This felt like the most thoughtful and serious of the Alex North novels to date - and I enjoyed that about it. It's more thoughtful tone highlighted the emotional aftermath of trauma rather than the more traditional horror elements he usually focuses on. The characters and plotting were, as always, spot-on. North has a knack for presenting the banal face behind which evil so often hides. It's a dark and tricksy tale, full of questions about motivation, meaning, and the role of secrets in everyone's lives.

It was a different type of story - and read - as a result. It was still every bit as enjoyable as his other books, but it IS different in tone and tenor. I'm curious now to see where he goes next!

Fans of the creepiness from THE WHISPER MAN will not be disappointed with this one! Alex brings us back to the world of creepy, organized, and intelligent serial killers with THE MAN MADE OF SMOKE.

Daniel was such a great character to be the POV of for this story and I rooted for him so much throughout the pages. I loved the island, “locked in” setting and the catalyst of a story being something from their past that leaves them all connected in a way they never imagined.

I’d read even a grocery list from Alex North, but I’ll happily take another well-plotted suspense thriller from him any day.

4.5 stars rounded up.

"We are shaped by our pasts, not defined by them. It was important to remember that."

As a young boy, Dan Garvie's traumatic encounter with a serial killer dubbed "The Pied Piper", and his own failure to save another young boy that day, left him haunted. Having since sought redemption by becoming a criminal profiler, Dan is forced to confront the ghosts of his past when a phone call from local police alerts him that his father may have committed suicide, prompting Dan's return to the island where he grew up. Upon his arrival on the island, Dan soon realizes that his dad, a retired police officer, never recovered from that fateful brush with evil, either. Following the breadcrumbs his father left him, Dan is drawn back into the decades-old case that dominated his childhood - and that may not be over yet.

"The Man Made of Smoke" has it all: an absolutely eerie, evil serial killer, a sharp-witted main character, and a gripping story, interspersed with tender introspections about the relationships between fathers and sons. Alternating between the terrifying story of the Pied Piper and the mystery surrounding Dan's father's apparent suicide, and relying on multiple points of view, this book may start out as a slow burn full of foreboding, but quickly picks up the pace until its heart-stopping finale.

Tense, terrifying, well-written, full of rich, dark atmosphere, and with excellent characterizations, this was a disturbing, near-perfect* dark thriller.

*The only reason I did not award it a full five stars is because Dan's regular conversations with his own subconscious - but in the form of other people, say, his father, or the serial killer - became a bit too much; the revelations he gleaned from them were essentially results of Dan essentially talking to himself (or worse, imagining himself talking to himself) in the voice of other people, which was about as weird as it sounds.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Celadon Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

"The Man Made of Smoke" is slated to be released on May 13, 2025.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Alex North is one of my favourite authors. I really enjoyed all of his books. A Man Made of Smoke is no different. It is Alex North's best book yet. North’s slow-burn horror creeps under your skin—it's downright haunting. The tension builds so hard you’re desperate for answers, and putting the book down feels impossible. And the characters? You fall for them completely, which just makes everything hit harder.

Highly recommend you grab a copy on May 13, 2025.

Thank you NetGalley and Celadon Books for the advanced readers copy of The Man Made of Smoke by Alex North. When Daniel was a young boy, he encountered a boy in a roadway rest stop who needed help, the boy was with a scary looking man. Daniel was so afraid of the man, he didn’t help the boy. Daniel’s father John spent most of his life investigating cold cases and one of the cases was that encounter Daniel had at the rest stop. This is a complex tale of a series of murders, and missing boys. Daniel, after returning home, as an adult, assists in the case from clues his father had left behind. Alex North has written another psychological thriller that will keep you reading and not want to put the book down.

This suspense novel is a gripping read that kept me turning pages late into the night. The writing is sharp and immersive, pulling me in from the very first chapter. Plot/tension is perfectly paced, keeping the suspense alive without feeling overdone. A strong story I’d definitely recommend.

The Man Made of Smoke is a haunting masterpiece—equal parts psychological thriller, gothic horror, and deeply emotional character study. Alex North has always been skilled at tapping into childhood fears and hidden trauma, but this might be his most layered and unsettling work yet.

Dan Garvie is the perfect kind of unreliable narrator: not because he’s deceptive, but because his past has cracked something inside him. Watching him return to his eerie, isolated island hometown to investigate his father’s mysterious death—while wrestling with a terrifying memory of the serial killer he escaped as a boy—was like being submerged in a dream you can’t wake up from.

This book delivers horror in every form: the creeping dread of the supernatural, the knife-edge fear of a killer potentially returned, and the quieter, quieter ache of loss and unresolved grief. The atmosphere is suffocating—in the best way—thick with salt air, ghost stories, and things left unsaid between fathers and sons.

And the writing? Sharp and cinematic. There are lines I reread just to let them sink in deeper. The tension builds masterfully, and when the reveals start coming, they land. Every twist hurt. Every moment of connection mattered.

The Man Made of Smoke is about memory, myth, and how we live with our monsters—real or imagined. It’s not just a thriller, it’s a reckoning. Easily one of my top reads of the year.

I’ve read and enjoyed all of Alex North’s books, except The Man Made of Smoke. The story felt convoluted, with shifting perspectives and timelines that didn’t come together easily. The constant voices talking to the protagonist were irritating to me (his father, the killer, the victims). I found this long, slow and hard to follow. I ended up skimming a bit to get to the end.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. And sorry, the honest review here is not recommended.

Holy shit this was terrifying and perfect. I love Alex North's books so much, and I was pulled in right from the beginning in that rest area restroom. Good Lord. Creepy from beginning to end, great pacing, enough consistent jump scares to keep you going & wanting to read with the light on. Loved it!

The Man Made of Smoke
By Alex North
Release Date 05/13/2025


Dan is a criminal profiler who has
devoted his career to understanding the minds of those who break the law and live within prison walls.
As a young boy, he narrowly escaped the clutches of a serial killer, an experience that continues to haunt him to this day.
Having left his hometown shortly after high school, he has not returned but only a few times to see his father, John, a retired police chief still investigating unsolved crimes that haunt him.
Everything changes when he learns his father is missing, drawing him back to the town he once fled. This situation forces him to confront the shadows of his past and seek solace in the memories he left behind.
The novel is narrated from multiple perspectives and is an ingenious method to shift timelines.
This is my first Alex North book, and I’m unsure why. He has this unique writing style and crafty way of weaving the chapters together, and he now has a fan for life from me.

#alexnorth #celadonbooks #michaeljosephbooks #penguinrandomhouse #thrillmemore #pageturner #bookrecommendations #bookstagrammer #netgalley #suspensebooks #themanmadeofsmoke #nobodyseesandnobodycares

North did nothing short of astounding when writing all of these emotions and responses to trauma! It’s like he’s been through it hinge that help him write the psychological part perfectly Slow burn thriller with probably the best ending making it all worth it! I finished this in about 3 days! I never saw it coming who the killer was so be prepared to have your jaw drop! Five stars for me!

As a thriller fan & Alex North fan, I highly recommend this. This was reminiscent to Robert Pickton vibes (true crime girlie over here) in the best way. Helped to really set some of the scenes.

I loved these complex familial relationships woven throughout the entire book. I could have absolutely done without the forced romance & the crazy cop ex BF sterotype, neither added to the story and felt like cheap throw in compared to the rest of the story.

Pacing can be a bit slow, but it is a thriller so I think that should be kind of expected but, the last third of the book really goes and you won't want to put it down. There was quite the twist for me, which I really appreciated.

Thank you so much to Netgalley & the publisher for this ARC.

This is my first book from North and I was hooked from the first page! I really enjoyed the setting—it had that foggy, remote-island vibe that makes everything feel a little off. A few characters and their inherited trauma, as well as Dan and the complicated relationship he had with his father, leans the story a bit more into emotional depth than straight-up thriller.

That said, the big twist didn’t totally surprise me. If you’ve read a few thrillers, you might see it coming. Still, it didn’t ruin the ride for me—North’s writing kept me hooked, and the overall story had enough layers to stay interesting.

This is my second book from this author and I enjoyed it! I was hooked from the beginning and couldn’t wait to see how it ended. I was invested in the characters and would recommend this book to others.

As usual, Alex North manages to make me stay up late into the night and then regret it because I get freaked out by his book. The suspense was perfect, the characters were interesting, and I loved how the story switched POVs and created a more detailed and layered mystery. I give this book 5/5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for the opportunity to review The Man Made of Smoke by Alex North. All opinions are my own

Big fan of North’s The Whisper Man and The Shadows, while being thoroughly disappointed by The Angel Maker. I can say The Man Make Of Smoke brought us closer to The Whisper and for that I’m grateful.

It left some plot holes and unanswered questions, for that reason it wasn’t a home run.

3.5, rounded to 4

I really enjoyed reading The Man Made of Smoke by Alex North. This was the perfect slow burn mystery thriller in my opinion. I loved format the author used with the story being told through different characters from past a present. The descriptive writing in this book was some of the best I’ve read. I could literally imagine and picture these scenes in my mind. This book hooked me immediately with that opening chapter! I can’t gush enough about this book! Read it!

Alex North has a knack for an eerie and unsettling atmosphere. 👏🏻 This book is so well crafted. It does start slow and take a bit to piece everything together (you have multiple POVs and timelines) but it’s worth it. I liked watching Dan and his Father’s relationship come to life throughout the book. The only downside with it was things tended to get a bit redundant because of the different POVs. Overall, this one is worth checking out.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to celadon books and NetGalley for this arc.

I love Alex north! So I was excited for this arc and wasn’t disappointed. The storyline was great and the characters are well developed. I would 1000% recommend this to anyone.

In The Man Made of Smoke, Dan Garvie is a criminal profiler whose life has been shaped by a horrifying encounter with a serial killer in his childhood. When his estranged father dies under mysterious circumstances, Dan returns to his isolated island hometown, only to confront unsettling echoes of the past. As old traumas resurface and new threats emerge, he begins to question whether the killer from his nightmares has returned—or if something even darker is at play.

The Man Made of Smoke felt like a bit of a departure from Alex North’s usual dark and horror-leaning style—instead, this one leans more into the territory of a classic mystery or detective novel. It’s slower in its burn but incredibly atmospheric, with just enough tension to keep the pages turning. The mystery itself is layered and detailed, with plenty of threads woven throughout that all come together in a really satisfying way. I honestly didn’t guess the murderer until nearly the final page, which is rare for me and always a sign of a well-constructed plot.

One of the standout elements for me was the structure of the story. The alternating timelines and perspectives between Dan and his father gave the book a richer emotional depth and allowed the mystery to unfold from multiple angles. These flashbacks didn’t just fill in backstory—they enhanced the present-day investigation and made the stakes feel more personal. While it may not have the same horror-driven punch as some of North’s earlier work, The Man Made of Smoke still delivers a haunting, introspective, and tightly woven mystery that kept me fully engaged.



The Man Made of Smoke comes May 13, 2025. Huge thank you to Celadon for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. If you liked this review, please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my Instagram @speakingof.books.
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