Gregg Hurwitz Books in Order – Complete List of Books

New York Times Bestselling author Gregg Hurwitz wrote three main series including the Tim Rackley series, his Orphan X series, and the Rains book series for young adults. In addition, he wrote several standalone novels (many included in the Marked Man series), novellas, and short stories that will be listed below as well.

Here are the Gregg Hurwitz books in order for his popular series and standalone books. For the Orphan X books, the chronological order is the same as the publication order except for the short story Buy a Bullet. We will update the list with the publication order as they are released.

Latest Gregg Hurwitz Books

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Orphan X/Evan Smoak Series in Order of Publication

1. Orphan X (#1), 2016
2. Buy a Bullet (#1.5), 2016 (free short story)
3. The Nowhere Man (#2), 2017
4. Hellbent (#3), 2018
5. The Intern (#3.5), 2018
6. Out of the Dark (#4), 2019
7. Into the Fire (#5), 2020
8. The List (#5.5), 2020
9. Prodigal Son (#6), 2021
10. Dark Horse (#7), 2022
11. The Last Orphan (#8), 2023
12. The Recital (#8.5), 2023
13. Lone Wolf (#9), 2024
14. Nemesis (#10), 2025

Orphan X Short Stories in Order of Publication

1. Buy a Bullet, 2016
2. The Intern, 2018
3. The List, 2020
4. The Recital, 2023

Tim Rackley Series in Order of Publication

1. The Kill Clause, 2003
2. The Program, 2004
3. Troubleshooter, 2005
4. Last Shot, 2006

Rains Series in Order of Publication

1. The Rains, 2016
2. Last Chance, 2017

Marked Man Series in Order of Publication

The series is made of stand alone novels that share similar themes: an ordinary person is forced into a dangerous situation.

1. Do No Harm, 2002
2. The Crime Writer (aka I See You), 2007
3. We Know (aka Trust No One), 2008
4. Or She Dies (aka They’re Watching), 2009
5. You’re Next, 2010
6. The Survivor, 2011
7. Tell No Lies, 2013
8. Don’t Look Back, 2014

Standalone Novels in Order of Publication

• The Tower, 1999
• Minutes to Burn, 2001
• Do No Harm, 2002
• Dirty Weather, 2006
• The Crime Writer (aka I See You), 2007
• We Know (aka Trust No One), 2008
• Or She Dies (aka They’re Watching), 2009
• You’re Next, 2010
• The Survivor, 2011
• Tell No Lies, 2013
• Don’t Look Back, 2014

Graphic Novels in Publication Order / DC Comics / Marvel Comics

1. Wolverine: Dangerous Games, 2008
2. Foolkiller: Fool’s Paradise, 2008
3. Foolkiller: White Angels, 2009
4. Wolverine: Flies to a Spider #1, 2009
5. Wolverine: Switchback #1, 2009
6. Vengeance of the Moon Knight, Vol 1, 2010
7. Vengeance of the Moon Knight, Vol. 2, 2010
8. Shadowland: Moon Knight, 2011
9. Penguin: Pain and Prejudice #1–5, 2011 (Penguin graphic novels)
10. Batman: The Dark Light Annual #1, 2011-2014
11. Detective Comics #0, 2011-2016
12. Detective Comics #27, 2011-2016
13. New Think, Vol. 1, 2022 (New Think graphic novels)

Collections and Anthologies in Order of Publication

• Show Business Is Murder, 2004
• Meeting Across the River, 2005
• Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night, 2006
• Uncage Me, 2009
• First Thrills: Volume 3, 2011
• Gone Fishing and Other Stories, 2012
• Birds of Prey: The Harlan Coben Challenge, 2022 (with Kelley Armstrong, Ace Atkins, C J Box, Allison Brennan, Harlan Coben, S A Cosby, Robert Dugoni, Tess Gerritsen, Heather Graham, Kathy Reichs, and Hank Phillippi Ryan)

Short Stories in Order of Publication

• All Said and Done, 2004 (included in Show Business is Murder), 2004
• The Real Thing, 2005 (included in Meeting Across the River)
• Dirty Weather, 2006 (included in Thriller)
• Back and Forth, 2009 (included in Uncage Me)
• The Thief, 2010 (included in First Thrills)

Gregg Hurwitz Biography

The crime thriller author Gregg Andrew Hurwitz was born in 1973 in San Francisco Bay Area where he also grew up among a family of physicians. So he got used early on to talk about severed fingers, blood all over the place and mutilations (aka surgery), which is something many of his books reflect as well.

He attended the Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, following which, he enrolled at Harvard University from where he received his Bachelor of arts degree in 1995.  During this time, he worked on the first draft of his novel, The Tower, a psychological thriller set in San Francisco.

Next, the american novelist Gregg Hurwitz attended Trinity College in Oxford, where he received his Master’s Degree in 1996 in Shakespearean tragedy. During that year, he became an undergraduate scholar-athlete of the year at Harvard for pole vaulting. While in England on the Frank Knox Fellowship, he also played college football (soccer).

His first book work, The Tower, was published in 1999. It features the world’s most extreme maximum-security prison, nicknamed ‘Alcatraz II’ by law enforcement officials. Two years later, he followed it with other standalone novels such as Minutes to Burn, and Do No Harm. In an interview, he mentioned that he always wanted to write, it was his life passion. He started reading books at a very young age, reading Stephen King and Peter Benchley and feeling all the emotions those authors evoked in him. He then wanted to, one day, also evoke the same strong emotions in his own readers by writing captivating books.

Many of the author Gregg Hurwitz’s books have been shortlisted for best novel of the year by ITW (International Thriller Writer), and were nominated for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. In addition, books by Gregg Hurwitz were picks for Book Sense (which later became IndieBound) and were selected as feature books by many literary book clubs.

The Gregg Hurwitz books have so far been published in 30 languages. Currently, there are over 25 Gregg Hurwitz novels. A new Orphan X novel was released in early 2024 with the title Lone Wolf.

He is rightfully called a critically acclaimed American crime novelist/crime writer and comic book writer / graphic novels writer and a New York Times bestselling author.

When researching his books, Gregg is very thorough, and he picks up interesting ideas that he can incorporate into his novels. For example, for the Orphan X series, he read an article about a medical product that doctors use to track insulin levels in diabetes patients, and through this article, the author got the idea of using something similar as a GPS tracker.

Lots of research is done directly in the field by him going to locations and talking to people who walk the talk (snipers, operatives, etc.), shadowing key people on stunt planets, or in deep water surrounded by sharks, or sneaking onto demolition ranges. This way, Evan Smoak feels genuine to the core.

The series’s main character is Evan Smoak, a deadly operative who got out from the undercover organization and now lives in the shadows doing good, helping all those who can’t help themselves. Maybe even trying to atone for some of his past sins.

Evan was taken from the orphanage, raised, and trained to become one of the most deadly assassins alive today. For the longest time, he was part of the Orphan Program, which trained him to become a highly skilled government assassin.

But when he wanted something else from life, he used everything he was taught to disappear and become The Nowhere Man. Because one does not simply leave the Orphan Program unless in a body bag. But Evan did it, knowing that he will never be safe from those who want to find him and take him down for good.

We first meet him in Orphan X, where we learn about his past and trajectory. We also learn that he left the Project and is now helping people. Except there is someone after him who knows he is The Nowhere Man and wants to eliminate him. For good.

In The Nowhere Man, Evan wakes up in a gilded prison, and he has to figure out what happened, why he is there, and how can he ever leave.

In Hellbent, we first meet Joey, a recurrent character in the series, whom Evan has to save and protect. This was Jack’s last wish for Evan, one that he simply has to abide by.

In Out of the Dark, someone has decided to get rid of the whole Program and make everyone involved in it disappear. So now Evan has to go after the very person who started the program in the first place: the U.S. President.

In addition to novels, he has also written screenplays for movies and TV series (such as V and Black Flags) for various networks, including the film The Book of Henry, a movie drama released in 2017 featuring Naomi Watts, and Sweet Girl, released in 2021 with Jason Momoa.

In 2012, the author became the comic book writer / graphic novels writer of Batman: The Dark Knight for DC Comics. He is also writing comic books for Marvel, including Wolverine and Punisher, many along with David Finch.

Gregg Hurwitz got involved with Marvel when the editor-in-chief of Marvel read some of his books and, as many dealt with violent vigilante topics, which were quite in line with many Marvel graphic novels, proposed him the offer to work on a Marvel character.

He is an author who can safely say he wrote in every medium he could: books of his own, comic books, and scripts for TV series and movies.

His Rains books feature the Rains brothers, Chance and Patrick Rains, and it is a post-apocalyptic series, while the Tim Rackley books are a thriller series about a U.S. Marshall whose life gets turned upside down when his daughter is killed.

The Greg Hurwitz Marked Man books consisting of eight standalone novels have been optioned by Paramount Players for a feature film series.

Gregg Hurwitz currently lives with his wife and two daughters in Los Angeles, where he is working on his next book and plays soccer in his spare time.

Gregg Hurwitz Books Adaptations

The Orphan X book should be soon turned into a TV show. The film rights were bought by Warner Bros, and Bradley Cooper was to star in the main role, but the movie never got made, so now it will become a TV show. In 2018, Makeready, an Indie Studio bought the rights, so we will see how and when things will start moving in the right direction.

Gregg Hurwitz Awards and Nominations

• The Crime Writer was nominated for the International Thriller Writers Award in 2008
• Orphan X won the Crimson Scribe Award and the American Library Association: Thriller of the Year in 2016
• Orphan X was nominated for the SCIBA (Southern California Independent Booksellers Association) in the Best Mystery category in 2016.
• The Rains won the ITW Thriller Award for Best YA Novel in 2018
• Hellbent was a SCIBA Best Mystery Finalist
• Out of the Dark won the Capital Crime Award for Best Thriller in 2019
• Into the Fire was midlisted for the Skoutz Award in Germany
• Prodigal Son was a nominee for the Society of Voice Arts Awards for Best Audiobook Narration in the Thrillers category in 2021
• Prodigal Son was a finalist for the International Thriller Writers Awards in the Best Audiobook category in 2022
• Lone Wolf was nominated for the Audie Award for Best Thriller/Suspense Audio in 2023
• The Last Orphan was a finalist for the International Thriller Writers Awards in the Best Audiobook category in 2024

In addition, his books have been instant bestsellers, were listed on the New York Times Bestseller lists numerous times, and were top sellers on Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Audible, and were listed on the bestselling lists of Wall Street Journal, UK Sunday Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Publisher Weekly, Library Journal, the Book Reporter.