I really, really enjoyed this audiobook. The opening chapter sets the tone for what is to come as it narrated by the killer. It is both chilling and heartbreaking as he recounts a story to his victim-“Nobody sees and nobody cares”. And while this book does have a serial killer, it is about so much more. It is about a father and son. It is about the victims and the survivors. It is about survivors guilt and how can one possibly carry on when they are the lucky one. It is also about speaking up. If you see something, say something. This is a thriller that drew me in with a chilling opening and then held me captured by the multitude of feelings it evoked. So good.
Thank you to NetGalley and celadon books for this arc.

I loved this book. I haven’t read anything by Alex North before but this book truly had me feeling freaked out. I was so engrossed I flew through it!

Dan Garvie’s father passes away under suspicious circumstances and he is forced to return to the island where he grew up. His life was shaped by a horrible day at a rest area on a family vacation when he was a child. The moment has come back full circle to his return home. Can he figure out what is going on before it’s too late?

Thank you to NetGalley, Celadon Books, and Alex North for an advance copy of The Man Made of Smoke in exchange for an honest review. Alex North writes some fantastic books and this one was no different. The reader is swept away on a decades old mystery that keeps you guessing all the way through. I enjoyed seeing the main character read through his father’s work about the mystery as he dove into his own. Definitely pick this one up if you’re looking for a spooky mystery that will keep you hooked. The Man Made of Smoke is out now!

I’m torn between 3.5 and 4 stars. I have enjoyed every book I’ve read by this author and although I did enjoy this one it took a bit for me to get into it. I felt like it had a very slow start but once it picked up I couldn’t stop reading. I had to find out what was happening.

Alex North is definitely a must read author for me and I am already looking forward to a new book because I enjoy the stories and the writing style.

This is a chilling, immersive horror that held my attention in a tight grip. The suspense is immediate and suffocating. The mounting dread made it impossible to look away, even when every part of me wanted to. This is a just-one-more-chapter kind of book, even as my stomach was clenched in anticipation of what was lurking around the corner. The introspective protagonist, Dan, is occasionally relatable, but his internal spirals and retreat into reflection sometimes slow the momentum for me. The tension rarely breaks, but there were moments when musings on life, loss, and regret took the place of forward action. These parts were somewhat boring in contrast to the story’s otherwise gripping pace. Dan explores the motivations of every character, but the true source of terror remains frustratingly opaque. I was desperate to understand it better and upset that there was no real explanation (this is me struggling not to reveal anything). It reminded me of All the Colors of the Dark, except raw suspense and fear take precedence over tender human connection. This book would be a terrifying film, too intense for me to watch!

Thanks to NetGalley and Celadon Books for access to this book.

Thank you Celadon Books and NetGalley for the digital ARC.

This is the first book I’ve read by Alex North, and I loved it! Very creepy, slow burn thriller. I really enjoyed how everything revealed.

The Man Made of Smoke has so many pluses such as careful and precise plotting, an interesting story, and sections that are truly intense. The major minus is that there isn’t much of a payoff at the end of the book. I read the ending twice to make sure that I didn’t miss anything, but I still had the same unsatisfactory feeling.

"Nobody sees and nobody cares." Dan Garvie encounters a serial killer committing a crime when he is a child and has to live with the guilt of his inaction. He couldn’t wait to escape the memories that lingered in his hometown. Years later, when his father dies under mysterious circumstances he is forced to return home and face his traumatic past.

I loved that as an adult, Dan is a criminal profiler and his present investigation mirrors his dad's past investigation. After reading The Angel Maker and The Man Made of Smoke, I think with all Alex North books you have to go in with the expectation that the story will take some time to unfold but once it all comes together the payoff is great. I really enjoy slow burn mysteries and North does a phenomenal job packing the story interesting elements like dual timelines, multiple perspectives, and plot twists to keep readers engaged.

Thank you very much Celadon for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Thank you @netgalley for a copy of this amazing book!

I'm here shouting from the rooftops that this book has not gotten even close to the amount of Booksta love and support that it deserves. I'm not sure if it's just gotten buried by the sheer volume of releases that came out in May-June and should have been a fall release? Either way, this thriller kept me hooked and creeped out all the way to the final pages.

I've read all of his books, and this is his best one since The Whisper Man (which, by the way, if you haven't read, it's a must). It's becoming a Netflix film with a banger cast - Robert DeNiro, Adam Scott, and Michael Keaton.

Bottom line: Excellent thriller that will keep you guessing. If you're a mood reader, maybe save it for spooky season reads?

𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 3.5⭐️
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: thriller 📚

𝙼𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜:
This one wasn’t bad but I wasnt really invested

𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
Psychological thriller
Serial killer suspense
Dual timeline mysteries
Childhood tragedy / present day horror
Emotional tension
Themes of grief, trauma and redemption
Haunted hometown
Police procedural elements

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚍:
Criminal psychiatrist aspect was interesting

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛:
The middle dragged on
Somewhat predictable twists
This one just didn’t hook me in

Thank you to NetGalley, Celadon Books, and Alex North for providing early access to the eBook of The Man Made of Smoke.

At this point, I genuinely think Alex North should consider writing a full detective series. This is the third book of his I’ve read—and possibly my favorite. It’s a tough call between this one and The Shadows. Like his previous works, this novel moves at a breakneck pace. Just when you think you have a grip on the plot—bam—another twist flips everything on its head.

The story centers on Dan Garvie and a pivotal choice he made as a child, a choice that not only shaped his own life but rippled into the lives of those around him. Now, years later, that decision is catching up with him—and people are dying because of it. Dan and his loved ones may be next.

This was a fast, gripping read that left me reflecting on how even small choices—or moments of inaction—can echo far into the future. How often do we turn a blind eye to the things we don’t want to see? And how often does that apathy hurt those around us?

Rating: 3/5

Have you ever felt that bone-deep chill—when something in the air shifts and your instincts scream that something is wrong, but you're powerless to act? That lingering guilt, the "what if" that never lets go?

For Daniel Garvie, now a criminal psychologist, that moment came in childhood. A memory he can’t forget: a bathroom, another boy, and a man who radiated something dark and terrifying. Daniel didn’t understand what he was seeing then—but years later, he would realize he had crossed paths with the infamous Pied Piper serial killer… and one of his victims.

Now an adult, Daniel is called back to his remote island home after his estranged father, a retired detective, is presumed dead. The two never had an easy relationship, both quietly yearning for something better between them but never bridging the distance. Daniel returns to a house full of his father’s notes and cold case research—and quickly finds himself entangled in the mystery of his past all over again.

Haunted by trauma and driven by his lifelong obsession with a disturbing novel called *A Man Made of Smoke*, Daniel begins to question everything: what he saw, what he missed, and whether the Pied Piper has returned. As the lines between memory, guilt, and reality blur, the story builds into a chilling psychological thriller that’s as emotionally complex as it is suspenseful.

This isn’t just a twisty crime novel—it’s a meditation on silence, guilt, and the terrible cost of inaction. With razor-sharp pacing and a darkly poetic edge, it leaves you not only breathless but reflective. *Are we really the kind of people who look away when it matters most?* This book lingers long after the final page. A powerful, unsettling, and beautifully written read. Highly recommended.

I love Alex North's thrillers and this one was no exception. This story is very engaging and will hook you from page one. His prose is almost always very emotional, the kind that will make you cry. The emotions stay with you long after you are done with the book. My only nitpick has to be how we'd get a reveal in one chapter and that would be followed up by what led to its discovery which sort of made the middle half of this book drag a fair bit. Otherwise, I really liked this one.

I have never read any books from this author before but know they are popular and bestsellers. For this particular book, The Man Made of Smoke, I felt the author did an incredible job of setting the eerie scene, making your skin rise with goosebumps and - in my case - keeping you up all night finishing this book. There were a lot of twists and turns that keeps you guessing throughout the entire story. The plot was complex and the subject matter was dark, which makes for a perfect chilling thriller in my opinion. I was left wanting more in the end but overall I enjoyed this one! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review and feedback.

A few decades after a serial killer terrorized a small island community by kidnapping and murdering young boys, residents are in danger again as people with any connection to the early "Pied Piper" case are disappearing and showing up dead.
This was pretty interesting. I just didn't find myself super invested in any of the characters.
Thanks to #netgalley and #celadonbooks for this #arc of #themanmadeofsmoke by in exchange for an honest review.

The Man Made of Smoke by Alex North started strong, but didn't hold my interest. I was really into the idea of a criminal profiler returning to his eerie island hometown to face childhood trauma and maybe a killer from the past, but the pacing felt uneven, and some twists didn’t work. Still, the writing is atmospheric and moody, and there are definitely some genuinely creepy moments. Worth a read if you’re into slow-burn thrillers with a touch of the supernatural.

Have you ever had the hairs on the back of your neck rise because you have perceived evil or danger? Have you ever thought that someone was in trouble but you felt you couldn't intervene?

For young Daniel Garvie, now grown to a doctor whose interest is in people who commit heinous crimes, he is haunted by a memory of being in a bathroom with another young boy and an evil man. Daniel knows that there is danger there, but he is a child, and he doesn't know what to do. So he does nothing, but later learns he has had an encounter with the notorious Pied Piper serial killer and one of his kidnapped victims.

Years later, he is called home because his father, John, is presumed dead. Daniel comes to the island where he and his dad once lived. His dad is retired, a former member of the police force who now has spent his days researching cold cases. Daniel and his father have always had a strained relationship but in their minds, they have longed for better.

As Daniel returns home, he is once again embroiled in his nightmare of years past, and the fear that the Pied Piper is back. Daniel, over the years, has been obsessed with the book A Man Made of Smoke, and this obsessions led to not only his profession but also has deepened the chasm that exists between himself and his father, John.

This was a fantastic hold onto your head and heart thriller which packed a huge psychological punch. Extremely well plotted and paced, this book sent the reader down those fearful dark alleys and nightmares of the past.

Are we all people who practice the "Nobody sees, nobody cares" code about us? This was not your average "fright" book but one that had deep meaning and a glimmer of hope and redemption. Definitely highly recommended.

Dan is out on an adventure with his best friend Sarah and his parents when they stop at a rest area. On his way to use the facilities Dan encounters a boy about his age who is ragged, dirty, and afraid. The boy is waiting outside of the stall where a man is whistling a strange tune. While Dan’s first instinct is to help, when the man stops whistling, an incredible fear surges over Dan and he hides in a nearby stall and waits until they leave the restroom. The man is a serial killer called the Pied Piper and the boy his next victim, the knowledge of which haunts Dan every single day.

As an adult, Dan works as a psychologist, frequently with patients with criminal behavior and sometimes he assists the police as a criminal profiler. He receives a call that his father has died under suspicious circumstances. It seems he might have jumped into the sea from a cliff known as The Reach. When Dan returns to the island, he soon learns that his father’s death might not have been as straight-forward as anyone initially thought.

Much like The Angel Maker that I reviewed in 2023, The Man Made of Smoke is a page-turner. The atmosphere is creepy. The writing crisp and well-paced. The characters multi-faceted. And, throughout, Alex North keeps you guessing about who the current killer is despite providing a solid reason as to why. Or is it?

The Man Made of Smoke is a top-rate psychological thriller. The only deficit (and it is minor) for this reader was that we never find out why the Pied Piper did what he did, was the way he was. I do recognize that perhaps this just wasn’t possible in the course of this novel, or maybe it was. I don’t know. I could have been satisfied with a couple of sentences. Regardless, this is a book that will keep you reading and biting your nails.

And, speaking of satisfying–the ending was just that. I can’t tell you why without spoiler-ing so, suffice to say, I was happy with the way that everything turned out, which certainly isn’t always the case in psychological thrillers.

The Man Made of Smoke is definitely for anyone who enjoys reading psychological thrillers and mysteries. It’s certainly one of the best thrillers I’ve read this year.

Many thanks to Celadon Books for providing me with a copy!

I loved the whisper man so so much. So I had high hopes. This took me a longgg time to read and just fell pretty flat.

Alex North is a must read author for me and I was excited to pick up his latest, The Man Made of Smoke. I listened to this novel on audio and it definitely provided a different experience than I feel physically reading it would have.

I enjoyed this novel but I didn't love it. There was quite a bit going on with various timelines and narrators, multiple mysteries, and layers to the (many) investigations. I think I would have been better able to keep track of everything had I been reading the novel rather than listening to it. The narrator was good but the accent was strong and there weren't multiple narrators to play each part (which is always a struggle for me).

I also slightly expected this novel to be horror-adjacent and it wasn't at all. The title was explicitly woven into the novel several times but I still don't get quite how it fit (probably a me a problem!).

North did a tremendous job keeping me guessing and ultimately tying his many storylines and mysteries all together. I appreciated that there wasn't one nice bow tied at the end, yet there were no loose strings or lingering questions.

All in all, I enjoyed this but it's not likely to stick with me. If you've enjoyed North in the past, definitely pick up but maybe grab an ebook or physical copy over the audio.

Thank you to Celadon and MacMillan Audio for the copy.