Prodigal Son

An Orphan X Novel

By: Gregg Hurwitz

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

"The winning combination of Gregg Hurwitz and Scott Brick returns for another action-packed listen featuring Evan Smoak...Brick is so convincing at embodying Smoak that listeners will be forgiven for thinking they too could take on four bad guys to protect a good guy in need of help." (AudioFile Magazine)

This program contains a deep dive into the character and history of Tommy Stojack, featuring Gregg Hurwitz and fans of the Orphan X series.

Forced into retirement, Evan Smoak gets an urgent request for help from someone he didn't even suspect existed - in Prodigal Son, the next New York Times best-selling Orphan X audiobook from Gregg Hurwitz.

As a boy, Evan Smoak was pulled out of a foster home and trained in an off-the-books operation known as the Orphan Program. He was a government assassin, perhaps the best, known to a few insiders as Orphan X. He eventually broke with the Program and adopted a new name - The Nowhere Man - and a new mission, helping the most desperate in their times of trouble. But the highest power in the country has made him a tempting offer - in exchange for an unofficial pardon, he must stop his clandestine activities as The Nowhere Man. Now Evan has to do the one thing he’s least equipped to do - live a normal life.

But then he gets a call for help from the one person he never expected. A woman claiming to have given him up for adoption, a woman he never knew - his mother. Her unlikely request: Help Andrew Duran - a man whose life has gone off the rails, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, bringing him to the deadly attention of very powerful figures. Now a brutal brother and sister assassination team are after him and with no one to turn to, and no safe place to hide, Evan is Duran’s only option. But when the hidden cabal catches on to what Evan is doing, everything he’s fought for is on the line - including his own life.

A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books

©2021 Gregg Hurwitz (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

Thriller Awards - Nominee, 2022

So amazing

This book is just fantastic. The action is thrilling and the personal moments made me laugh out loud and hit me right in the heart. I unfortunately blew through this book in 2 sittings so now I'm a bit sad.

Prodigal Son

I love Orphan X and hope he comes back in another book. Greg Hurwitz’s technical writing is downright spooky. I really hope it is far out fiction. But I fear not.
I absolutely love Scott Brick’s narrative. Scott doing a precocious teenage girl Joey ribbing Evan is hysterical.
Love Evan contemplating family and how it messes with his OCD.
Listen to this. It’s truly fun, freaky, edge of your seat, good listening.

Family First

Orphan X has a family!?! Well, we get to meet Mom and brother in the course of several "X" jobs in this Book 6. His "neighborhood family" is also evident as X becomes more "human" with each book. As always, Evan is doing his best to do the right thing, even as he tries to "retire" (under a death threat from POTUS!). As usual, he gets beat down, but never out, by some very nasty bad guys. Brick is brilliant as Narrator and the writing is as sharp as ever from Hurwitz. Final Note; tangents and/or long descriptions can be frustrating in any book, except These!

Deer in the Headlights

Another amazing hit by Gregg Hurwitz and narration by the awesome Scott Brick. I even here Brick's voice when I read quotes from the series.

I am so glad that after the phone call ending from the last book, Into The Fire, it was front and center early in this book. Definitely fun to see the very precise & rule following Evan get thrown by his family, DNA & not, and friends from the past and present. Opens up a whole new side to the super hero.

Evan's extra curricular hobbies had me in stitches and spewing my water on several occasions. I also love Joey & Tommy getting to know a little more about each other, it was adorable in a Joey & Tommy kind of way.

For fun, look up Evan's alias', can't believe I didn't notice this before and check out the tech discussed in the book, you will know the one.

After listening to the ending multiple times I cannot wait until the next book.

A killer who teaches humanity and makes me cry

Once again I’m smitten by how many lessons of humanity this uber assassin can teach us through his own struggles. Evan’s battles are always two-fold: against his physical enemies and against his struggles to assimilate into “normal” society. His lessons are applicable to us in the real world and the emotional rollercoasters are something all of us can empathize with. He’s good at killing, but I find myself even more drawn by his learning to be human, several times moved to the point of tears by the plot. So while I’ll be back for the next book because of bullets and violence, I’ll also be keen to see how much more this character grows into an average man.

The audio performance is second to none. This is one of those performances that makes a book better than if you read it yourself.

Wow!! Absolutely Amazing!!

I LOVED this 6th book in the series, which keeps getting better and better with each release. I hate that I have to wait another year to see what happens from the ending of this book. I see most people didn't like the personal aspect of the story, but I absolutely love seeing Evan evolve into an actual human being. I hope there are more personal touches in forthcoming books.

Loved it!!

This has been my favorite book in the Orphan X Series. The ending......wow. No spoilers....just wow!

The best one yet!

I have listened to all in this series and many more than once just to absorb all the undercurrents, but for me this one hands down has been the best one to date!!! As Evan has evolved through this series I can’t help but fall just a little in love with him and cheer for him as he time and time again helps those that are fighters, but just don’t have the skills or the resources! What an amazing series with action that isn’t repetitious and so far fetched that has me rolling my eyes and relatable characters. Scott Brick once again nailed the performance and gave each scene the right tone-loved it!!!

Just when things are getting interesting...

in so many different ways. I wanted a few more chapters, at least! I hope the next chapters are already written and we do not have to wait an entire year for the story to continue. I will be developing my own story lines in the meantime!

A little bit of a letdown...

I’ve loved every book so far in this series I’ve probably listened to them all 3+ times, but this one was a bit of a snooze. There were some exciting things but it lacked the easy flow all of the other books had. It almost felt like a forced storyline. We usually get left on a slight cliffhanger; this one was almost too much. I still love the series/narrator enough to preorder the next one that comes out.