The Nowhere Man by Gregg Hurwitz

Spoken about only in whispers, it is said that when the Nowhere Man is reached by the truly desperate, he can and will do anything to save them. Evan Smoak is the Nowhere Man. Taken from a group home at twelve, Evan was raised and trained as part of the Orphan program, an off-the-books operation designed to create deniable intelligence assets -- i.e. assassins. Evan was Orphan X. He broke with the program, using everything he learned to disappear and reinvent himself as the Nowhere Man. But the new head of the Orphan program hasn't forgotten about him and is using all of his assets -- including the remaining Orphans -- to track down and eliminate Smoak. But this time, the attack comes from a different angle and Evan is caught unaware. Captured, drugged, and spirited off to a remote location, heavily guarded from all approaches. They think they have him trapped and helpless in a virtual cage but they don't know who they're dealing with -- that they've trapped themselves inside that cage with one of the deadliest and most resourceful Orphans.

Brutal. Almost as good as the first one.

Orphan X appealed to me because I enjoyed the personal touch. Evan Smoak is seen to be heartless and driven to a point where he seems to only care for the objective. However, Orphan X introduced two people into Evan's life that changed his thinking. It also touched on his troubled past and his close relationship with someone else. This book defers away from that a little but definitely gives you a feeling of Evan as a character. I think Jack Reacher has left a bad impression on what I should expect from action heroes. He's a man of no personality. The likes of Evan Smoak and Scot Harvath have really opened up my eyes to action heroes with personality.

I'll continue this series and likely enjoy all of those 4/5 too

Nowhere Man, nowhere near as good as Orphan X. The author resorts to boring tropes, and there is no pace. The sole saving grace was the final 1/4 which zippped along. I won't bother to read any more of this series, which is sad because Orphan X was fun.

As soon as I finished the first book in this new series, I knew I needed to pick up this second one. Although I blazed through it and stayed up entirely too late finishing it, I didn't like it as much as “Orphan X.” I found Evan still to be an interesting and engaging character, but the plot veered early in a direction which surprised me. And then nearly all of the book was spent in a setting at points dangerous, mysterious, creepy, violent, and bleak. The plot kept my attention, but I wanted Evan out of the setting far sooner in the story. I will say that the danger Evan gets into near the climax was inventive and pretty darn cool. A good and fun read, but somewhat of a sophomore slump plot-wise for me.