It has been awhile since I read Alex North's debut novel, [book:The Whisper Man|51540935] and I've missed out on a few of his books since (which I will definitely be picking up). It was an awesome thriller debut. So, when I saw this one, I was excited to have a chance to read another. I was not disappointed!

Description:
Dan Garvie’s life has been haunted by the crime he witnessed as a child—narrowly escaping an encounter with a notorious serial killer. He has dedicated his life since to becoming a criminal profiler, eager to seek justice for innocent victims. So when his father passes away under suspicious circumstances, Dan revisits his small island community, determined to uncover the truth about his death. Is it possible that the monster he remembers from his childhood nightmares has returned after all these years?

With his signature shock and suspense, Alex North brings us The Man Made of Smoke. In turn emotional, introspective, and utterly terrifying, this is a story of fathers and sons, shadows and secrets, and the fight we all face to escape the trauma of the past.

My Thoughts:
This is a complex thriller and it took some time at first getting the background and building the plot. There are multiple timelines and stories (that do come together!). Dan was haunted his entire life by what he witnessed as a child and felt he had let people down. He also felt guilt that he should have done something to help. Little did he know he had been in the presence of a serial killer. When his father disappeared and was presumed dead he had come back to the island where he grew up, a place he had sworn he would not return to. Digging through his father's things he finds old case files which lead him to believe the Pied Piper (the serial killer he saw as a child) is back. This is a scary, dark tale and it gave me chills. There were many twists, turns and surprises along the way. Lots of action in the second half of the story. Anyone who likes a good thriller will enjoy the book.

Thanks to Celadon Books through Netgalley for an advance copy.

Right from the prologue, The Man Made Of Smoke was both scary and intense, the stuff of nightmares. “Nobody sees and Nobody Cares”
This novel includes horror, thriller, mystery and crime fiction, all woven into a unique and complex plot.
The sadistic serial killer component added a dark element to the narrative that kept me engaged, allowing me to finish the book in just a few hours. I found myself both captivated and disturbed by this story.
Dan is a compelling character, known by his “detached and calm” demeanor. Some parts of the story are heartbreakingly sad, adding depth to the narrative. The use of a dual timeline effectively ties the plot together.
Alex North demonstrates once more that he is a remarkable author.
The narrator’s engaging voice brings the text to life. I highly recommend the audio version.
Thank you to the publisher/author for the opportunity to listen to this complimentary advanced copy. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The Man Made of Smoke by Alex North
4/5 🌟

This was a great thriller with lots of twists and I could not see it coming which is a big plus. The story was done very well with lots of building and dark descriptions to really get across this serial murders crimes.

Dr Dan Garvie is a passionate criminal profiler who has a connection to serial murders that allows him to really get into their heads. When he gets a call his father, a police officer, has passed away from suspected suicide he goes back home and starts to come across an old unsolved case from his childhood, the Pied Piper. Picking up where his dad left off he unravels current leads to help find the mysterious murderer.

There are lots of seemingly unconnected missing children, but Dan is able to use his own memory of one of them and piece together the trail left behind. It has many twists and we go back to the memories of his father and growing up to put it all together. A bit confusing at times but good momentum to keep going!

A very well plotted but very slow burn story that mostly held my interest. Though the main character works with prison convicts, watching him maneuver his way through this mystery was tedious and repetitive. Somehow I found his method of summoning into his mind the person he wished to talk to and then carrying on a conversation with them a bit far reaching.

Thanks to NetGalley and Celadon Books/Macmillan for the ARC to read and review.

I was provided both an ARC and ALC of this book via Netgalley and Celadon books and Macmillan Audio respectively. As always all opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this thriller. This follows a few different characters all with ties to a serial killer. Dan's life was touched by the killer when he was a young boy, and while he wasn't a victim a brief run in with the man and one of his victims has left deep scars. Now as as an adult, Dan has devoted his career as a prison therapist to uncovering the motivations of criminals and why they do the things they do. Dan's father John is a retired police officer, who has stumbled upon what appears to be a copy cat of the Pied Piper's crimes from all those years ago. While he didn't interact with the man then, he is determined to find out how the crimes of today are connected and why they seem so familiar to that old case. When he disappears in what looks like a suicide, Dan returns to his hometown to deal with the aftermath. He uncovers clues his father left for him and begins retracing his father's steps in the investigation he was working on. This forces Dan to revisit feelings from his childhood from that fateful day and evaluate his relationship with his father.

I really enjoyed this. The multiple POVs and timelines really worked well to tell the story as this thriller unravels. The author keeps you guessing with complex relationships and an atmospheric read. The pacing starts out slow and ramps up as the book progresses, I found it hard to put down. From Dan's point of view we retrace his dad's investigation and disappearance. From John's point of view we investigate current day crimes but in each case we learn different information. We learn more and more about the motivations of the killer as the story progresses, but not much is given away until the time is right.

Overall I really enjoyed this thriller and feel like I want to read it again to see what I missed the first time through. I mainly listened to the audiobook, and listened to it in about 24 hours. I had to find out what happened and couldn't stop listening

This book didn’t quite hit the mark for me, though it had its moments. The characters were a highlight, brimming with personality, making them feel real and relatable. The eerie atmosphere was another strength, casting a haunting spell that kept me intrigued.

However, the story itself fell flat. The plot felt predictable, robbing it of suspense, and the constant timeline jumps were more confusing than clever, leaving me frustrated at times. While the book had potential, the direction of the narrative didn’t resonate with me. Ultimately, it’s an okay read, but it might not be everyone’s cup of tea. If you enjoy strong characters and a spooky vibe, it could still be worth a try—just don’t expect a gripping or cohesive storyline.

This was an excellent and unique murder mystery thriller. I loved the twists and it kept me wanting to read!

Not surprisingly, I absolutely loved this book! This is the fourth Alex North book I have read and ALL of them have been outstanding. This book definitely delivers a scary story line with an interesting historical backstory, some really creepy characters and also wonderfully eerie settings where the story takes place. The story centers on Dan Garvie, a criminal profiler, who has a seriously scary experience as a child that he has never been able to get past. Rather suddenly, his father passes away under suspicious causes. Dan goes back to where he grew up on a small island with a quirky community to investigate. He definitely encounters way more than he had originally thought in his very twisty, scary, interesting investigation on the island. Bringing back old memories and figuring out crimes in the present day is quite shocking and seriously suspenseful. I could not wait to finish the book to see what was happening in the future and what had already gone down in the past. Definitely a must read for Alex North Fans and all suspense/murder mystery readers out there! Thank you so much for the ARC!!!!

Thank you to NetGalley, Alex North, and Celadon Books for the eARC. This was a creepy, intense, and utterly gripping read! The atmosphere is heavy throughout, filled with twists and turns that kept me hooked from start to finish. Alex North masterfully brings the story to life—his portrayal of the murderer and the victims is so vivid, it feels like you're right there in the middle of it all. A chilling and unforgettable thriller. Highly recommended!

Books open up the doors to other worlds, lives, minds, so we can experience what others do without leaving the comfort of our own space. BUTTTTTTTTTTT some books would give not so great ideas to people with sick minds. Horror and thriller books are not user guides on how to bring horrors of imaginary worlds to real life. Enter "The Man Made of Smoke" (not this book, but the book within this book)

"Nobody sees and nobody cares." On its own these words do not sound so harmful, until someone says them about a crime that no one bothered to stop. A boy was gone missing from a rest stop where he begged people to help him. No one ever remembered who he really was and someone took that personally to make sure people would remember this boy for years to come.

Alex North did not hesitate to hit the reader with well crafted twists and turns. I liked the way he used both father's and son's way to same conclusion without making it sound so repetitive. The back and forth between two timelines created a different type of relationship between father and son (which probably wasn't there before). If you want a good thriller that will keep you on your toes, pick.this.up

Amazing gripping thriller that kept me going on and on until the end.

I couldn't literally put this down, and that ending WOW!

put that into your TBR ASAP

As a young child Dan barely escaped an encounter with a notorious serial killer, and that event has led to his passion: searching for justice for the innocent victims of crime as a criminal profiler. Needless to say, when his father passes away under suspicious circumstances, Dan returns home hoping to uncover the truth about the death of his father, no matter where the facts might lead him.

-The events of the novel are presented through the use of a non-linear timeline and are told through multiple points-of-view, something I tend to greatly enjoy.
-Aside from being a thriller, The Man Made of Smoke touches on some serious themes, such as redemption, father-son relationships and the effects of trauma.
-The characters, although well developed, left me wanting more from them. I’m not sure if I couldn’t connect with them or if I simply didn’t like them, but overall they were a bit disappointing.
-I have read all of Alex North’s novels, so I came into this one expecting a lot, but for me this one didn’t deliver; it is one that I almost forgot about after the last page. It is also the first that I listened to as an audiobook, so part of me wonders if that led to my having a different opinion about this one compared to North’s other novels.
-The audiobook was ok. I have listened to better and I have listened to worse, and this one falls somewhere in the middle. I just couldn’t get into the narration.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for the eARC.

This was very different than the other Alex North books I read and that was both good and bad. I did not really like our main character and struggled to connect with him despite wanting to. The OG killer in this book is a diabolical figure and it was very hard to read about him.

I did not see the twist coming and the book had been dragging in the middle for me until the twist occured.

I did like the multi POV.

3/5.

While 'The Man Made of Smoke' wasn't my favorite book by North, it still had tons of suspense and a feeling of dread. Dan returns home after his father dies of an apparent suicide. He soon discovers things aren't as they seem and may tie into a strange interaction that he had as a boy with a potential serial killer. The mercurial nature that can appear between fathers and sons was also explored. All in all, a well-done thriller. 4 stars.

Right off the top I want to thank Celadon Books for granting my wish, via Netgalley, to read an advance copy of this novel. All opinions expressed are my own. I now believe that wishes do come true!

When Dan Garvie gets a call telling him that his father has passed away under suspicious circumstances, he revisits the small island community where his father lived, determined to uncover the truth about his death. Dan’s life has been haunted by a crime he witnessed as a child—narrowly escaping an encounter with a notorious serial killer.

I really enjoyed this book and never would've guessed how it would all come together at the end. The story is told from the pov's of multiple characters over multiple timelines but It's not too confusing if you pay attention. There are many layers to the story, there's definitely a "creep" factor and it's very suspenseful. Highly recommended!

Publication Date: May 13, 2025

Meh I pick this book up because I am into criminal profiling and the MC is a criminal profiler . But there is only a very small part where Daniel trying to profile the killer

The story don't make much sense. I would have like to know what is the motive behind Pied Piper killing and how did he die. I would have prefer more backstory to that. Instead of this silly thing of a story. We suspect is James who want to take revenge but turn out its his 70 years old dad. How did James died ? We know his dad was driving around and bump into the killng farm and what happened after that ?

Lackluster ending and no closure.

Alex North is one of those authors that can write a book that reads like a scary movie, giving you the chills and making you want to lock your door. His newest novel is an atmospheric thriller that focuses on the Pied Piper killer, who abducts little kids and they just disappeared. The main character, Dan, is the son of a police man who is called back home when his father is thought to have committee suicide. Soon Dan realizes not everything is what it seems and everything maybe tied to Dan and his dad seeing a missing boy at a rest stop years before that was thought to be the last victim of the Pied Piper.
This story was just the right amount of suspense and creepiness that it kept me interested and may have kept the light on a little longer at night.
Thank you to Netgalley and to the publishers for allowing me to read this advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Foreboding and Apprehension

The opening of this disquieting book sets up the reader to expect foreboding. Alex North has written a novel that made me uneasy from the first chapter. Many of us have learned about children slain and tortured when these atrocities are uncovered. They were difficult to imagine, and most of us were able to force them out of our psyche. I think we all fight traumas in our past, whether we are aware of it or not.

This book involves significant trauma to children. The beginning of the novel brought my a sense of terror. Our young main character, Dan Garvie, stops at a rest stop where a young boy who looks at Dan as if begging for help. He hears a man whistling and would later discover that he was a few feet away from a serial killer. The incident haunted him, as it should and he became obsessed. As an adult he became a criminal profiler and his father, a policeman. When his father died, apparently a suicide, Dan returns to his father’s house and attempts to learn more about his father. Guilt and grief are the main themes of this introspective book.

It is a story that will make you anxious but prepared for deeply-rooted traumas and emotions.

My gratitude to Net Galley and Celadon Books for this pre-published book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Another excellent novel by Alex North. Though I did not find this book as eerie and atmospherically creepy as his previous work, it was very well written. There is plenty of chilling parts and heart breaking ones as well. The book has multiple POV’s and time jumps but weaves through it all seamlessly. I did not guess the ending at all which made this a 5 star read for me .

*Spoilers*

Dans life was forever changed by a chance encounter with a little boy who obviously needed help. A child himself, Dan is forever haunted that he was too scared to help him. This shapes him and ultimately changes him and his relationship with his father. The book switches from his and his fathers pov’s beautifully and the ending was unexpected and gratifying.

Alex North's The Man Made of Smoke is an intense, masterfully crafted murder mystery that had me hooked from the very first page. The author weaves a dark, chilling narrative filled with suspense, unexpected twists, and an undercurrent of psychological depth that keeps readers on edge.

The atmosphere is haunting, with vivid descriptions that bring every eerie setting to life. North's ability to create complex characters, each with their own secrets and motivations, adds layers of intrigue. The protagonist’s relentless pursuit of the truth against a backdrop of danger and deception heightens the tension, making it impossible to put the book down.

What stands out is not just the gripping plot but how North explores the human psyche, fear, and the shadowy corners of the mind. The pacing is impeccable, keeping the suspense taut until the final, jaw-dropping revelation.

If you’re a fan of intense, thought-provoking murder mysteries that linger with you long after the last page, The Man Made of Smoke is an absolute must-read. Alex North has outdone himself with this thrilling masterpiece!