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.

I recommend either the text or the audio. The text is cool, in that the book within the book is formatted as such. And the narration is great (two narrators, and they're both right for the part).

“Books must be finished long before they get stacked on the shelf and, perhaps, by the time this one is finally in print, the Nothing Man’s name will already be known. Perhaps you, dear reader, even know what he looks like.”

Every word of every page in this journey of a book was compelling, heart wrenching, and deeply interesting. I will try my best to explain the masterpiece that is The Nothing Man. Thank you THANK YOU to Catherine Ryan Howard, Blackstone Publishing, and Netgalley for this absolute gem of a book.

This book is written like if The Golden State Killer read the book I’ll Be Gone in the Dark right after it was published. The premise alone is genius and so well done. A serial killer reading a book from one of his escaped victims. A book within a book. Brilliantly throughout and masterfully written, this book follows The Nothing Man years after he finished killing. A surviving victim from his last and worst attack writes a book about her experience, and he see it on the shelf. This book follows him reading the book and basically switches between the actual book the victim wrote and the killer’s current experience.

Thoughts: I loved the plot of this book. It was written in a way that completely sucks you in from the first page and is perfect for lovers of true crime. The book within the book read just like Michelle Mcmanara’s I’ll Be Gone in the Dark. The bigger story does an amazing job of describing how a serial killer would feel if they were reading about themselves. It was everything I could ask for in a book- fast-paced, well-written, and completely one of a kind. I loved the main character of Eve and hated Jim, just like a reader should. There were so many suspenseful moments that led to a fantastic ending. I LOVED this book- highly recommend it to anyone who likes thrillers, true crime, mysteries, or crime fiction! 5-stars!

3.5 stars

not bad. i don't know that it ever fully grabbed me but it was entertaining enough to keep listening. i listened to an advanced reader copy of the audio book via netgalley's new app. shew, it was rough. the app has a lot of bugs, the worst being that the audio will shut off in regular intervals as your listening so you have to open up your phone and go back into the app to hit play again. a real pain when you're driving. i'm sure that didn't help me feel immersed in the story. the narration was good though.

it seemed to be heavily influenced by the golden state killer. not only his methods but also the hype surrounding I'll Be Gone in the Dark when it came out. not my favorite thriller but not a bad way to kill some time.

I loved reading and listening to The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard. It was fascinating to me how two books were intertwined in this true crime thriller (all fiction says the disclaimer at the end of the book).

The voices move back and forth between the narrative of Jim, the security guard, and Eve. Listening to the audiobook, the move was easily recognizable because of the wonderful narration performed by Alana Kerr-Collins and John Keating. Their accents allowed the listener to feel they were in Ireland.

If you look closely at the book's cover, you can see how one book is transformed into two with the cover torn. Eve's name has been removed to reveal Howard's name at the bottom. You can also see the notes and tabs. This is an ingenious way of giving a snippet of what is inside.

I. Loved. This. Book.

Period.

I loved it from beginning to end. It's told from two different point of views: On one side you have a true psychopathic, serial murder, and on the other, you have the "victim" he didn't kill, although he killed her entire family.

The two narrators do a great job. One narrator - a female - narrates the victim, and the killer is narrated by a man. They both sound excellent, and the emotion they put behind the narration is exquisite. Until the end, the man (killer) narrates in real time, but the female isn't narrating in real time; instead, she's reading a book written by the killer's lone survivor. The killer is reading the book, getting more and more upset and flustered by the author's way of referring to him as "useless, nobody, a loser."

I don't want to give much more away beyond that because the excitement and not knowing is what makes this book spectacular, but it. is. phenomenal. I also think listening to it on audiobook is the way to go. I think it just adds a whole level of fear, anticipation and creepiness to the book that wouldn't be there if you were reading it off the page.

The only complaint I have with this book - and it wasn't nearly enough for me to rank it less than 5 stars - is that the narration is a little slow. Not the pacing of the book - that's perfect. Just the actual act of reading the book is slow. I had to listen to it on 1.75x speed to keep from being annoyed by the slow pace of the reading.

Though we learn the identity of the killer early on, this in no way detracts from the tension and suspense of this exciting thriller,
Eve Black is twelve years old when her family is killed by the infamous serial killer, The Nothing Man. She is the sole survivor of that horrific night in Ireland.
Twenty years later, Eve decides to write a memoir, hoping to catch the killer that left virtually no clues and little is known about.
Jim Doyle is a supermarket security guard. One day a book in the store catches his eye. The Nothing Man memoir by Eve Black. As he surreptitiously begins to read it, he is filled with fury. Because he is The Nothing Man, and she is getting too close.
I loved this book within a book, as it alternates between her story and the killer's reactions.
This dark and chilling thriller really feels like a true crime novel.
I was completely enthralled by the audio version, the narrators did an excellent job of keeping me engaged and creeped out!
Thank you Blackstone Publishing for the audio book via NetGalley.
4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 stars.

This is one of the best stories I've ever listened to in my life! I'm just stunned at how good it was. My jaw had literally dropped at the end because it was so great! I was not expecting such a realistic story. If I didn't know this was fiction from the beginning I would've thought that this was a true crime book. I would recommend this one 100%! So well written and thoroughly thought out. Amazing!

Utterly Chilling.

You think you’re safe in your own home, and then you read “The Nothing Man.”

Way to scare a girl, Catherine Ryan Howard! Thanks so much for that.

Eve Black survived a horrific attack when she was twelve years old. Her entire family was killed and until now, twenty years later, she has never spoken of it.

The Nothing Man was never caught thus, Eve has decided to write a true crime novel hoping to bring the killer out.

I was the girl who survived the Nothing Man
Now I am the woman who is going to catch him.

Jim is a security guard at a local department store. When he sees the book he immediately purchases it and reads it in secret. He is after all married and doesn’t want his wife to know. Jim, is after all, “The Nothing Man” and is reading about himself and what took place twenty years earlier.

Disturbing, dastardly and totally gripping, “The Nothing Man” will scare the bejesus out of you. It is a brilliantly plotted, ingenious mystery thriller that is twisty, turny and wholly captivating. If you’re looking for a fabulous thriller with a great scare factor, this is it.

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Blackstone Publishing and Catherine Ryan Howard for the arc. Kudos the fabulous narrators, Alana Kerr-Collins and John Keating for keeping me glued to the audiobook.

Published on NetGalley, Goodreads and Insta on 8.26.20.

The Nothing Man.... Has been one of the best books I've read so far.
So full of thriller ing suspense. You won't see the ending coming.
I love reading the killers POV its great!

Thank you NG publisher and author for this gifted ebook.

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.

Jim Doyle has a secret. Eve Black is determined to bring that secret to the light.

Once known as the Nothing Man, the terrifying serial killer of Cork, Ireland, now Jim Doyle works as a security guard in a grocery store. Eve Black was the sole survivor of his last attack, one that left her mother, father, and younger sister dead. And now Jim is surrounded by Eve's best selling book about the Nothing Man, the one vowing to catch him.

Reminiscent of the Golden State killer, Howard delves into the mind of a man who was once an active serial killer, dispelling the myth that these men are too smart to get caught, too evil to be banished. She also leaves the reader stunned with some unexpected twists.

The audiobook is fantastic! Dual narrators, Alana Kerr Collins and John Keating, are excellent! Keating is a favorite narrator of mine, and he nails Jim Doyle. I was so engrossed with the audiobook, that it was a struggle to turn it off and go to work.

A delightfully unique voice in crime fiction! This refreshing story is different than any other I’ve read.

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 audio narration was well done. Both narrators, Alana Kerr Collins and John Keating did a great job with their expression and tone giving the book that creepy and suspenseful feel. Wonderfully done.

Going with a rounded up 4.5

This is my first Catherine Ryan Howard novel but it won’t be the last.

I was honestly surprised by how quickly I became engrossed in this book. The premise, the lone survivor of a serial killer’s attack on her family wrote a book about her experience while the never-caught killer reads it, seemed very original to me.

I was taken in by both story lines and was happy to be in either place, which doesn’t always happen with split POV books. Although, the POV of the survivor is completely contained within the killer’s reading of the book and it worked really well.

The writing style of the author and the plot was great. I definitely recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys a good murder/thriller book. I listened to the audiobook and thought the two narrators (one for the survivor and one for the killer) did a wonderful job. That’s always a bonus!

Big thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a copy of this really well done book.

The Nothing Man is a really interesting reading experience because it's told from two unique perspectives - a serial killer who has gotten away with his decades old crimes, and the book one of the survivors of his crimes has written about him. We read the book along with Jim Doyle, finding out how much Eve Black has learned about him through the years at the same time he does.

It's a very unique audiobook experience because of this, and both narrators did a great job. The character perspectives are what carried this book for me, as I found reading a book within a book a fun twist as the story went along. The plot wasn't too predictable, and I was satisfied with the way the story wrapped up.

I think lovers of crime novels, thrillers and true crime will really enjoy this one.

Book CW: murder, sexual assault, stalking, violent descriptions

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW ➯ THE NOTHING MAN
BY AUTHOR CATHERINE RYAN HOWARD
NARRATED BY ALANA KERR COLLINS & JOHN KEETING

THE DETAILS❐
❐ A BOOK WITHIN A BOOK
❐ SERIAL KILLER MYSTERY
❐ WHERE YOU ALREADY KNOW WHO THE KILLER IS
❐ DUAL POV'S
❐ GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF VIOLENT CRIMES
❐ LENGTH OF AUDIO - 9 HOURS, 54 MINUTES
❐ I LISTENED TO AN ADVANCED LISTENER COPY VIA NETGALLEY IN EXCHANGE FOR A HONEST REVIEW

MY THOUGHTS❐

FULL DISCLOSURE: I had an advanced listener copy of this through Netgalley, but there App's usability is so poor that I used a credit for this on Audible. I'm not fully upset about this, either...since it was so freaking good. I guess that answers the question they ask you on Netgalley --would I buy this for myself or a friend?

The narration by Alana Kerr Collins and John Keeting was performed swimmingly by both and made the audio of this book a treat. They made both the victim of the Nothing Man and the Nothing Man himself come to life.

I had no clue that I would like a crime fiction/murder mystery where you, the reader, already know who he is...and you're even privy to what makes him tick. Doesn't sound like much of mystery when you know all this from the very beginning, right? The real mystery at work here is when will the victim (Even Black), from long ago when she was just a child, figure out who he is because she is so very determined to figure it out...and what will ultimately happen to her and him when she does.

The book within a book thing was so very clever and overall this was a satisfying, and refreshingly different story...even the epilogue was cleverly executed.

MY RATING➯ 5 STARS

BREAKDOWN❐
Narration Rating ➯ 5 STARS
Plot ➯ 5/5
Characters ➯ 5/5
The Feels ➯ 5/5
Pacing ➯ 5/5
Addictiveness ➯ 5/5
Theme, Tone or Intensity ➯ 5/5
Originality/Believability ➯ 5/5
Flow (Writing Style/Ease of Listening) ➯ 4.5/5
Mystery ➯ 5/5
Ending ➯ 5/5
Summation ➯ 5 STARS

Eve Black was twelve years old when her family-mother, father, and little sister-were murdered in their home. It was only chance that spared Eve. She spent the rest of her childhood with her grandmother never speaking of the events that destroyed their lives. As an adult, Eve became determined to find the serial killer known as the Nothing Man. A college assignment turned into her true-crime memoir, the first step on her journey. Now, she's on a book tour that takes her back to the scene of the crime and seemingly everyone is reading about her trauma, everyone including the Nothing Man himself. With every page he reads his rage and panic grows. His only loose end has come back to haunt him.

This book ticks all my boxes!

A book within a book
A true crime "memoir"
Pursuit of justice
Surprise twists
A potentially unreliable narrator
An Irish setting and Irish audiobook narrators
The story of the Nothing Man is told from two perspectives. Readers experience Eve's memoir along side Jim Doyle, the sixty-something store security guard who killed the Black family nearly two decades ago. The memoir portion reads as an homage to Michelle McNamara and her quest for the Golden State Killer, while Jim's unraveling ratchets up the tension. This is a must read for fans of true crime and psychological thrillers.

Thanks to Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for an advanced audio copy of this book.

~Megan

The Nothing Man has received rave reviews and I appreciate and understand why. The concept itself is a unique one...a serial killer reading about his past deeds in a book about himself. Despite the widespread appeal, I unfortunately, didn’t love this story.

For some reason, this creepy novel just never grabbed my attention. I couldn’t find the hook that made me want to keep reading, in fact, I found it to be rather dry. We find out early on who the killer is and we already know what transpired so many years ago, though we continue to learn more as the book progresses.

It could be that the audio-version just didn’t work for me. The Irish dialect and accent was difficult for me to understand and the lilting, question mark endings to each sentence were a bit grating. Perhaps some books are just better in physical form.

There were also quite a few characters and stories that were recounted and I found it a challenge to keep them all straight and even follow the plot easily, especially in regards to which parts where the fictional book and which were the actual narrator. What also struck me as odd was the concept of a retired serial killer now living a rather ordinary life. Though I’m not an expert in this field, that feels a bit far-fetched. Do serial killers retire?

So though the concept was eerie and intriguing, the story itself just didn’t captivate me.

Well Hot, clever, Diggity, brilliant DANG this one is one of the best thrillers I have read in a long time! Don't miss out on this well crafted, exciting thrill of a chill read!

Well, all I am going to do is rave about this one and it's not a hyped-up thriller!! It's one well crafted, original thriller with chilling and thrilling twists and turns that relies on just great writing to keep us turning the pages!

I have read books within a book before; however, Catherine Ryan Howard uniquely weaves in a true-crime memoir about The Nothing Man, who has disappeared after killing her family while the nothing man-killer Jim is reading it. The story brilliantly alternates between passages from Eve's book and Jim's reaction to them. I found it fascinating to see Jim's reaction to the memoir while he is reading it and it makes for an exciting and interesting twist to the story.

Eve is obsessed with finding the Nothing Man, and she won't stop writing until she finds him, and he is hooked and can't stop reading it. With each page, the tension rose for me and with each page, Jim becomes angrier with Eve. The twists to the story are heart-pounding exciting and while we can imagine what is ahead, Catherine Ryan Howard had some surprises for me with those exciting twists.

Eve's book concentrates on the victims rather than the killer himself. The crimes of The Nothing Man are horrifying and distributing however, Eve does not focus on that and leaves and the disturbing details up to the reader to think about or not.

I received a print copy and audiobook copy from the publisher and I ended up reading it because listening to it didn't work for me as well as I would have liked. I thought narrators Alana Kerr Collins and John Keating did a great job capturing the voices of the characters and it worked well when Jim responded to parts of Eve's book, but for some reason, I didn't find it as thrilling to listen to as I did reading it. The setting is in Ireland and Eve's voice has a strong Irish accent, and I found that bit hard to follow even though I thought it fit the character well. Kind of doesn't make sense does it, but I think it just came down to I found it more exciting to read it.

Eerie and disturbing, reminiscent of I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, which the author says was an inspiration, but this books is a work of fiction.
I listened to part of this as an audio book and read the rest in print. It is excellently plotted and although we know the identity of the killer from the first page, we get insights into his mind as he reads Eve's true crime book and tries to determine just how much this survivor knows about him.
She has many insights into the true crime phenomenon of the present day--from podcasts to videos to endless internet threads pored over by citizen detectives, putting all of that into a compelling mystery feels fresh and intriguing.
I liked the audio book narrators, they helped me to follow the storyline and know which parts were the killer and which were the true crime novel. I do think that the book is pretty disturbing overall and it makes it all the more creepy to listen to as an audio book.
Overall, if you like suspenseful thrillers, this is definitely a great choice.