The Orphan X series debuted in 2016, written by Gregg Hurwitz, a New York Times bestselling author and comic book creator.
Readers know Gregg Hurwitz for conducting in-depth and unconventional research into his subjects, including working with Navy SEALs, going incognito in cults, and swimming with sharks.
Orphan X focuses on Evan Smoak, who was enrolled in “the Orphan Program” at the age of twelve. The Orphan Program, founded in the 90s, was a US program that aimed to train orphans as assassins for federal agencies. With no connections to the outside world, the orphans were ideal agents. They could be easily removed without anyone noticing. Evan Smoak, or Orphan X, is trained as part of the program to kill and live in the shadows. His fellow Orphan project assassins are unknown to him. His only real connection to the organization is his trainer and father figure, Jack.
Evan’s handler and mentor, Jack, trained him differently than the other members. He wants Evan to keep his morality while sharpening his assassination skills.
The Orphan X series follows Evan, aka the Nowhere Man. It shows his adventures as a crime fighter and intelligence officer on the run from the Orphan Program.
Orphan X Books in order
An Orphan X
- Orphan X (2016)
- The Nowhere Man (2017)
- Hellbent (2018)
- Out of the Dark (2019)
- Into the Fire (2020)
- Prodigal Son (2021)
- Dark Horse (2022)
Similar authors
- Mark Greaney’s Gray Man follows the CIA’s best killer, Sierra Six. Known as the Gray Man, he uncovers dark agency secrets and must flee an international manhunt. See Gray Man Books in Order.
- Peter Ash by Nick Petrie follows Peter Ash, now a wanted man. He has found a simple life, working on his PTSD with his girlfriend and renovating old houses. See Peter Ash Books in Order.
Most recommended books
- Into the Fire (Orphan X, #5) (4.45 Goodreads score)
- Hellbent (Orphan X, #3) (4.43 Goodreads score)
- Out of the Dark (Orphan X, #4) (4.40 Goodreads score)
- Dark Horse (Orphan X, #7) (4.40 Goodreads score)
- Prodigal Son (Orphan X, #6) (4.3 Goodreads score)
Latest releases
The latest Orphan X book is called Dark Horse. It was published in February 2022.
Movies based on the series
There is no known release date, but Gregg Hurwitz is said to be working on the TV adaptation of his book series.
Book summaries
Orphan X (2016)
Evan Smoak is a man with skills, resources, and a personal mission to help those with nowhere else to turn. He’s also a man with a dangerous past. Chosen as a child, he was raised and trained as an Orphan, an off-the-books black box program designed to create the perfect deniable intelligence asset: An assassin. Evan was Orphan X—until he broke with the program and used everything he learned to disappear. But now someone is on his tail. Someone with similar skills and training who will exploit Evan’s secret new identity as the Nowhere Man to eliminate him.
The Nowhere Man (2017)
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.
Hellbent (2018)
Taken from a group home at age twelve, Evan Smoak was raised and trained as an off-the-books government assassin: Orphan X. After he broke with the Orphan Program, Evan disappeared and reinvented himself as the Nowhere Man, a man spoken about only in whispers and dedicated to helping the truly desperate.But this time, the voice on the other end is Jack Johns, the man who raised and trained him, the only father Evan has ever known. Secret government forces are busy trying to scrub the remaining assets and traces of the Orphan Program and they have finally tracked down Jack. With little time remaining, Jack gives Evan his last assignment: find and protect his last protégé and recruit for the program.But Evan isn’t the only one after this last Orphan—the new head of the Orphan Program, Van Sciver, is mustering all the assets at his disposal to take out both Evan (Orphan X) and the target he is trying to protect.
Out of the Dark (2019)
Taken from a group home at age twelve, Evan Smoak 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, a man who helps the truly desperate when no one else can. But now Evan’s past is catching up to him.Someone at the very highest level of government has been trying to eliminate every trace of the Orphan Program by killing all the remaining Orphans and their trainers. After Evan’s mentor and the only father he ever knew was killed, he decided to strike back. His target is the man who started the Program and who is now the most heavily guarded person in the world: the President of the United States.But President Bennett knows that Orphan X is after him and, using weapons of his own, he’s decided to counter-attack. Bennett activates the one man who has the skills and experience to track down and take out Orphan X—the first recruit of the Program, Orphan A.With Evan devoting all his skills, resources, and intelligence to find a way through the layers of security that surround the President, suddenly he also has to protect himself against the deadliest of opponents. It’s Orphan vs. Orphan with the future of the country—even the world—on the line.
Into the Fire (2020)
Evan Smoak lives by his own code.Once he was known as Orphan X. Trained as an off-the-books government assassin and spoken about only in whispers, Evan Smoak was one of the most talented – and most feared – men in the Program. But he broke free and reinvented himself as The Nowhere Man, a figure shrouded in mystery, known for helping the truly desperate.If anyone is truly desperate, it’s Max Merriweather.Max is at the end of his rope. His cousin has been brutally murdered, leaving Max an envelope that contains nothing but a mysterious key. However, someone really wants that key, badly enough that Max – and anyone he turns to – is in deadly danger. What seems like a simple job for The Nowhere Man turns out to be anything but. Behind every threat he takes out, a deadlier one emerges and Evan Smoak must put himself in greater danger than ever before as he heads once more Into The Fire.
Prodigal Son (2021)
As a boy, Evan Smoak was pulled out of a foster home and trained in an off-the-books operation known as the Orphan Program. He was a government assassin, perhaps the best, known to a few insiders as Orphan X. He eventually broke with the Program and adopted a new name—The Nowhere Man—and a new mission, helping the most desperate in their times of trouble. But the highest power in the country has made him a tempting offer—in exchange for an unofficial pardon, he must stop his clandestine activities as The Nowhere Man. Now Evan has to do the one thing he’s least equipped to do—live a normal life.But then he gets a call for help from the one person he never expected. A woman claiming to have given him up for adoption, a woman he never knew—his mother. Her unlikely request: help Andrew Duran—a man whose life has gone off the rails, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, bringing him to the deadly attention of very powerful figures. Now a brutal brother & sister assassination team are after him and with no one to turn to, and no safe place to hide, Evan is Duran’s only option. But when the hidden cabal catches on to what Evan is doing, everything he’s fought for is on the line—including his own life.
Dark Horse (2022)
Evan Smoak is a man with many identities and a challenging past. As Orphan X, he was a government assassin for the off-the-books Orphan Program. After he broke with the Program, he adopted a new name and a new mission–The Nowhere Man, helping the most desperate in their times of trouble. Having just survived an attack on his life and the complete devastation of his base of operations, as well as his complicated (and deepening) relationship with his neighbor Mia Hall, Evan isn’t interested in taking on a new mission. But one finds him anyway.Aragon Urrea is a kingpin of a major drug-dealing operation in South Texas. He’s also the patron of the local area–supplying employment in legitimate operations, providing help to the helpless, rough justice to the downtrodden, and a future to a people normally with little hope. He’s complicated–a not completely good man, who does bad things for often good reasons. However, for all his money and power, he is helpless when one of the most vicious cartels kidnaps his innocent eighteen year old daughter, spiriting her away into the armored complex that is their headquarters in Mexico. With no other way to rescue his daughter, he turns to The Nowhere Man.Now not only must Evan figure out how to get into the impregnable fortress of a heavily armed, deeply paranoid cartel leader, but he must decide if he should help a very bad man–no matter how just the cause.
