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A thrilling new story featuring Gregg Hurwitz's New York Times bestselling Orphan X!

Joey Morales was the last recruit of the government's full black operation, the Orphan Program. Trained to be an assassin until she washed out, she was rescued by Evan Smoak, the former agent known as Orphan X.
Now Joey, still a teenager and under the watchful eye of Evan Smoak, lives on her own (with Dog the dog) and attends college.

While on campus, she tries to stop a young woman's suicide attempt - and fails. Then Joey uncovers the reason for Becca Morgan's desperate act - a document called The List, which ranks and rates women around campus based on their sexual appeal and performance.

Determined to find the boys behind The List, the ones whose callous acts drove Becca Morgan to suicide, Joey recruits the help of her mentor, Orphan X, and uses all her skills to uncover and expose the ones responsible.
Usually working from the shadows, Joey has to put herself on the line and in harm's way this time to not just avenge the dead but to protect the rest of the women who are targets of the hidden cabal behind The List.

94 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 4, 2020

816 people are currently reading
2,126 people want to read

About the author

Gregg Hurwitz

296Ìýbooks6,565Ìýfollowers
Gregg Hurwitz is the critically acclaimed, New York Times and internationally bestselling author of 20 novels, including OUT OF THE DARK (2019). His novels have been shortlisted for numerous literary awards, graced top ten lists, and have been published in 30 languages.

He is also a New York Times Bestselling comic book writer, having penned stories for Marvel (Wolverine, Punisher) and DC (Batman, Penguin). Additionally, he’s written screenplays for or sold spec scripts to many of the major studios, and written, developed, and produced television for various networks. Gregg resides in Los Angeles.

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5 stars
1,637 (43%)
4 stars
1,440 (37%)
3 stars
588 (15%)
2 stars
105 (2%)
1 star
36 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 307 reviews
Profile Image for Kay.
2,208 reviews1,156 followers
November 9, 2021
This short story is about Joey, a sixteen-year-old computer genius who's also a part of the Orphan program. She's a supporting character in Orphan X series. I have to say I like Joey in X's books but she almost got on my nerves in this one. 🤪 What saves it was the last sentence. Hurwitz knows how to do a good ending!
Profile Image for Jonetta.
2,459 reviews1,255 followers
July 5, 2023
the setup�
Joey Morales, the last Orphan recruit who was rescued by Evan Smoak, is now a freshman at UCLA, still under the protective umbrella of Orphan X and living on her own with a dog named Dog. She’s in class when she hears a commotion outside the room. She discovers a young woman in distress who in seconds commits suicide right before Joey’s eyes. Joey recovers her phone and learns the probable reason why� she’s on an insidious list distributed by members of a fraternity.

the heart of the story�
Joey’s still trying to learn what it means to live normally so Becca Morgan’s suicide and the impetus behind it regenerates her Orphan skills and thinking. This was much more than seeking retribution as she tries to find that balance between her old covert behavior and staying within the lines of society’s rules. As much as I loved the revenge angle, I was more impressed with her growth.

the narration�
I’m used to Brick mastering Evan but he nailed Joey in this story! I heard the teenager…angst, anger and everything else.

the bottom line�
It’s a very short story but every word seemed to be carefully chosen, packing lots of meaning. Joey continues to exhibit clever thinking while still showing up very much like a teenager. It reeked of authenticity and at the same time delivering satisfaction in seeing some truly awful people get their comeuppance while achieving a bit of justice for Becca.

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Profile Image for Phrynne.
3,840 reviews2,587 followers
March 26, 2021
This is a great short story from the Orphan X series featuring a young girl, Joey Morales, who was part of the scheme and is now under X's protective wing.

I enjoyed the story about a group of Frat boys who get what they deserve when Joey discovers they are at the root of a girl's suicide. Of course she uses the skills she has been taught in the Orphan program with X's full support.

is a great story plus it shows an interesting side to X. Very well worth reading before Hurwitz's sixth full book in the series.
Profile Image for Melany.
1,116 reviews148 followers
September 2, 2022
Extremely quick read, short story. I enjoyed Joey. I've never read any of the Orphan X books until this one but it's intriguing and makes me want to check out the other ones. The last sentence made this entire story. Worthy quick read!
Profile Image for Suz.
1,469 reviews781 followers
September 22, 2024
Wonderful wonderful wonderful. Added bonus was a conversation between a couple of fans and the author, discussing dynamics between Evan and Joey, and future possibilities. This was worthwhile, reflective and good added value to this tiny audiobook.

Evan and Joey are complex and unique characters who offer the other benefits each do not hold on their own. Joey teaches Evan humanity, Evan provides a level of care he missed as a growing child.

This is a short story I was riveted to at every moment. Joey is smart in her tech - a fun in your face attribute Evan lacks. Evan is in the background, there for Joey without pushing.

Joey shows her skill here, her physicality , her prowess to make others pay, she uses her smarts where she has always in tech. She even shows up a College Professor in finding errors in a lecture. She also shows parts of her personality we have never seen on full display. A strengthening and developing empathy, compassion and a need for others, for human connection. And for Evan.

This is small in story arc and size, but huge in the progression of these two amazing characters; I love them.

This was an excellent offering. Most high recommendation.

I listened to this via the Libby app and my public library, outstanding narration by Scott Brick.
Profile Image for Kat.
AuthorÌý13 books577 followers
July 6, 2024
Joey is one of my favorite side characters in the Orphan X series (she has a dry snarky side that is refreshing as it is a good counterpoint for Evan) and so I especially loved this short story! The scenes between her and X were really funny.
Profile Image for Char.
1,877 reviews1,796 followers
June 7, 2022
When I accidentally read the last book in this series first, I did not care for Joey.

That has now changed. What was so great about this novella was that it showed how much Evan and Joey care about each other and how difficult it is for them to admit that.

Another great thing about this audio novella is the author Q and A at the back and how the author admitted that Joey wasn't even supposed to survive the book in which she first appears. It seems that Joey got into the author's head and refused to be killed off!

I love her, I love Evan Smoak, I love Gregg Hurwitz, and I love Scott Brick. As Ray Porter is the voice of Joe Ledger, Scott Brick is the voice of Evan Smoak.

*Thanks to my local library for the free audio download of this novella. Libraries RULE!
Profile Image for Terence M - [Quot libros, quam breve tempus!].
637 reviews323 followers
November 13, 2020
5.0 Stars - It was amazing!"

"The List - Orphan X, #5.5 - by Gregg Andrew Hurwitz"
Audiobook (Novella) - 01:32 Hours - Narrator: Scott Brick

A well written and touching short story of the developing relationship between teenager Joey Morales (Joey) and Evan Smoak (Orphan X).

The excellent narration presents Scott Brick at his very best. He is, in my mind, an outstanding reader who can develop emotional, vocal interpretations that make the listener feel at one with his story telling and his characterisations.

One and a half hours have never flown by so quickly and it was a great pleasure to lay back and contemplate all that happened in that short, but very satisfying time. This is a must listen for Orphan X fans!

At the end of the audiobook, the summation of the characters of Evan Smoak and Joey Morales by various listeners to the story, plus delightful interview/comments by Gregg Hurwitz about the development of these two key characters, now, and in the future, are an absolute bonus.
Profile Image for Howard.
1,878 reviews108 followers
May 10, 2022
4.5 Stars for The List: An Orphan X Short Story (audiobook) by Gregg Hurwitz read by Scott Brick.

This is my first story by this author. I’m really impressed with the characters and story. I’ve already checked out the first book in the series.
Profile Image for Claude's Bookzone.
1,551 reviews260 followers
May 29, 2022
This series can do no wrong.

A great addition to an immensely enjoyable series. Have the right expectations going in and sit back and enjoy the over the top action and vigilante anti-heroes.
Profile Image for Robin.
1,915 reviews92 followers
July 9, 2023
Joey Morales was part of the Orphan program until she was rescued by Orphan X. Now sixteen years old, the computer genius is attending college while trying to live a normal life. When fellow student, Becca Morgan, commits suicide by jumping off a building, Joey wants to figure out what led her to such an act. Joey quickly uncovers a list distributed by a fraternity, that rates the female students by looks and sexual performance. Now she is determined to find the guys behind the list and make them pay.

Since Joey was introduced into the series, she quickly became one of my favorite characters. She just adds something special to every book she appears in. I loved how she handled the situation. And, I love the relationship between Joey and Evan. My rating: 4.5 Stars.
Profile Image for The Cats’ Mother.
2,299 reviews178 followers
March 11, 2022
Brilliant short story from the Orphan X series, told from the POV of principled assassin Evan Smoak’s teenage ward Joey Morales. It’s set between books 5 and 6, but fits anywhere after Hellbent (book 3) and could even just about work as a stand-alone if you wanted to get a taste of the series and don’t mind being mildly spoiled. This was a delicious 30-minute appetiser for Dark Horse (book 7) which was published recently, and will soon be winging it’s way to my Kindle thanks to the joys of 1-click!

Joey Morales is biding her time at college, mostly to keep Evan happy, since she considers most of her undergraduate syllabus far beneath her, and trying to fit in without becoming one of the girly girls she despises. When a beautiful student leaps to her death from the seventh floor and Joey is unable to stop her, she discovers that the trigger was a sordid spreadsheet shared by the sniggering frat-boys who’ve been ogling her in yoga-class - and devises a plan to take them down�

Joey is one of my favourite characters from the series, so a story with her at the centre was very welcome - but fear not, X-fans - Evan does make an appearance. It was fun to get her typically teenage take on his (in her opinion) over-protective influence - while her flashes of insight into her own psyche show she is actually growing up:

“X didn’t approve of her choice of nocks, always mansplaining about why Steiners were superior, but she couldn’t really be mad at him for getting all bincocular-porny seeing as she’d been known to get hot and bothered over gear herself a time or two.�

I love the relationship between the two of them - neither of them willing to acknowledge their father-daughter strength love for the other - but showing it just by being there when it counts.

“‘Oh yeah? What were you doing when you were sixteen?� That was her standby argument when he was being X, the best and most undeniable proof that he was, like, a total hypocrite.�

This manages to include humour, sadness, snark, Me-too, college politics and a good old bully-take-down into 32 pages. 5 stars 😎
Profile Image for Scott A. Miller.
597 reviews24 followers
August 4, 2020
Not your average .5 novella. Joey is an excellent character who I believe could lead her own series. At the very least, I hope Hurwitz gives her increasingly bigger roles in future Orphan X books.

In this story she handled some truly horrible college boys/men in a way only an Orphan would or could, with very satisfying results. Hurwitz continues to develop her relationship with Evan. Really fun little read.
Profile Image for Alex Cantone.
AuthorÌý3 books43 followers
April 17, 2021
It wasn’t even his imagined future that she hated at first sight but the smugness. The total lack of humility and gratitude, the lack of awareness that however capable he might be, he was on the receiving end of an assembly belt delivering him opportunity after opportunity while most people in the world couldn’t even get inside the factory.

In this short story, Joey, the gifted 16-year-old protégé of Orphan-X, is enrolled at university, bored with her undergraduate studies, streets ahead of the abilities of her lecturers. Seeking solace in hot yoga, she finds herself a target of frat-pack males, leering and assessing female students� bodies online. Though able to cope herself, she comes across a distraught student who, unable to face the comments, takes her own life. With ‘X� hovering in the background, she singlehandedly takes on the frat-pack at their own game.

Wow! This was my first taste of the Orphan-X series and I will definitely follow up with the others. Written in language that Joey (Josephine) would think/expressed herself, I applauded her tenacity as she exploits her adversaries� weaknesses � both mental and physical. A worthy ‘kiss-ass� teenage hero. Plus the heads up on TMJ (so that’s what my aching jaw is about). Well recommended.
Profile Image for Sean Peters.
781 reviews116 followers
November 15, 2020
Joey Morales was the last recruit of the government's full black operation, the Orphan Program. Trained to be an assassin until she washed out, she was rescued by Evan Smoak, the former agent known as Orphan X.

Now Joey, still a teenager and under the watchful eye of Evan Smoak, lives on her own (with Dog the dog) and attends college.

While on campus, she tries to stop a young woman's suicide attempt - and fails. Then Joey uncovers the reason for Becca Morgan's desperate act - a document called The List, which ranks and rates women around campus based on their sexual appeal and performance.

Determined to find the boys behind The List, the ones whose callous acts drove Becca Morgan to suicide, Joey recruits the help of her mentor, Orphan X, and uses all her skills to uncover and expose the ones responsible.

Usually working from the shadows, Joey has to put herself on the line and in harm's way this time to not just avenge the dead but to protect the rest of the women who are targets of the hidden cabal behind The List.

One of my favourite authors, one of my favourite characters in Orphan X, Evan Smoak, but this was a little too short to give a great review, the idea I guess is to bring another character to the main, but in all honestly I feel this character Joey is better as a sidekick in the main books... Waiting for the next Orphan X book, January 2021.
Profile Image for Therese.
384 reviews24 followers
July 18, 2023
An Orphan X short story about Joey, hacker extraordinaire. After witnessing a fellow student’s suicide, finds out about a bunch of frat boys who are passing around a list, rating young women on attributes other than smarts and personality. Joey puts her skills to work to exact justice, and learns something about herself in the process.
Profile Image for Sensei_cor.
298 reviews106 followers
May 4, 2021
Una historia cortita protagonizada por mi personaje secundario favorito de la saga de Evan Smoak.

Aunque transcurra en un campus universitario va en la línea del resto de libros: surge un problema/injusticia y hay que arreglarlo incluyendo cierta dosis de acción.

Entretenido y corto. No hace spoilers de los libros principales aunque sí que habría que leerlo en el orden indicado, entre el 5º y el 6º, para conocer el contexto.
Profile Image for Kathleen.
1,372 reviews28 followers
August 22, 2020
Short story. Quick read involving sexual harassment and cyber bullying. Joey is at UCLA. She comes upon a college student who feels socially eviscerated, humiliated to death by nasty frat boys. Joey brings the dickwads to rough justice. Evan (Orphan X) and Dog the Dog play their part. I enjoyed all the interactions between Joey, Evan, and Dog.

No big surprises here. A bit predictable. But I enjoyed it. And Joey’s pain felt almost authentic.
Profile Image for Allison Brennan.
AuthorÌý103 books4,966 followers
January 28, 2025
For a short story, well done and I enjoyed being in Joey's POV.
Profile Image for Marianne.
4,099 reviews306 followers
March 3, 2021
The List is a novella in the Orphan X series by best-selling American author, Gregg Hurwitz. Joey Morales, the last Orphan in the black ops program that created Orphan X (aka Evan Smoak), is trying to live a “normal� life: an apartment near UCLA, classes in which she tries not to correct the professors too much. But then a female student, Becca Morgan suicides right in front of her, and Joey becomes aware that a particularly toxic culture prevalent in one of the frat houses is responsible.

A List exists, on which the frat boys of Alpha Nu Upsilon crudely rate the women on campus. Becca Morgan’s name is on the list, Joey’s too. It’s not a situation Joey can tolerate. When she checks out the frat house, it quickly becomes apparent that the mindset of these boys will not be altered by conventional means, but Joey is a woman of many talents�

A small dose of the Orphan X universe that is worth every cent.
3,132 reviews45 followers
September 12, 2020
4.5 Stars rounded up to 5 Stars. This series is definitely top shelf. It was great reading about how the character of Joey is progressing and how she is starting to allow her inner emotions to surface. The author nailed the whole female 16 year old teenage angst crap. Absolutely cannot wait for the next "Nowhere Man" installment. And let's not forget a shout out to Dog the dog because he is such a good boy!
Profile Image for Skip.
3,672 reviews549 followers
September 12, 2020
37 page story about Orphan X's protégé, Joey, who now attends UCLA. She witnesses a girl throwing herself off of a 7-story building, and then breaks into her phone to see that the cause was a list ranking girls for looks, body, and their sexual prowess. Joey decides to seek retribution. The depth of emotion from Joey in dealing with the dying girl and her parents are the only bright points for me. Otherwise pretty weak, with cameos by X. 1.5 stars, rounded up.
Profile Image for Abibliofob.
1,455 reviews90 followers
August 9, 2020
Great little short story with Joey as the main character. We get some insight into the private world of the Nowhere man. I am really hooked on this series. Sadly I found the story to short, but I have an arc of the next full lenght novel and are really looking forward to reading it.
Profile Image for Darcy.
13.9k reviews524 followers
August 4, 2020
I like this series, but I really liked this short story. I think what I best about it was that Joey was front and center in it, instead of the side kick in the main series. Being the smart cookie that she is Joey quickly caught on to what was going on and after being around Evan, she was not capable of letting the bad people go unpunished. While Joey had things under control I liked that Evan was there just in case.
Profile Image for Keri.
2,079 reviews117 followers
August 20, 2020
That was a sad, sweet read in the Orphan series. I hope Joey gets more stories by herself, because she can carry it! Evan had just the right amount of interaction...loved it!
Profile Image for Eric.
429 reviews36 followers
October 22, 2020
The List by Gregg Hurwitz is a novella focusing on Evan Smoak's protege Joey more so than Orphan X.

Joey has discovered a degrading social network document describing sexual and physical attributes of her fellow female students and The List details her way of dealing with the fraternity and its members regarding The List.

Profile Image for Kat (Books are Comfort Food).
252 reviews301 followers
November 6, 2024
love his writing

I love Hurwitz books. The humor, the high-tech and I enjoy that his and Joey’s characters always help the underdogs. This was a short story.
Profile Image for Brian.
61 reviews2 followers
September 20, 2023
Great novella and shows an interesting side of both Joey and X.
Profile Image for Deirdre.
145 reviews8 followers
September 6, 2020
This one is a really short one, but it gives more insight into Joey, and Orphan X through Joey's eyes. This series never fails to please! I am eagerly awaiting the release of #6.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 307 reviews

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