X of the series, a standout recruit of the government-created and then abandoned Orphan team which sought to create an elite group of special agents with superior skills. Smoak has settled (almost) all accounts with those who had wished him dead while styling himself as The Nowhere Man, an anonymous individual who will assist those in desperate need of the application of his wide skill set. As INTO THE FIRE begins, Smoak coming to grips with deciding what color his next parachute will be. We’ll discuss that in a moment or two. The beginning of INTO THE FIRE, however, gives the reader the almost immediate opportunity to meet two members of the extended Merriweather. Grant Merriweather is a forensic accountant whose firm’s services are very much in demand by law enforcement, attorneys, and just about everyone who can afford their hefty fees. If Grant is Merriweather the Great, however, his cousin Max is regarded as Merriweather the Less by everyone in the family including himself. Max is an underachiever who is a disappointment to almost everyone who becomes involved with him, despite his own best efforts at self-improvement, which seem to only make things worse. He is accordingly extremely ill-prepared for what happens after Grant is brutally murdered, seemingly without reason or motive. Whoever killed Grant is now after Max, and Max really has almost --- almost --- no idea why. He is way outside of his limited field of expertise. A stranger takes pity on him and gives him the phone number of someone the stranger says will help. Max calls the number and finds himself talking to Evan Smoak, who is in the middle of his own identity crisis. Evan has decided that he is going to start putting his own life together in an attempt to live normally, or whatever closely passes for it. Smoak thus plans to take one more case, which means helping one more person. That person turns out to be Max. What Smoak quickly discovers, however, is that Max’s problems are Hydra-headed. Just when Smoak thinks he has eliminated the danger to Max’s life something else pops up wanting to take Max out. Smoak, with some outside assistance, discovers layers upon layers of corruption within the rapidly decaying city of Los Angeles. He’s up to doing whatever it takes to clean it up, at least emotionally. From a physical standpoint, however, Smoak has sustained an injury that at best keeps him from functioning at one hundred percent and at worst is significantly life-threatening. It doesn’t stop him, however, and by the explosive conclusion of INTO THE FIRE Max has acquired a lot more than having his life saved. 

Hurwitz is one of the very few authors I know of who can write a posterior-kicking book and make the conclusion --- dare I say it? --- heartwarming. On top of that, let me hint at something about the (very) ending of INTO THE FIRE. It seemed as if Hurwitz was wrapping the series up and bring all things Smoak to a close. Then, in the final sentence, he demonstrates that he is only getting Smoak warmed up. More layers. More Smoak. More Orphan X novels. It doesn’t get any better than this. Strongly recommended. 

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
© Copyright 2020, The Book Report, Inc. All rights reserved.

Max has a problem. His forensic accountant brother, Grant, has given him a sealed envelope. He instructs Max to give it to a reporter if anything strange happens to him. The problem occurs when Grant is a victim of a professional hit. And the reporter is permanently unavailable. That forces Max out of the frying pan and Into the Fire. Only Evan, formerly Orphan X but now the Nowhere Man, can help.

Into the Fire is the fifth book in the Orphan X series. I have only read the first book but was able to pick up what had happened earlier without issue. It makes a fine standalone. Basically, Evan was an orphan groomed to be a black operator for the US government. However, he went rogue and now helps people escape impossible situations. Per Evan, “one last mission and he was out.” And that mission is Max.

I enjoyed this covert underworld thriller as much as the first book in the series. It has believable characters dealing with extraordinary circumstances. The reader begins to think about what they would do if they were in the same situation. Especially wondering if they could create a nursemaid’s elbow with a quick twist and jab to the forearm. Ahem, I digress.

This thriller is an exciting pulse-pounding read. It is highly recommended for all thriller readers. 5 stars!

Thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Into the Fire is the 5th book in the Orphan X series. I recommend reading the previous books before reading this one.

Now that no one is chasing the Orphans, Evan feels like he is ready live a normal life. He accepts one more mission before he retires the Nowhere Man.

"Evan had faced evil before in various guises - dark and dirty, passionate and zealous, powerful and cruel. But he'd never gone up against someone so...ordinary."

You will definitely want to have plenty of allotted reading time before starting this one. It was hard to put down. Sure it can be over-the-top, but it's a high-octane thrill ride. Love this series and highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Gregg Hurwitz for a copy of "Into the Fire" in exchange for an honest review.
2 likes

Another terrific book in this series.This is a well written hard charging multi layered thriller.As usual I picked this book up and four myself reading late into the night just could not put the book down,#netgalley#st.martins

This series gets better with each book and this one doesn't disappoint. I do sleep read a lot of series but this is one I really look forward to because he's a brilliant writer who writes an exciting and exhilarating story. Happy reading!

I highly recommend this book, fans of the Orphan X series rejoice; the Nowhere Man goes “Into the Fire” for one hell of a final ride.
Evan wants out, but reluctantly decides to take on one last mission to help Max Merriweather.  
The Nowhere Man is literally a “one man army” but even that may not be enough this time out.  Never mind thoughts of retirement, he may not live long enough to see tomorrow.  In this final mission, Evan will find himself in way over his head and needs a little help from his friends.  Get ready for another thrilling roller coaster ride as Evan goes into the fire to face a living hell unlike anything he has previously faced.  
Thank you Mr. Hurwitz for taking us on this fantastic ride once again, your Orphan X series just keeps getting better and better.  You have knocked it out of the park once again, and that cliff-hanger is absolutely mind blowing. Thank you very much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press / Minotaur Books for graciously providing me with a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Evan Smoak, the Nowhere Man, also known as Orphan X, is tired. He is tired of being on the run from his own government, he is tired of being unable to have a normal life, is tired of not being normal. Of course, how anyone with his background as an off the books government trained (from childhood) government assassin could ever be normal is a bit of a conundrum. Most of all the Nowhere Man is tired of being the Nowhere Man, the man who is the last resort of survival. When his phone number is hesitantly given to someone, that person is beyond desperate.
Yeah, yeah, I know books of superheroes, supermen, unstoppable men are almost a dime a dozen. But Smoak is just enough this side of different to make him intriguing, and the books a terrific read.
So, back to the desperate guy in Into the Fire. His name is Max Merriweather and he is desperate on so many levels. He is the family black sheep, low achiever, and loser. Somehow Yiddish says it best, the schlemiel. Max grabs at his chance to do something right and he agrees to hold the “life insurance” of the family super star, Grant, a forensic accountant. It is never a good idea to hold the life insurance of someone who helps bring down criminals. It just always ends badly with bodies scattered from here to there, including the person who took out the insurance.
Tropes, motifs and clichés are all there. I don’t care; they are in all action thrillers. With Into the Fire they are all imaginatively used and positioned, they move the story along rather than have the reader moan, “oh not again.” There is one welcome absence, hot sex to interrupt the action when the writer can’t think of anything else to do. Instead there may be the beginning of a sweet, mature romance.
I am always fascinated to read of the advanced weaponry, technology and computer/hacking skills utilized in the Orphan X series. Most mentioned I know are out there, the rest I assume are accurate. Hurwitz uses them well, avoiding an over-reliance on tech and other skills.
For a man who has very definite OCD tendencies, who craves quiet and routine, and is a total vodka snob, Evan Smoak is going to have a long road back to normalcy. Not that those are the only roadblocks.
This is a book that ratchets up the excitement and the interest in all of the characters. There is tenderness to balance the violence. This is a thriller to read and enjoy. Even without reading the previous books. But do go back and do so.
The book begins with Smoak wanting to retire. It ends with him answering his phone with “Hello?” Is this the first step back toward normalcy? I wouldn’t bet on it.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.