SIGN me up for anything related to serial killers - especially in the format of a thriller book!  I love how some of these new mystery/thriller books are combining even more elements of true crime into the structure of the story itself.  We are becoming a society obsessed with true crime and so it just increases the believability of the story and allows us to connect even more sometimes when included in the book.  The book slows down a bit around 70% but WHOA does it pick up and nail the landing!  This is a top thriller of the year for me for sure and I am definitely recommending it.  I also really enjoyed the audiobook and the narrator did a great job!

The Nothing Man is a book within a book, which can go either way for me. Here, it's the thing that keeps things moving along. - not always steadily, but moving nonetheless. The book gives away the bad guy from the start, so the suspense doesn't come from who, it comes from why he did it, and how they are going to catch him. The chapters move back and forth between the killer's thoughts as he reads this book about his crimes and the book itself. Honestly, I liked the killer's perspective better than the book he was reading. Maybe it was intentional since he was reading, but his chapters had more feeling to them where the book chapters were a bit dry at times and had some lags in the pacing, especially when there was a lot of backstory. There were a couple of interesting twists, but the lags in the story kept it from being the compulsive thriller it could've been. 
Alana Kerr Collins and John Keating breathe life into the characters, and they do a good job of it. Keating does the killer's chapters, and I'll admit that he's a big part of what kept me listening to this story. Collins does the chapters from the book, which was an intriguing choice. We hear the inside book in her voice even though the killer is reading it. 
What it all comes down to is, this one is an interesting story, but it's one that you need to keep reading even when it gets a bit slow because the rest of the book, the parts with a steadier or faster pace, are worth the effort.

I loved reading the physical copy alongside the audiobook copy of The Nothing Man. The writing was so clever and I enjoyed listening to the narrator as well.

Eve Black has survived the trauma as a twelve-year-old girl when she encounters The Nothing Man, the killer of her family.

The story within the story was so creative, and so compelling! 

*many thanks to Blackstone and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review. All opinions are my own

Sorry, I thought I would not be able to listen and review this title, but t still appears on my bookshelf on my NG app, It may be due to me sampling the start of the narrator.  I will update my review once I finish listening to it (over my holiday break).

thank you

Eve Black was the only surviving member of her family of a brutal attack from the Nothing Man.  He destroyed her life and she became obsessed with finding out who he is.  She releases her true crime novel about him, but The Nothing Man is also reading her book to find out how much she knows and if she is close.

I absolutely loved this book! The way the book was written was so creative.  The story of The Nothing Man is being told as he reads the story.  It is written just like a true crime novel with narration from the killer.  The entire book is written from the perspective of someone trying to find out how close the police are.  My favorite thing is that we really don't know how much Eve knows until we get to the end of the book.  

I will definitely be reading this again. 

5 stars

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book. I'll be posting my review on Goodreads and Amazon

4.5 stars.  This was such a clever, entertaining psychological read.  In this story of a book within a book, the reader gets to be in the mind of a serial killer.  The author did a phenomenal job with this.  Highly recommend.

When Eve Black was 12-years old, her family was murdered by a serial rapist and killer called The Nothing Man. She was the only survivor. It’s been over fifteen years and she’s gathered the courage to write a book about her experience and the other families that were attacked by this man. Jim Doyle is a supermarket security guard who sees the book on the store shelf. He’s keenly interested in it because he was The Nothing Man. He becomes enraged as he reads the book and realizes that Eve is getting closer to figuring out his identity. 

I was really worried I’d be underwhelmed by this book because so many of my friends and others raved about it. Well, now I know what all the fuss is about because this was one heck of a listening experience! Every time I started listening to the story it was tough finding a good stopping point. It was a clever decision to have Eve’s point of view delivered through the book as Jim was reading it but in her voice! Even though I suspected the direction it would take towards the end, there was still enough twisty-ness left to keep it fresh. 

I loved the narrators who did a fine bit of storytelling. I believed they were Eve and Jim, who was a nasty piece of work. Both are new to me and they’ll tip the scales if I’m ever pondering a book where they are performing. I listen to a lot of thrillers so it was great to experience something this good on every level. The hype was well deserved.

The Nothing Man
Catherine Ryan Howard

For #ThrillerThursday I wanted to highlight a book I recently read by Howard, The Nothing Man. I also listened to the audio book which was nothing short of fascinating. This thriller was written in a very unique voice and perspective - a memoir true crime sequence story within this gripping thriller novel with each chapter ending in a cliff hanger. ⁣
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This was AMAZING, smart, clever, addicting and seriously a nail biting thriller you must read! I highly recommend it. ⁣
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I loved the audio book and this really brought the book to a whole new level with the audio book.

Firstly huge thank you to @blackstone audio and @netgalley for letting me listen and review this one!

So I’ve probably said this before but Ireland is my number one dream location to visit, so I am always drawn to books set there. So this point already had points going in but it was definitely not a let down.

The book is structured as a book within a book and that was fun and different.

We’re getting the story of a serial killer, and then the serial killers thoughts, chapter by chapter.
As someone who reads a lot of thrillers I love when an author finds a fresh way to tell a story, and this one delivered that for me.
I loved our main character Eve. Her chapters were heartbreaking and terrifying. 
Our serial killer gave me golden state killer vibes and he is my literal nightmare so this book gave me goosebumps!

Also I cannot recommend this on audiobook enough. Great narrators who had me deeply sucked into this book.

This is a book within a book. It had me immediately. The narrators were amazing!

The Nothing Man (named because he left no clues) struck when Eve was 12 years old; she was the only surviving member of her family. As an adult, she writes a true crime memoir about the Nothing Man, his other victims and his final attack on her family. She is determined to be the one who finally catches him. The suspense builds as the killer reads her newly released memoir. It was a real thriller!

Thank you to #NetGalley, #Catherine Ryan Howard and #Blackstone Publishing for an e-audio ARC for a review.
#TheNothingMan ISBN13: 9781538519738

The only survivor of a brutal crime decides she will not be a victim any more. 

At only twelve years old, Eve was the only member of her family to survive the night a serial killer entered her home.  The killer was never caught and her family's case was one of several attributed to the elusive serial killer dubbed "The Nothing Man" that went unsolved. 

Years later, as an adult, Eve is obsessed with identifying the serial killer . She puts all her memories into words, detailing everything that she remembers from that awful night into a kind of true crime victim memoir. The book is an instant hit with almost everybody wanting to read it.

Jim is an aging security guard working at a grocery store. When this book is published, his world is rocked. He fervently reads the book. Is there enough information there to catch the elusive killer?  Jim reads on, hoping not - because he is The Nothing Man. Realizing that Eve remembers more than he thought, Jim must stop Eve before he is exposed to the world as a serial killer. 

I love a good thriller where it is difficult to tell which who is the hunter and who is the hunted. Though you know from early on that Eve is the victim and Jim is the serial killer, the story still has questions, and twists, and surprises. The tension builds as these two circle each other in their dangerous dance, until the final pages reveal a satisfying conclusion. 

Narration for this audiobook was provided by Alana Kerr Collins, and John Keating. Both performed well with clear voices, pleasant cadence, and giving a suitable range of emotion to the characters as the story played out. 

An enjoyable, engaging book for those that like suspense.

The Nothing Man was such a clever thriller told through the dual perspective of the only surviving victim and the serial killer that murdered her family and many others. It was fast paced and end delivered more than one surprise that I definitely did not see coming!  The book inside of the book adds an interesting layer to the story too, making this a must-read for all True Crime lovers!  

The narration was done by Alana Kerr-Collins and John Keating and it truly enhanced the book. Their accents were not distracting and they were both very pleasant to listen to. You could truly feel the indignation, frustration, and anger that Jim had as the story progressed and he continued to read Eve's book through John's interpretation. And Alana brought just the right tone and cleverness to Eve's voice as she told story and interviewed all the other victims of the Nothing Man.

The fact that you start out know who the killer was, made the book very unique for me, compared to most of the other thrillers that I have read lately. The slow unwinding of the truth, Eve's research, and Jim's loss of control all made for a story that kept me at the edge of my seat! 

Thank you so much to Blackstone Audiobooks and Blackstone Publishing for my copy of this Audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The Nothing Man is one of my favorite thrillers of 2020. I loved the book within a book element, the characters, and the ending blew my mind. 
I listened to this as an audiobook and loved it. The dual narrators were spot-on and I loved the accents as well. 
Many thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the ALC.

The Nothing Man is nothing but spectacular!

This is such a great thriller! It is intriguing, suspenseful, and addicting! The format was different and worked beautifully. I love that we know who the killer is and get the opportunity to get into his head and see what makes him tick. I was even more excited when we got a glimpse into his private life. I cannot imagine being the family of a killer and having no idea. Eve is also a great character! To lose your family at such a young age is unimaginable. Her courage and perseverance are admirable!

I am so glad this audiobook is told using two narrators, making it all the more intense and a very enjoyable listen!

4.5 stars 
This is a book that is everything a thriller should be! It’s creepy and suspenseful and easy to get sucked into. I studied sociology in college and serial killers were fascinating to me. That’s morbid you say? Why yes, yes it is. But I loved learning about it. This book brought all that back. 


Jim is The Nothing Man- well he was 20 years ago. And now one of his victims is writing a book about him. He’s intrigued, he’s flattered but he’s mostly upset. He does what he can to read her book but to also find out more about her. And then he needs to stop her…

Oh, if you love thrillers, this is for you! It didn’t feel quite as creepy as I thought it would while “in his head” but I think that’s because the crimes were long before and he was an old man. He didn’t fit the profile we get of serial killers or, the author was just that good at bringing out his human side!

Content mentions are high, obviously. There is talk of rape (no details), details on the killings and the bodies, many F words and language in general. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Audiobooks for the audio copy in exchange for an honest review.


For NetGalley;
The audio was really difficult to listen to! It would stop multiple times and not play for a day or two. Also each chapter was labeled Ch 52 so I could never tell where I was.

The Nothing Man is an amazingly unique serial killer and psychological-thriller novel. I don’t want to give up any spoilers, so my review will be brief. Just suffice it to say, The Nothing Man is a creepy, brilliant and terrifyingly scary story. Around eight years ago a young girl, Eve Black, was the sole survivor of a serial killer’s attack on her family. Now, as an adult Eve is hell-bent on finding and exposing the identity of the elusive and foul killer. I finished reading this exceptional story in record time.

What does murder look like through the eyes of the victim's family?  What does it look like through the eyes of the murderer?  After 20 years, Eve Black has written a book about the murder of her family, hoping it would bring forth new information that would bring him to justice.
  
The book's format is unique.  The story moves between reading chapters of Eve's book and the reaction and thoughts of the criminal himself.  Having left no evidence at the crime scenes, The Nothing Man doesn't fear capture, but the victim's stories bring forth feelings and emotions he thought buried.

The book's format brings forth the story so you feel close contact with the crimes.  It's an eerie look at the crimes and their aftermath.  A really, really good thriller.

This book was so good. A wonderful thriller. Kept me up listening most of night. Will definitely look for more by this author!

In this mystery thriller, you know the “who” from the very beginning. But why? And how did he get away with it?
The book alternates between the viewpoint of the murderer and the text of the true crime  memoir of one of his victims. Eve Black’s family was murdered by The “Nothing Man”. She writes a book of the same name and the murderer picks up the book and reads it. 
The book inside the book is compulsive and surprising. I loved this twist in the alternating viewpoints and that the book explicitly discusses how serial killers are celebrated and the victims are forgotten. This book centers the victim in an interesting way. 

The audio book was wonderfully narrated, the alternating actors made it easy to follow.