Dark Horse – Gregg Hurwitz
THE HERO
Evan Smoak: former off-the-books assassin – code name Orphan X. His world is divided into those who deserve his help and those who’ve brought his singular brand of justice upon themselves.
THE VICTIM
A desperate father reaches out. His teenage daughter Anjelina has been kidnapped by a brutal criminal cartel and spirited over the border into Mexico. And while money is no object, Evan soon realises that his prospective client’s past is as clouded and compromised as his own.
THE MISSION
If Evan is going to put his life on the line to rescue Anjelina, he must first decide whether he can act on behalf of a bad man. And even then, up against the men who are holding his daughter, there will be no guarantee of success . . .
I recieved a review copy from the publishers via Netgalley and this review is based upon that digital copy and also my personal audiobook copy which I bought through Audible.co.uk
It’s an Orphan X novel so even before I began reading I knew Dark Horse was going to be fun, full of thrills and lots of action. I was not wrong. Dark Horse takes the reader back into the world of Evan Smoak, an Orphan (note the capitalisation) who uses his very specialist skills to help those in need. Evan is contacted by telephone, he speaks with those in need and he decides if he can help them with their predicament. He never knows when a call may come in and he relies upon people he helps to pass on the word – if there is too long a gap between missions Evan will start getting restless. He is very much a man of action and it feels he needs a mission to keep him going.
So what is an “Orphan”? Evan was recruited as a child when he was in the care system. He was taken into a secret Government project where children were trained to be killers, focused lethal weapons who would do the dirty work of the US Government. Totally off the radar and if they should ever fail or be caught in the execution of a state sanctioned mission then the US Government would have total denial of their existance. Expendible resources and the early books in the series show how that project didn’t come to a pleasing conclusion for anyone involved. The Orphan’s were all extremely well paid for their trouble and Evan has significant wealth which allows him to hide (also a skill he was taught) from authorities as he suspects his own Government would kill him without a second’s pause if they knew where he was.
In Dark Horse we see Evan receive a call. A distraught father wants to recruit the help of “The Nowhere Man” (Evan) as his daughter was kidnapped from her birthday party by men who are “business competitors” of her father. The dilemma for Evan is that the man calling him has made his money trading drugs and other illegal goods – he’s a dangerous individual in his own right and keeps his own cartel in a remote town where all the locals know and respect him. If Evan is going to step in and help then he is going to have to get around a heirarchy of thugs, goons and trusted “soldiers” of a dangerous man. And the enemy he will have to rescue the kidnapped girl from are equally well resourced.
The power dynamic in Dark Horse is significantly different from the earlier novels. Evan is working for a client that feels he is more powerful than Evan (that’s new) but he understands Evan has skills which he does not have at his disposal so there should be no problem securing the support he needs – finding the right man for a tricky job has never been a problem to him before. But with his daughter’s life at stake there’s no room for error. He’s also a man used to keeping secrets and not showing weakness so how does Evan know what his is being told is accurate and trustworthy?
Away from the latest “mission” we find Evan has more problems. He has taken on a young computer whiz-kid (also associated to the Oprhan project) as Joey…and her dog…need supervised. She’s a teen on the cusp of adulthood and she doesn’t appreciate being treated like a child. Joey has plans of her own and wants to travel but Evan is reluctant to let her go off on her own, even if she is likely to be the most dangerous person in any room she is in. Plus Evan has some domestic issues which need to be resolved, decorating and rebuilding his home, and while he is away on a mission he needs someone at home to supervise the contractors to make sure the work is done to his own specification. Entrusting that responsibility to a grumpy teenager may not be the smartest move Evan could make. It is a real distraction from the mission and Evan is a man of supreme focus so you know there will be issues.
Watching Evan juggle personal issues while trying to single handedly outsmart a slick cartel of criminals is extremely entertaining. The action moments benefit from some more light-hearted scenes (though Evan doesn’t see the funny side) but it helps Gregg Hurwitz make his hero more relatable as a man with real-life issues and not just a slick machine of destruction.
Through terrible planning on my part I accidentally read Dark Horse before I read Prodical Son (the story which immediately preceeds Dark Horse). Unfortunately it seems Prodical Son has something of an explosive cliff-hanger ending and, more so than any of the other novels in the series, there are spoilers at the start of Dark Horse as the readers are brought up to speed on events immediately after Prodical Son. Normally I’d be explaining that the Orphan X novels can each be read as a stand-alone book in the case of Dark Horse that comes with a small caveat – it CAN be read as a stand alone but if you are planning on reading the other books (and you really should) then Dark Horse will tell you some of what occurs at the end of Prodical Son. But a new reader to the series could absolutely jump into Dark Horse and still be treated to a really enjoyable thrillfest.
There aren’t many authors that can deliver a gripping adventure of this quality but Gregg Hurwitz seems to be able to do it year in and year out. His Orphan X books are tremendous additions to my bookshelves each year and I savour the anticipation ahead of starting a new book and try not to rush through each new story so it lasts!
Dark Horse is an easy book to recommend – the whole series are easy books to recommend. However, this story really pushes Evan’s moral compass. He is engaged by a man who has accumulated wealth through criminal acts. He should be the enemy for Evan but as his client is now a victim will Evan step up to help him recover his daughter? This is reading time very well spent.
Dark Horse is available in paperback,digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B095XRLLXC/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i3