My Thoughts

"The media calls him The Nothing Man because they have nothing on him."  No witnesses, no fingerprints, no DNA.

I don't know what it is about books with the word "Man" in them, but I have yet to read one I didn't love.  The Chestnut Man, The Whisper Man, The Chalk Man and now The Nothing Man!

Eve is the only survivor of an attack that killed her parents and little sister.  Her family was the last of 5 attacks, and then the case went cold.  Years later she is telling her story because The Nothing Man still roams free, and she wants justice.

Right away we find out who The Nothing Man is, and it's underwhelming.  I love that we got to find out exactly what happened to all of The Nothing Man's victims.  He didn't start out killing, but he progressed to it quickly.  It was so creepy that he left a rope, the same rope, and a knife under his next victims couch cushions.  Oh the chills that ran up my arms when I read that!  That meant the attacks weren't random, that he had been in the house before he attacked.  So that leads us to the questions of: How did he choose his victim's?  Why did he stop after Eve's family?

This book was everything I could possibly want in a thriller.  Fast paced, on the edge of my seat page turner.  I am happy that I waited for my husband to return from an out of town trip to read it, because this one creeped me out!  If I read a book like this one where the killer attacks while everyone is sleeping, I can't be alone at night!

I also read it in hours.  Not days, hours.  I checked all my doors and windows before I went to bed that night.

Thank you Blackstone Publishing, Catherine Ryan Howard and NetGalley for my #gifted copy!  This one is available now!

Book Rating: 5/5

This book was a bit of a rollercoaster for me. The beginning started off strong then the story dipped into "this sounds familiar territory". Thankfully it picked back up and finished strong.

We are introduced to Eve Black who was one of the only survivors of the serial killer The Nothing Man (named as such because he left no evidence behind). Then we are introduced to Jim, who picks up Eve's new book about her experience as a child. Jim is The Nothing Man!

It was so fascinating to read the book through both of their eyes, but also through Eve's book about it all. Such unique experience and I fully enjoyed how this was written.

The place where it kind of dipped for me was around 35-45 when I noticed it was sounding a bit like The Golden State Killer case... This book even referenced it and how some of the people involved in this story are from or have lived in California. To be honest, I almost put the book down just because I was afraid I was just reading a Fiction book about a real incident. In ways I was, but the book took a turn and drew me back in.

I'm so glad I kept going! I wouldn't say that I was surprised about how it all went down, and in fact, I figured most of it out before it even happend. But the execution of the story and the details we were given in between really brought this story together nicely. I was quite happy with how it turned out.

The ending and writing brought an almost DNF book up to a 4-4.5 rating for me. I only bring my raring down for that one dip in the storyline. I am very excited to read other books from this author, as this was my first experience with her.

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and Netgalley for a copy of this title in exchange for an honest review

Am edgy, creepy and suspenseful thriller. Despite a few long-winded situations that needn’t have been so drawn out, this book kept me turning the pages. An engrossing read and I loved the book within a book idea.

5 STARS

At the age of twelve, Eve Black was the only member of her family to survive an encounter with serial attacker the Nothing Man. Now an adult, she is obsessed with identifying the man who destroyed her life.

Supermarket security guard Jim Doyle has just started reading The Nothing Man—the true-crime memoir Eve has written about her efforts to track down her family’s killer. As he turns each page, his rage grows. Because Jim’s not just interested in reading about the Nothing Man. He is the Nothing Man.

Soon he begins to realize how dangerously close Eve is getting to the truth. He knows she won’t give up until she finds him and that has no choice but to stop her first …

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WOW. This book was FLAWLESS. I seriously can't get over how good it was. If I could afford to, I would be buying copies and shoving them into crime lover's hands. Instead, I will sing it's praises on social media.

What I loved most about THE NOTHING MAN is that it was a "book within a book" - which is a favourite trope of mine. I enjoyed "reading" the true crime novel by Eve while simultaneously being put into the mind of Jim, the actual Nothing Man. It felt dark and voyeuristic to experience the story through Jim's perspective and I was contently on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what his next move would be. I just had to know if Eve would be able to reveal the true identity of the Nothing Man or if he would find her first. No spoilers here, you'll just have to read the book to find out!

Highly recommend to literally EVERYONE. 5 STARS

At the age of twelve, Eve Black was the only member of her family to survive an encounter with serial attacker the Nothing Man. Now an adult, she is obsessed with identifying the man who destroyed her life.

Supermarket security guard Jim Doyle has just started reading The Nothing Man—the true-crime memoir Eve has written about her efforts to track down her family’s killer. As he turns each page, his rage grows. Because Jim’s not just interested in reading about the Nothing Man. He is the Nothing Man.

Soon he begins to realize how dangerously close Eve is getting to the truth. He knows she won’t give up until she finds him and that has no choice but to stop her first …

.
.
.

WOW. This book was FLAWLESS. I seriously can't get over how good it was. If I could afford to, I would be buying copies and shoving them into crime lover's hands. Instead, I will sing it's praises on social media.

What I loved most about THE NOTHING MAN is that it was a "book within a book" - a favourite trope of mine. I enjoyed "reading" the true crime novel by Eve while simultaneously being put into the mind of Jim, the actual Nothing Man. It felt dark and voyeuristic to experience the story through Jim's perspective and I was contently on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what his next move would be. I just had to know if Eve would be able to reveal the true identity of The Nothing Man or if he would find her first. No spoilers here, you'll just have to read the book to find out!

Highly recommend to literally EVERYONE.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for my ARC! THE NOTHING MAN is out now.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for my ARC! THE NOTHING MAN is out now.

When Jim starts his security duty shift at the local department store, he wasn’t expecting to be surprised. Nothing surprised Jim. Distracted by a woman acting suspiciously in the book section, Jim finds himself staring at a row of books with a title that stops him cold: The Nothing Man. He knows that name. He knows that name because he’s him. He’s The Nothing Man.

Eve Black was — is — the sole survivor of The Nothing Man‘s final and most gruesome attack that left her mother, father, and sister (“seven years old then and forever“) dead. After a personal essay she wrote about the experience of being a survivor went viral, she was convinced that telling her story could help, not just herself, but the other survivors. And maybe, just maybe, they could finally catch this killer.

Jim can’t help himself: he has to read. As he opens the cover of his version of The Nothing Man, the physical book (or audiobook) appears to start over. Title page, copyright information, and brand new narrator. Jim might be reading the book, but Eve tells the reader her story, in her own words, and in her own voice. For me, this is what made the book stand out especially as an audiobook experience. It wasn’t a single narrator doing the voice for both Jim and Eve. Of course, the way Catherine Ryan Howard wrote The Nothing Man, you can feel the shift from Jim to Eve even reading the physical book.

Eve goes into the details of the attacks that came before the attack on her family. Her motivation was clear: she wants people to know what she and others went through in maybe a pointless hope that they’ll care. Jim, though, voices what I felt: people just want to be witnesses to other people’s misery.

What The Nothing Man seems to set out to do is to remind the genre that there are real people behind their escapism. The criminal mind might be something that is fascinating to hear about, but criminals leave bodies and blood in their wake. A fictional answer to Michelle McNamara’s I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, The Nothing Man is a twisted, fascinating look into both sides of a crime story.

This book has an intriguing premise as a book within a book, written from the killer's POV reading his victim's story. I liked it enough, but that's about it. It was actually difficult to read on my kindle app because of the page breaks and I couldn't tell at times if it was still the "book story" or the killer's POV again.

As the only member of her family who survived an encounter with a serial killer at age twelve, Eve Black is obsessed with unmasking The Nothing Man and bringing him to justice twenty years later. She has written her memoir from that night as well as his previous crimes with hopes to reignite an interest in the case.

Jim has just started reading the memoir and has a special interest in the book because it’s about him, Jim is The Nothing Man. But the more he reads, the more he realizes that Eve is dangerously close to the truth.

Reading this book I kept having to remind myself that this is fiction. At times I felt like I was reading a true crime book. I could definitely see the influence of I’ll Be Gone In The Dark, which the author mentions in her afterword. I loved both Eve’s and Jim’s POVs as well as the time lines. A great read for the psychological thriller lover with a hint of darkness. A solid book which should be added to your TBR!

The title & blurb is so intriguing, knowing the name of the killer on the first page is rare & I love it! Its’s a story within a story. Story “The Nothing Man” is written by Evelyn “Eve” Black who witnessed the murder of her parents and sister at the age of 12. Years later dealing with the guilt, trauma, and memories of details that she didn’t understand before are now connecting. The Nothing Man is Jim Doyle, a serial killer who printed his prints & face is closer to being caught thanks to the book! Jim is now a 63 year old supermarket security guard married and with a daughter. His past is his secret! The middle was a bit muddled with the back stories of the other victims, kinda felt lost with all the names. But overall this is a suspenseful, page turner, with a shocker of an ending! Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for an ebook ARC. This is my honest review.

I’ve had The Nothing Man on my tbr pile on Netgalley for a while now. I kept putting it off for no good reason. I just had other upcoming releases I wanted to read first. But now that I’ve finished this one, I’m mad at myself for waiting so long to pick this up! I read Catherine Ryan Howard’s Rewind earlier this year and really liked it. It take some time for it to grow on me but it was a really solid thriller. The stories she manages to come up with are just the right degree of darkness for me, as well as super unique in storyline.

The Nothing Man is a book within a book. Bookception, if you will. We follow our main man Jim as he’s reading the book The Nothing Man, a true crime novel about the crimes he committed and got away with. The author of the book is Eve Black and she is the sole survivor of his last and final attack where her whole family was murdered. I think that this was such a unique and original concept. The formatting of the book and how we are able to read the book and then are interrupted by Jim’s reactions was genius.

I just wished it was a little bit darker. I saw some reviews about how unsettling this book was even for seasoned thriller and horror fans. While creepy and definitely not something I’d want to experience, it didn’t unnerve me or give me too much of a visceral reaction like I was hoping for.

I highly recommend The Nothing Man if you’re a fan of true crime or love reading about serial killers. Catherine Ryan Howard mentions in the acknowledgements how this story was inspired by the GSK and Michelle McNamara’s book I’ll Be Gone in the Dark. It’s definitely a book for murderinos and those of us that love a realistic thriller!

4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for my honest review.

3.5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
About the book:
• Release date- August, 28th 2020.
• Debut novel.
• Genre- thriller, suspense, crime.
• Published by-Blackstone Publishing.

This was a different spin on crime and suspense novels. The strength of the novel lies in the authors portrayal of the detailed crimes and the surviving victim. Sometimes the story dragged for me, but I did enjoy it. I hope this was helpful.

Thank you NETGALLEY and the publisher for this ARC, in exchange for my honest review. ♥️

Eve Black’s family was murdered in their family home when she was a child. Twelve-year-old Eve was the only survivor with her mother, father and younger sister brutally murdered. Two decades later, the murderer still has not been found. He is a serial killer dubbed The Nothing Man by reporters as the police had nothing on him. He was linked to several other murders and rapes in the area. Hoping to rekindle interest in the case, as well as adding information and opinions about the murderer, Eve writes a book outlining each of The Nothing Man’s victims including her own family. Working with a detective, she painstakingly adds information that no one else would have known. Her goal to antagonize the Nothing Man in the book and during interviews is successful and he can no longer sit back and allow her to live any longer.

This was a creepy, suspenseful story that had me staying awake at night. This book is written in such a way that it sounds like a true crime book and that really hooked me. This was an intense read about a serial killer and his surviving victim playing a game of cat and mouse. It is not overly graphic which I liked, but you know that his crimes were terrible. As I read, I did not know who would win the game, which had the suspense high. The writing and narration were wonderful. I definitely recommend this one to anyone who likes a thriller, and this one is written in a very clever and different way.

The Nothing Man is a creepy, thrilling read. I couldn’t put it down! I really loved how this story switches between the 2 main characters; Eve the victim and Jim the murderer. It was very interesting to read it from both perspectives. Both sides were well written and kept me intrigued throughout the book.

The portrayal of the killer in this book was extremely frightening and almost felt as if I was reading true crime. The details were gruesome and intense. My heart was pounding throughout much of the book and I had to stop for a breath once in a while.

I definitely recommend this book if you love a good, intense thriller!

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for this ARC!

The Gardaí called him the Nothing Man because they had nothing on him. It’s been almost twenty years since the multiple rapist and murderer committed his last crime, but a new book by one of the survivors of the Man’s attacks has just been published. The Nothing Man, by Catherine Ryan Howard, opens with a security guard in a large department/grocery store spotting a woman with a copy of the survivor’s book and suddenly panics. The book comes with a promise that the survivor will finally hunt down the man who killed her family—the very same man who just furtively stole a copy from the store where he works.

It takes a few chapters before the name of the security guard is revealed, but we know that it’s him. We know more about the survivor. Eve Black tells her stories through the book-within-a-book, also called The Nothing Man. Brief sections show the security guard spinning with increasing anxiety that he might finally be caught. Most of the book is comprised of chapters from Eve’s book. Not only does Eve’s book contain terrifying rapes and murders committed by the Nothing Man, it also contains Eve’s life after the mass murder of her family.

Compared to the Nothing Man’s own sections, all of which are heavily flavored with his disdain for everyone he encounters and his desire not to be finally caught, Eve’s chapters are beautifully, honestly written. Eve has thought a lot more about the Nothing Man than he ever thought about her. Because she’s spent the last almost twenty years thinking about what happened and what it means to be the victim of a crime, Eve’s words make us think about crime in a way that traditional procedurals and thrillers do. Eve makes us think about the survivors as individuals, as more than just a hit count. She also makes us think about what it’s like to live as a person who others vaguely recognize as someone they’ve seen on the news.

What I liked most about The Nothing Man (Howard’s, not Eve’s) was that, in addition to its psychological depth, are the final chapters. I won’t say too much because I don’t want to ruin this book for other readers. I’ll just say that those last chapters are a brilliant conclusion to a story about a man who thought he got away with his crimes and a woman who refused to let those crimes remain in the past.

QUICK TAKE: A unique spin on the serial killer thriller, almost a fictional take on I'LL BE GONE IN THE DARK. I thought the narrative was fast-paced and fun, though I found the book excerpts interspersed between the serial killer story to be a little tedious. The bookstore scene was excellent, and while I figured out the twist pretty easily, I enjoyed see it play out.

"...an exclusive, awful club"

This is a story about a serial killer in Cork County, Ireland. It is told from the points of view of the killer and of the final victim who survived. So from the beginning of the story we know who the killer is. Also, the victim's story is told from a book she writes about the killer's crimes. The "book" is published twenty years after the killings the author survived.

I was not particularly fond of the storytelling methods of this book. By almost entirely quoting from the victim's "book" her character is not explored in too much depth. I would have liked to know more about her inner thoughts over the years after the crime.

If you want to know more about the serial killer himself, he is explored in depth throughout this story but he wasn't very interesting (and that's one of the points the story puts across - he is ordinary, just an everyday man who happens to be a serial killer).

So, this was an okay book but there are a lot of other books out there on serial killers and their victims that I consider to be much better. Not a high recommendation for me, I'm afraid. I rate this 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 just because I did enjoy the ending.

I received this book from Blackstone Publishing through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

Absolutely fantastic and doubling terrifying in light of the Golden State Killer. The best thrillers for me aren't the ones with the mastermind predator but the ones where people we view as normal or don't see at all are the culprits.

I could NOT put this book down, if you are in the mood for a pageturner/thriller, this is one you should absolutely pick up!

This is a slow burn psychological thriller that tells its story in a cool way - a true crime book within a book. Eve Black is the sole survivor of the serial killer known as The Nothing Man, who killed many people 18 years before, including Eve's family. Now Eve has written a true crime book with the hopes of catching the killer. Readers know the identity of the killer right away and, through alternating chapters, get his chilling POV as well as snippets from Eve's book.

The book starts off strong with a description of the Black family's terror, but it turned into a story I wasn't expecting with the tension petering off in the middle. This may be due to the reader knowing The Nothing Man's identity or because there were times when a lot of serial killer info is included which made the plot lag when I just wanted to get back to Eve's fight to find the killer.

The initial tension and creep factor pick back up closer to the end when we're given a good twist and a half, but they weren't quite as shocking as I've come to expect from Howard. And for a book that deals with such horrific issues and threats, it was decidedly less emotional than I had anticipated.

Overall, The Nothing Man was a good but not wow read for me. I give top marks for its originality of how the story is told, but the slow burn plot and extraneous serial killer info took away from the promise of a high tension, nail-biting read.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Blackstone Publishing for providing me with a complimentary digital copy of this book, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

The Nothing Man is perfect for true crime fans!

It's crime fiction, but it feels so real. I went in not knowing much about it and think that improved my reading experience, so I'll keep this review short: If you like the true crime and/or crime fiction genre, this is a book you won't want to miss out on.

Where the Nothing Man excels is in Catherine Ryan Howard's ability to use and shift common serial killer preconceptions. That made for a book that felt both smarter and creepier than others in the genre.

The author credits I'll Be Gone in the Dark as inspiration - if you liked that one, you definitely need to give this one a try.

The Nothing Man was a chilling and complex story. It was the story of Eve Black and her novel that she wrote describing her attack by the Nothing Man. The story goes between covering Jim Doyle's side of the story and the novel that Eve wrote. It's a fascinating way to tell the story and away I really enjoyed it. I loved this thriller and would highly recommend for anyone that loved Home Before dark. It's a story within a story. A great one! Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and Netgalley for my advanced copy.