{"id":12106,"date":"2019-02-01T20:15:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-02T01:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=12106"},"modified":"2019-02-01T20:15:00","modified_gmt":"2019-02-02T01:15:00","slug":"out-of-the-dark-by-gregg-hurwitz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=12106","title":{"rendered":"‘Out of the Dark,’ by Gregg Hurwitz"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Coming up: a review of Gregg Hurwitz\u2019s<\/em> Out of the Dark<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But first, this urgent news update:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

January 25, Deadline.com<\/a>: EXCLUSIVE:<\/strong>\u00a0Gregg Hurwitz<\/a>, author of the best-selling\u00a0Orphan X<\/em>\u00a0series, has inked what\u2019s described as a \u201csignificant seven-figure deal\u201d with publisher\u00a0Minotaur Books<\/a> for the next three volumes in the series. The next book in the series,\u00a0Out of the Dark: The Return of Orphan X<\/em>, hits shelves on Tuesday, Jan. 29.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Dave Lull just sent me<\/strong> the above item, and it pleases me no end, because there can\u2019t be enough Orphan X books for me. No doubt the TV series will ruin the concept, but keep the books coming, Gregg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now for our book review:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wetzel had read somewhere that Hollywood directors liked to hose down streets to make the asphalt sparkle on film. Washington was like that naturally, a black-ice kind of town\u2014lose your focus and you\u2019d slip and break your neck.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Any review of the Orphan X books requires a little\norientation lecture, but that\u2019s OK, because it\u2019s fun to tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evan Smoak is \u201cOrphan X.\u201d As a boy, he was \u201crecruited\u201d from a group home into the super-secret, ultra-deniable US government \u201cOrphan\u201d program. Under this program, smart, athletic kids whom no one would miss were trained to be the world\u2019s most dangerous assassins and covert operatives. But gradually, under the direction of a bureaucrat named Jonathan Bennett, the program lost its focus and become badly corrupted. Jack managed to break free and, subsidized by income streams he can still tap (I never quite followed how that works), he now lives in secret in Los Angeles. His home is a luxury apartment, impenetrably secure, and from it he operates as \u201cThe Nowhere Man.\u201d He\u2019s a sort of a hero on call. People he helps refer him to other people who need a hero. One case at a time, Evan attempts to do penance for the sins of his earlier life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has one major existential challenge \u2013 Jonathan Bennett is\nnow the president of the United States. And for several years he has been\nsystematically been killing off the few surviving Orphans. But of all the\nOrphans, Evan Smoak is the one he is most determined to eliminate \u2013 though Evan\nhas no idea why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Out of the Dark<\/em>, Evan is busy planning the assassination of the president. A challenge, but he thinks he can carry it off. On top of that, he needs to save an autistic young man who, simply because of his na\u00efve honesty, is targeted for murder \u2013 along with his whole family \u2013 by one of the most dangerous drug lords in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the usual pleasures of a great thriller are present in Out of the Dark<\/em> \u2013 rising suspense, heart-pounding danger, lots of high-tech electronics and computer hacking. (Frankly I found some of the action scenes over the top, but I was happy to suspend disbelief.) But what sets the Orphan X books apart is the sharpness of the writing \u2013 great characters, crackling dialogue, moments of wit. As well as just good, well-crafted prose. It\u2019s a pleasure to read Gregg Hurwitz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Highly recommended, with cautions for violence, adult themes,\nand mature language.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coming up: a review of Gregg Hurwitz\u2019s Out of the Dark. But first, this urgent news update: January 25, Deadline.com: EXCLUSIVE:\u00a0Gregg Hurwitz, author of the best-selling\u00a0Orphan X\u00a0series, has inked what\u2019s described as a \u201csignificant seven-figure deal\u201d with publisher\u00a0Minotaur Books for the next three volumes in the series. The next book in the series,\u00a0Out of the … Continue reading ‘Out of the Dark,’ by Gregg Hurwitz<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,15],"tags":[1116,1508,2107,2111],"class_list":["post-12106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","category-reviews","tag-gregg-hurwitz","tag-jonathan-smoak","tag-orphan-x","tag-out-of-the-dark"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12106\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}