Interview with Gregg Hurwitz – S. 10, Ep. 18

My guest for this episode of the Crime Cafe podcast is internationally bestselling crime writer Gregg Hurwitz. Check out our discussion of his Orphan X series and his other projects. Download a copy of the transcript here. Debbi: Hi everyone. It's my pleasure to have with me today. The New York Times number one internationally best-selling author of 24 thrillers, including the Orphan X Series. His novels have won numerous literary awards and been published in 33 languages. He's also written screenplays, television scripts, comics, and poetry. He is actively working against polarization in politics and culture, which I think is wonderful, by writing op-eds for the Wall Street Journal, The Guardian and other publications. My guest today is Gregg Hurwitz. Hi, Gregg. So happy to see you here. Gregg: Hi. Good to see you too. Thank you for having me on. Debbi: It's my pleasure, believe me. So, tell us about the Orphan X series and your tenth book in particular, Nemesis. What inspired you to write this series? Gregg: Well, I have a lot of friends who were in the special operations community, and over the years hanging out with them, I did a lot of research with them through the early books, sneaking onto demolition ranges with Navy SEALs to blow up cars, getting on all these different kinds of weapons, and I was always intrigued when they talked about black operations and how they were funded and how they worked. And I had this moment one time of just thinking how amazing would it be if there was a government program that took kids who were unwanted out of foster homes and took them off the radar completely and raised them up and trained them in silos separate from everybody else to be assassins who could do things that America can't do, who are essentially expendable. And so, that's what happens to my lead character when he's 12. I have a lot of friends who were in the special operations community, and over the years hanging out with them, I did a lot of research with them through the early books ... His name is Evan Smoak. He's taken out of a foster home in East Baltimore, and he's raised by a handler, who in fact becomes his father figure and actually loves this kid. His name is Jack Johns. And he tells Evan, "The hard part is not going to be making you a killer. The hard part will be keeping you human." And so Evan, basically, those are two directives on a collision course. And at some point, those things explode before the series even starts and Evan goes off on his own, flees the program, and basically becomes someone who helps people. He's like an assassin, a pro bono assassin. He helps people in desperate need who have nowhere else to turn who can call an encrypted phone number, 18552 nowhere, that you can call and you can see who answers. And he picks up the phone and says, "Do you need my help?" And if they need his help, he will go anywhere and do anything to help and protect them. Debbi: Wow. In some ways it reminds me of the old show, The Saint. He's a rich person. I don't know about Evan, but this person is rich, and he uses his wealth to help people out in all sorts of terrible situations, using all sorts of means. Gregg: There is an aspect like that of Evan. He has a bunch of money still from when he was in the program because he was given a lot of resources that were stashed in non-reporting countries. And so when he fled the program, he had all this hidden cash put away and he can use that, his resources and his highly unusual skill set to help people. Debbi: Wow. That's really a remarkable concept. I love it. As I understand it, the series has kind of an overarching plot to it in terms of an arc. Do you have a plan for how many books you're going to write, and do you have a series Bible? Gregg: I don't have a concrete plan, but Nemesis is the tenth. And as much as if you read the books and you're a series reader, you'll find all sorts of, I hope,