Book Summary and Reviews of Antihero by Gregg Hurwitz

Antihero by Gregg Hurwitz

Antihero

Orphan X #11

by Gregg Hurwitz

  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Readers' Rating (2):
  • Published:
  • Feb 2026, 416 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

In the next in this New York Times best-selling series, Evan Smoak takes on his most complex mission yet―one where he has to not only protect but also avenge, and find a way to balance vengeance with mercy.

Once a black ops assassin for the government known as Orphan X, Evan Smoak broke with the program and went deep underground, using his operational rules and skills to help the truly desperate with nowhere else to turn.

When Luke Devine, one of the most powerful men in the world has a psychological crisis, Evan flies to the East Coast to meet Luke. While there, he learns of a young woman who was kidnapped off the New York City subway, clearly in danger and in need of aid. With no name and few clues, Evan and his team track down the missing woman, who was assaulted and abandoned. Evan offers his help―and sets out tracking down the young men responsible. But the woman insists that Evan abandon his usual methods―no vengeance and, in particular, no killing. Which will prove no easy feat given the mounting incoming threats from all sides. In a mission that takes Evan from coast to coast, from the poorest corners of society to the richest, Orphan X must figure out a way to protect the innocent, avenge the victimized, and balance justice, with a measure of mercy.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"A relentless battle between vengeance and virtue." ―Library Journal

"A must-read." ―Booklist

This information about Antihero was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

Janine_S

Excellent thriller
I had read the first book in the Orphan X series and had been impressed but never kept up with the series until now, listening to the well-narrated eleventh book I was approved to read by NetGalley and the publisher, McMillan Audio (my sincere thanks).
Evan Smoak, Orphan X, is different man in this book.

He's more tempered and restrained (as best as he can ever be). While this book can be read alone, based on my research, it may be helpful to read Nemesis, the preceding book to understand that Evan is facing the ramifications of vulnerability. But that to the contrary, the premise of this book is to smash a video entire that feeds on producing videos that show women being harmed. When X rescues one such women, she challenges him to seek revenge but not killing. Evan's moral compass is challenged and he must search deep within himself to uncover his deepest fears and desires.

This book is filled with action but also great character development- not always easy to do. So while you enjoy X outsmarting the villains, you also can enjoy him growing in understanding of who he is. As the book reveals, mercy and justice are not always especially if you are the hero.

Finally it's amazing how well written this book is - this is no simple thriller where plot is enough. It's alone narrative and subtly of the story so deftly written that makes it a stunning read. I must now find time to read books 2-10.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Gregg Hurwitz Author Biography

Gregg Hurwitz is the New York Times #1 internationally bestselling author of 23 thrillers including the ORPHAN X series. His novels have won numerous literary awards and have been published in 33 languages. Gregg currently serves as the Co-President of International Thriller Writers (ITW). Additionally, he's written poetry, screenplays and television scripts for many of the major studios and networks, comics for AWA, DC, and Marvel, and political and culture pieces for The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Bulwark and others. Gregg lives with his Rhodesian ridgebacks in Los Angeles, where he continues to play soccer, frequently injuring himself.

Link to Gregg Hurwitz's Website

Other books by Gregg Hurwitz at BookBrowse

12 more...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked Antihero, try these:

  • Icarus jacket

    Icarus

    by K. Ancrum

    Published 2025

    About this book

    Perfect for fans of Adam Silvera and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, this suspenseful queer YA romance from critically acclaimed author K. Ancrum reimagines the tale of Icarus as a star-crossed love story between a young art thief and the son of the man he's been stealing from—think Portrait of a Thief for YA readers...

  • Four for the Road jacket

    Four for the Road

    by K J.. Reilly

    Published 2023

    About this book

    The Perks of Being a Wallflower meets The End of the F***ing World in this dark young adult comedy about four unlikely friends dealing with the messy side of grief who embark on a road trip to Graceland.

  • The Boneless Mercies jacket

    The Boneless Mercies

    by April Genevieve Tucholke

    Published 2020

    About this book

    Full of fierce girls, bloodlust, tenuous alliances, and unapologetic quests for glory, this elegantly spun tale challenges the power of storytelling - and who gets to be the storyteller.

We have 10 read-alikes for Antihero, but non-members are limited to three results. Join free to see the complete list of recommendations.
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
When No One Else Will
by Amanda Skenandore
1940s Chicago nurse risks everything at an illegal women’s clinic during a high-profile trial of courage and sisterhood.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket
    Look What You Made Me Do
    by John Lanchester
    A propulsive tale of intergenerational tension and revenge from the Booker Prize nominee.
  • Book Jacket
    The Jellyfish Problem
    by Tessa Yang
    A marine biologist rescues a Maine island menaced by a giant glowing jellyfish in this inventive debut.
  • Book Jacket
    Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young
    by Zayd Ayers Dohrn
    Son of Weather Underground radicals recounts life on the run and decades of revolutionary struggle.
Who Said...

Give me the luxuries of life and I will willingly do without the necessities.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Book
Trivia
  • Book Trivia

    Can you name the title?

    Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

Q S, S

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.