Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy. I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings. Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them. For my latest Waiting on Wednesday, I look ahead to 2025 and highlight an awesome thriller from one of my favourite authors with Nemesis by Gregg Hurwitz.
I have made no secret about the fact that I am a huge fan of Gregg Hurwitz’s Orphan X series at the moment. The Orphan X books, which started back in 2016, follows the adventures of Evan Smoak, the former government assassin known as Orphan X, who now spends his time seeking redemption as the vigilante of last resort, the Nowhere Man. This series is so much fun, and I always get very hooked on the elaborate narratives that Hurwitz comes up for with. All the most recent Orphan X books have been extremely incredible, and I had a wonderful time reading and reviewing entries like Out of the Dark, Into the Fire, Prodigal Son, Dark Horse, The Last Orphan and Lone Wolf, especially as Hurwitz combines complex characters with intense action.
Due to how much I have enjoyed the last several books, the Orphan X series is a must-read for me each year and I try to get through them as soon as I can. While we’re not even halfway through 2024 yet, I am already excited for the next book in the series, especially as Hurwitz looks set to release a particularly compelling and moving entry, with the epic sounding Nemesis. Set for release in February 2025, Nemesis will be the 10th Orphan X book and will pit Evan against his most dangerous enemy yet, his very best friend.
Plot Synopsis:
In the latest explosive novel in this New York Times bestselling series, Evan Smoak, having shaped his life with a rigid set of rules, finds himself at odds with his oldest friend in the world, where principles are in conflict with honor―and everyone is the loser.
At one time, Evan Smoak was a highly successful black ops assassin known as Orphan X, dedicated to a rigid set of operational rules. Now, even after breaking with the government program, going deep underground, and remaking his life, Smoak is dedicated to his assassin’s Ten Commandments. But for the first time, those principles have put him on a collision course with the man who might be his best friend in the world, Tommy Stojack.
Stojack, a gifted gunsmith who has created much of Evan’s own weapons and combat gear, has apparently crossed one of Evan’s sharply delineated lines. When Evan decides to go to his workshop and have it out with Tommy, Evan finds himself under attack by a group attempting to ambush and kill him. But, with all his training and skills, Evan is extremely hard to kill―and the dispute explodes into open warfare between him and Tommy. Now Evan has no choice, in his mind, than to track down and face down his only friend.
In the meantime, Tommy is honoring an old promise to an Army friend and goes to help his dead friend’s son. In a depressed rural area, with conflicts flaring up, that son is partially responsible for the death of an innocent. And while Tommy is trying to keep him, and his friends, alive, Evan arrives, with vengeance in mind.
The scary thing? Evan isn’t even the most dangerous threat to arrive on the scene.
Well damn, I was already very excited for Nemesis before I knew what it was about, but boy is that a cool sounding plot. Hurwitz is cleverly continuing the series right after the events of the latest book, Lone Wolf, where Evan discovered that his best friend and armourer Tommy had been helping a rival assassin he’d been hunting. This was a very compelling ending to an already intense book, and I have been curious for a while how Hurwitz was going to continue it. Setting up an all-out war between Evan and Tommy sounds pretty damn extreme though, and I cannot wait to see what happens in the resulting carnage.
Based on the synopsis above, I am thinking that Nemesis is going to be another particularly emotionally charged entry in the series, as the protagonist will have to balance his friendship with his unbendable sense of right and wrong. Likewise, Tommy seems to be trying to do what he thinks is right by helping his friends and other clients, which will no doubt conflict with Evan’s more black and white approach to life. As such, I feel that this book is going to be a battle between two very stubborn figures, which will no doubt be frustrating for the reader while also continually hitting them in the feels. Throw in several extra enemies gunning for the protagonists and I think that Nemesis is going to be a very strong entry in this remarkable series.
Honestly, there was no way that I wasn’t grabbing Nemesis next year, as anything new from Hurwitz is an instant must-read for me. However, after reading the awesome synopsis above, as well as the fantastic conclusion of Lone Wolf, I am even more excited for this new Orphan X book, and I have a feeling it is going to be particularly impressive. Nemesis has a ton of potential, and I cannot wait to explore Hurwitz’s new captivating narrative, especially as it is bound to bring action, emotion and impressive story writing in equal measure.
The Unseen Library 