Out of the Dark (by Gregg Hurwitz)

allfictionsuspense
Written By Natalie

It was such a pleasure to dive into the next installment of Gregg Hurwitz’s Orphan X series. Out of the Dark, the fourth novel, continues the high-octane story of Evan Smoak—once a child taken from a group home and trained as Orphan X in a secret government program designed to create deniable assassins. He has reinvented himself as the Nowhere Man, helping desperate people when no one else will. Now his past catches up with him when someone at the highest level of government begins systematically eliminating every remaining Orphan and their trainers in an effort to erase all traces of the program.

After the murder of his mentor—the closest thing he ever had to a father—Evan decides to strike back. His target is the man who created the Orphan Program and is now the most heavily guarded person on Earth: the President of the United States. President Jonathan Bennett knows Orphan X is coming and counters by activating Orphan A, the program’s first and most dangerous recruit, to hunt him down.

While navigating the near-impossible layers of presidential security, Evan must also answer a call for help from a young man whose entire family has been slaughtered. The result is a high-stakes cat-and-mouse thriller of assassination, survival, and moral reckoning.

Throughout this installment, Evan repeatedly violates the Seventh Commandment—“One mission at a time”—a rule instilled in him by his mentor that requires him to give each mission his undivided attention and avoid taking on multiple clients simultaneously. Watching him juggle competing missions only heightened the entertainment value. The suspense and escalating stakes of each storyline kept my AirPods glued to my ears.

Hurwitz does an excellent job of refreshing readers on the series’ overall construct without bogging down the pace, making it easy to reorient after previous installments. I especially appreciated the return of familiar characters and the way Hurwitz continues to develop Evan’s personal relationships, giving the action more emotional weight.

It’s usually easy for me to remain emotionally detached when Orphan X is taking out thoroughly evil bad guys, but the young man Trevon absolutely stole my heart. His portion of the story both broke and warmed it. Trevon proved to be a particularly effective character for Evan to interact with as he slowly works on his interpersonal skills.

I listened to the audiobook from Audible and remain extremely grateful that Scott Brick continues to narrate the series. He is one of my favorite narrators, and his performance only elevates the experience.

Out of the Dark is another outstanding entry in a series that just keeps getting better.

You can find my reviews for other books in the Orphan X series and standalone novels I’ve read so far below.

Buy on Amazon
 
 

I'm so grateful my Stargazer lilies returned this year with such a beautiful performance. Last year, the wild rabbits chewed them down and left me with hardly any blooms. Thankfully, my husband put up a fence around them, and this year they were able to show off their gorgeous blooms and intoxicating scent once again.

As a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, I earn from qualifying purchases linked back to Amazon. Every penny earned allows me to blog about books and keeps this site running.

Natalie
Next

Chasing the Boogeyman (by Richard Chizmar)