A review by mad_about_books
Dark Horse by Gregg Hurwitz
5.0
Evan Smoak. Orphan X. The Nowhere Man. A single man trained from childhood for the blackest of black ops is looking for some normal in his life. The problem is that he has no idea what normal is. He thrives on an OCD routine that demands exactitude in everything from the clothes he wears to the way he answers his RoamZone. A place for everything and everything in its place doesn't come close to the demands he makes upon himself.
His resolve to hang up the Nowhere Man shingle is sorely challenged when he receives a call from Aragon Urrea. Urrea is a drug lord whose daughter has been kidnapped. Here is a moral dilemma that can be rationalized as not helping the criminal but his child. The challenge to liberate Anjelina from a rival cartel without aiding Urrea in his illicit enterprise. A deal is struck where, as is usual, neither side is totally satisfied.
The Orphan X books all have one thing in common — believable action. As I read the fight scenes, I am reminded of the first Sherlock Holmes movie that starred Robert Downey, Jr. Before the actual bare-knuckle fight, Holmes sees it in slow motion from start to end. Evan Smoak assesses all that must be done against odds that the untrained person could not imagine. The bad guys don't know what hit them until it does. Hurwitz manages to write these scenes, so you see them as if watching a movie.
DARK HORSE will take you deep into two drug cartels that operate very differently. There is almost a white hat/black hat difference between the two. The Nowhere Man manages to traverse a dark road marked by unexpected twists and turns while staying true to the Commandments learned as Orphan X.
His resolve to hang up the Nowhere Man shingle is sorely challenged when he receives a call from Aragon Urrea. Urrea is a drug lord whose daughter has been kidnapped. Here is a moral dilemma that can be rationalized as not helping the criminal but his child. The challenge to liberate Anjelina from a rival cartel without aiding Urrea in his illicit enterprise. A deal is struck where, as is usual, neither side is totally satisfied.
The Orphan X books all have one thing in common — believable action. As I read the fight scenes, I am reminded of the first Sherlock Holmes movie that starred Robert Downey, Jr. Before the actual bare-knuckle fight, Holmes sees it in slow motion from start to end. Evan Smoak assesses all that must be done against odds that the untrained person could not imagine. The bad guys don't know what hit them until it does. Hurwitz manages to write these scenes, so you see them as if watching a movie.
DARK HORSE will take you deep into two drug cartels that operate very differently. There is almost a white hat/black hat difference between the two. The Nowhere Man manages to traverse a dark road marked by unexpected twists and turns while staying true to the Commandments learned as Orphan X.