{"id":16395,"date":"2022-02-14T18:57:14","date_gmt":"2022-02-14T23:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=16395"},"modified":"2022-02-14T18:57:14","modified_gmt":"2022-02-14T23:57:14","slug":"dark-horse-by-gregg-hurwitz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=16395","title":{"rendered":"‘Dark Horse,’ by Gregg Hurwitz"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Arag\u00f3n set the glass down, pushed it away. \u201cMaturity is graduating from the belief that the world misunderstands you to the awareness that you misunderstand the world.\u201d He laced his fingers together. \u201cWho I have failed to become is the story of why my daughter suffers. That load of product I burned yesterday? I could have burned it, burned them all, two years ago or three. And then maybe she would be safe. I didn\u2019t need you to tell me to do it. I didn\u2019t need you. But clearly I did.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Orphan X series<\/strong> by Gregg Hurwitz is an amazing set of books that keeps getting better and better. I have a couple personal quibbles, but reading the latest, Dark Horse<\/a><\/em>, was a delight overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you may recall, Orphan X is Evan Smoak (also known as the Nowhere Man). A former super-secret government agent, he managed to get free and now operates as a freelance white knight, rescuing people in bad trouble. He lives in an expensive Los Angeles penthouse apartment. It\u2019s a sterile, minimalist space where he finds comfort in his OCD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That space was violated in the last novel, and now he\u2019s in the process of rebuilding. But he\u2019s interrupted by a plea for help from someone to whom he ordinarily wouldn\u2019t give two seconds \u2013 a drug lord from the Texas border country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aragon Urrea tries to operate at a higher level than the cartels. He eschews terrorist tactics, contributes to the welfare of the people in his territory, and has always maintained his family\u2019s home as an island of normal life. He has raised his daughter Anjelina to be a good person. But now she\u2019s been kidnapped by a cartel, from her 18th<\/sup> birthday party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evan doesn\u2019t like the idea of working for a drug dealer, but Anjelina is an innocent. He agrees to try to get her out, which involves infiltrating the cartel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s not Evan\u2019s only problem. He\u2019s having trouble relating to his teenaged ward, the female computer hacker Joey, who wants his permission to go on a solo road trip. Evan has no idea how to deal with adolescent rebellion, but he knows he doesn\u2019t want her running around unprotected in this dangerous world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then there\u2019s his almost-girlfriend Mia, who lives in the same building, and is facing a personal crisis beyond Evan\u2019s power to help. Except that she wants him to give support to her son Peter. Another kid needing guidance from a guy who never experienced a real family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dark Hors<\/em>e is more than an action thriller. It\u2019s about a damaged, obsessive-compulsive man forced (reluctantly) to engage with the world of human feelings and needs, far outside his comfort zone. He can put a bullet through a human heart with no trouble \u2013 but can he comfort a broken heart?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author Hurwitz has been constantly raising the level of the Orphan X books. They\u2019re becoming (in my opinion) something really wonderful and moving. I highly recommend them. Cautions for language and mayhem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My only problem was that some PC elements were inserted where they really weren\u2019t necessary. I hope the author gets over that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arag\u00f3n set the glass down, pushed it away. \u201cMaturity is graduating from the belief that the world misunderstands you to the awareness that you misunderstand the world.\u201d He laced his fingers together. \u201cWho I have failed to become is the story of why my daughter suffers. That load of product I burned yesterday? I could … Continue reading ‘Dark Horse,’ 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":[4062,911,1116,2107],"class_list":["post-16395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","category-reviews","tag-dark-horse","tag-evan-smoak","tag-gregg-hurwitz","tag-orphan-x"],"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\/16395","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=16395"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16397,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16395\/revisions\/16397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}