First published 2026
Evan Smoak once killed for the U.S. government as Orphan X, the most lethal assassin in a secret program. He escaped that life and became The Nowhere Man, helping people who have exhausted all other options. When Rusty, a frantic father, approaches him about his missing son, Evan takes the case. The young man has gotten involved with brutal criminals who show no mercy. What begins as a simple extraction turns into something far more complex and threatening. Meanwhile, Evan must confront a figure from his deepest past: the father who walked away from him years ago. As violence closes in from multiple directions, Evan discovers that some ghosts refuse to stay buried. He will need to survive the immediate dangers before he can settle accounts with the man who shaped his earliest wounds.
Genres: crime, adult, adult-fiction, thriller, action, mystery-thriller
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, gritty, intense, suspenseful
Tropes: found-family, lone-wolf-hero, past-comes-back-to-haunt, redemption-arc
Period: 21st-century
87 pages · Kindle Edition · Minotaur Books
Content warnings: graphic-violence, murder, violence