The Nothing Man

The only member of her family to survive a massacre by the serial killer known as the Nothing Man when she was a child, Eve Black now lives for one thing. She’s written a book about the killer, hoping to jog memories of other survivors, eke out new information that will enable the police to capture the monster. Jin Doyle, a seemingly normal man, is reading Eve’s book, and he’s getting more excited and more angry as he reads, because Jim is the Whisper Man and he doesn’t intend to let Eve walk away this time. Kerr-Collins and Keating mesmerized and terrified me in equal measure, making this frightening story come to life

3.5 stars

The premise of this book was absolutely fascinating to me. The chapters alternate between a book (within the book) where the author's writing about a serial killer who's murdered all of her family and others. The serial killer himself finds the book at a store and starts reading it so the alternating chapters are told by him as he reads this book and reacts to what he's reading.

This book was great at first and great at the end with a bit of a slump in the middle, for me. As the details of the serial killer and the ways in which he killed all of his victims kept coming, I was pretty ready to put the book down but, of course, I kept wanting to see what was going to happen.

And I am glad I stuck with it. There were some twists I didn't see coming and other twists I did see coming. The whole book came together really well in the end.

I read an audio version of this book narrated by Alana Kerr-Collins and John Keating and the two different voices really helped make the story more real.

with gratitude to netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

"The Nothing Man" was an addictive, cat-and-mouse-style psychological suspense thriller following the alternating story of serial killer Jim Doyle, and the one victim that survived, Eve Black. You will not be able to put this down!

The audio narration was great, and the narrators brought life to the characters of Jim and Eve.

I’ve read all of Catherine Ryan Howard’s thrillers and 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐧 is hands down her best yet! And that’s saying a lot because I’ve loved them all... This one is clearly inspired by I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara and the Golden State Killer. However, Howard’s book is set in Ireland and our killer is known as The Nowhere Man. There are 3 POV’s : Eve Black (the author of the true crime book & survivor of The Nowhere Man), 63 year-old Jim Doyle (The Nowhere Man), and the final POV is the book (recounting his crimes, etc). So you get a book within a book & that’s always fun! It’s like Howard took our fantasy of wondering what could’ve happened if McNamara never died & she became entangled in a cat-n-mouse with Joesph DeAngelo...IT’S BRILLIANT 💎 hands down the best 2020 thriller so far...

WOW what a thriller! A retired serial killer... his last victim... a book within a book... Catherine Ryan Howard hit it out of the park with this cleverly crafted story. The audiobook is narrated by Alana Kerr-Collins and John Keating both narrators brought another layer to this compelling story. The book is told from the perspective of both Jim (The serial killer) and Eve (the victim)so the dual narration really enhance the book. And bonus the book takes place in Ireland and the narrators have Irish accents, but they were super easy to understand (not tremendously thick accents but pleasant to the ear for sure).

The book starts off with Jim working at a grocery store as security picking up a book called: The Nothing Man. The book is written by a victim of a serial killer named the Nothing Man by the media. Jim is agitated and rightly so because he is in fact the NOTHING MAN. Love spending time in the mind of crazy and Jim was one crazy SOB. He was also very paranoid that he was going to get caught, convinced Eve knew who he was. Eve was a great character, I loved her strength and her tenacity. Watching this compulsive story unfold was so much fun. It was just the perfect amount of tension, an addictive game of cat and mouse. I was on the edge of my seat and completely enthralled. I don’t often get scared in books, but there is a part of this book involving a bathtub and I was reading in the middle of the night, I seriously jumped. Thoughtful pacing and perfect narration this is one you won’t want to miss!

This book in emojis 📖 🔪 🩸 🏚

*** Big thank you to Blackstone for my gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ***

Thrillers are a more recent like for me. I always thought that I wouldn't enjoy them so I never read them. I loved this book. I did guess the twist before it was revealed, but I really did like it. And isn't that the point? Guessing the twist? I loved how the book went between narrators. It really made the story in my opinion.

The ending dragged a bit, but apart from that, this was an absolutely stellar read. Told like a fictionalization of I'LL BE GONE IN THE DARK, but: a little more personal, a lot more organized, streamlined, set in Ireland, and with the really awesome added perspective of the serial killer reading and reacting to the scenes in real time. Things that really speak for how well Howard handled this story: the book never felt uneven, even as it was told between two perspectives that did not go back and forth chapter by chapter (indeed, sometimes Jim's sections seem almost to interrupt the book between sentences, which felt so authentic).

Personally, I always love books set in Ireland, particularly crime books. It's a place that has a deep and bitter history of oppression, poverty, and silence, not to mention crime (though nothing like the violent serial and spree killings of America - more crimes of desperation and corruption). Setting this story in Ireland gave Howard a lot more freedom with how the press and public would handle a serial killer.

It was true to its true crime inspiration with the level of detail given to the various crimes and their victims, as well as the bits of self-insert by the writer as both victim and investigator. In all, it was a very successful use of the book-within-a-book style and, by utilizing two different narrators (a stiff-sounding female narrator reading the book and a more engaging male narrator telling the killer's side), the audiobook really maintained that illusion well.

If you’re sick of thrillers and all the similar tropes, this is for you. If you hate the books where women are weak, this is for you. If you love true crime, this is for you. Basically if you really love thrillers and want a different type of thriller, THIS IS FOR YOU. ⁣
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The Nothing Man is a fictional thriller, but since it reads like a true crime. It tells two sides: Eve Black’s take as she details the crimes that There Nothing Man committed in her memoir, including the night he killed her family while she was locked in the bathroom and Jim Doyle’s side as he reads her memoir and is afraid of getting caught. So basically this book was like if Joseph James DeAngelo had read I’ll Be Gone in the Dark. ⁣
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I listened to the audio for this one and the narrators did a great job. Specifically the female narrator who read Eve’s memoir. Her voice was similar to that of true crime shows like Snapped. It worked perfectly for this book. ⁣

An exciting new thriller that had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. Catherine Ryan Howard is a new author to me, but I will certainly be checking out more of her work after reading this one. The back and forth narration was well-done, and wasn't confusing like it can sometimes be. A perfect creepy read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a much appreciated audiobook download, in exchange for an honest review.

I received an advanced audiobook edition and egalley for THE NOTHING MAN by Catherine Ryan Howard in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and Netgalley for the chance to read and review! I really enjoyed the author’s 2019 release REWIND, so was very excited to read this one!

Publication Date: 8/18/2020
Rating: 4.5 / 5
THE NOTHING MAN begins with the release of a new true crime book written by Eve Black, the only survivor when her family is killed by a man known as The Nothing Man. Now an adult, Eve is taking a hard look at what happened to her family when she was just twelve years old and to the killer’s other victims. The Nothing Man moniker came about because it was said the police had nothing on him, but Eve is determined to identify him and bring him down.

Jim Doyle is a security guard who spots Eve’s memoir on the shelf and is instantly drawn to it because he is the unknown man at the center of the book. The more he reads of Eve’s take on his story, the more he fears that she’s closing in on him. With the publication of her book, the case is getting new attention and Jim must protect himself at all costs.

This book was so unique and so well written and I was incredibly hooked. The book is written in two POVs. For Eve’s part we are reading her actual published work along with Jim. Interspersed with Eve’s case reports and personal recollections, we get inside Jim’s head to see how he is feeling about what he’s writing, his own memories of the killings so many years before, and his life now. Each perspective uncovers secrets that bring twists that I didn’t see coming.

The author does a great job of distinguishing these two voices. From Eve we get personal accounts, but in a way that makes sense for an edited, published memoir for public consumption. From Jim we follow along with his thought tangents and paranoia as his worry gets more and more intense. The audio did this very well also in using two different narrators for the two different POVs.

I highly recommend you add THE NOTHING MAN to your TBR and I’d encourage you check out the audio as well!

This book was so good! The story was so intense and I’d call it a pageTurner, except I listened to it. 😉
The bad guy was disturbing in so many ways. The way this story was told, back and forth between Jim and Eve, the past and present, kept this story flowing at such a great pace. I really loved the book and would highly recommend it to anyone who loves a good thriller or mystery novel.
With two narrators were the perfect idea for telling this through audio. Jim’s narrator was incredible. He portrayed him in the best way possible and I looked forward to his chapters. I had such a hard time with the female narrator, though. Had she been the sole reader, I wouldn’t have listened. Every sentence had the same inflection and it just did not work for me..
4.5 stars for the book. It was incredible writing,

The Nothing Man presents a unique twist in the mystery genre. The book is written from the perspective of The Nothing Man, a retired serial killer and rapist. He discovers a book written about him authored by a survivor of his crimes. I think the premise of this book lends itself really well to the audiobook format. The book would shift and you’re able to hear the book being read as the killer is reading it. It was creepy in the way that I felt right there with the killer as the story was unfolding. It was interesting hearing the thoughts of the bad guy himself. Normally in a mystery, you don’t learn who the killer is until the end of the book. I wondered if I would get bored already knowing who did it. I did not! I wanted to know if they’d catch him, if he’d commit any more crimes. How would it end?

I did give this four stars, simply because the beginning of the book was a bit slow. It did take me a little ways to get into the story, but once I did, I was hooked! I would recommend you listening/reading this right away!

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for an ARC! I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this one!

4.5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for an advanced audio book in exchange for an honest review.

The Nothing Man is an excellent book inside a book thriller. 18 years ago Eve Black survives a serial killer who killed her mother, father and 7 year old sister. She writes a book about her experiences and her search to find the killer. Jim Doyle, a 63 year old security guard, is very interested in Eve’s book as he is the killer. The book is told in alternating chapters between Eve and Jim.

I highly recommend reading the book which was a fun game of cat and mouse between a survivor and the killer. The only knock on the book is that with the two points of view, and a book inside a book, sometime points were repeated too often. I liked that you knew who the killer was vs. normally trying to figure out the identity of the bad guy before it was revealed.

I enjoyed listening to both Alana Kerr-Collins and John Keating narrate and I liked listening to their Irish accents.

4.5/5 stars

Thank you Blackstone Publishing for the ARC and Netgalley for the ALC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

When this book showed up in my mailbox, I was immediately intrigued by the cover. Between the color and the fact that it looks like both a book with a ripped dust jacket and an overstuffed dossier, I was mesmerized. Yeah, yeah, don’t judge a book by its cover, but I can’t help but be drawn to the good ones.

I was even more excited to see the audio available from Netgalley and requested it immediately. I finally got to finish it this morning.

If you know me at all, you know I love the book-within-a-book trend, so that aspect scored major points from me. It also has an incredibly captivating opening chapter; the reader gets a look inside the mind of a serial killer that finds a book about himself while at work. There’s no sampling the first chapter with this one. You’ll need to keep reading with that kind of intro.

But I will admit, when I got a little ways into the book-within-a-book portion, I felt like I was reading I’ll Be Gone in the Dark all over again. I was concerned there wasn’t going to be anything original about it. I realized my apprehension was was unwarranted when I found that I was completely absorbed by the insight into the killer’s thoughts and reactions to a book written about him and his crimes. Suddenly you can imagine Joseph James DeAngelo reading I’ll Be Gone in the Dark and wondering if he had the same thoughts before his arrest. This was such a fun and original approach to, what I like to call, “true crime fiction.” (Did I make that up?)

And if all of these other aspects I love weren’t enough, there was also an extremely unexpected twist at the end. It was just the icing on the cake.

It’s difficult to comment on the audio itself, as the quality didn’t seem to be as smooth as I’ve come to expect. It almost felt a bit grainy, or like the voices had a mechanical quality to them. I wondered if it was because it was an advance audio copy and maybe it was still being touched up. It was pointed out to me that this seems to be due to current limitations of the Netgalley app when listening at high speeds (and I almost always listen at 2x). I took a (very) quick listen at 1x and it no longer had the tinny sound to it, but I went back and listened to a random section after I had finished so I won’t comment on the narrators this time.

From my blog: Always With a Book:

This is the first book I've read by Catherine Ryan Howard but it certainly will not be the last. And thanks to Netgalley offering audiobooks, I jumped when I saw that this one was available as an audiobook galley.

I absolutely loved this book. It is so cleverly crafted and kept me hooked from start to finish. There were so many little twists here and there that I wasn't expecting and the tension really builds all the way through so that you are kept on the edge of your seat. There are some really chilling parts to this book, especially the parts where we find out about all the victims of the serial killer, but I always think being in mind of a serial killer can be haunting in it's own way.

I am obsessed with the whole book-within-a-book format and I loved how it was done here. Reading parts of the chapters along with the killer was just sheer brilliance, getting his reaction as he goes through the book. But even having Eve's point of view as she works on the book gives such insight to what she went through and why she ultimately wrote the book in the first place.

This was one of the best cat and mouse games I've ever read. This book isn't about finding out who the killer is - we know that right from the start. Rather, it is about the killer getting caught. And being in the mindset of the killer is so haunting and chilling. I've read other books where we are privy to a killer's thoughts and stream of consciousness, but never have I been as freaked out as I was while reading this book. It was pure brilliance.

I loved the way this book came together. It totally gets under your skin, but I wouldn't have it any other way. It's definitely an addictive, binge-worthy thriller that I won't be forgetting anytime soon.


Audio thoughts: I loved this audiobook. I thought the narrators, Alana Kerr Collins and John Keating did a fantastic job with this audio, bringing their individual parts to life. Both narrators have Irish accents and with the book taking place in Ireland, the accents seemed natural. They really brought this book to life, and their pacing and intonations were spot on. I felt they infused just the right amount of tension and suspense into their voices as needed and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this audiobook.

The Nothing Man. What a well done and well-narrated story from Catherine Ryan Howard. It reminded me true crime podcasts I love and Michelle MacNamara's "I'll Be Gone in the Dark." And while we always know the "whodunit" aspect of the mystery behind the Nothing Man, The author puts a spin on the story and it'll still surprise you in the end!

For two years, a serial rapist/killer preyed on the residents of Cork, Ireland, but after his most brutal killing, which took the life of Eve Black's family the violence suddenly comes to a halt. The Nothing Man is an excellent, unique and beautifully written thriller, told in the format of a book within a book from perspective of two characters, Jim Doyle, the Killer, and Eve Black one of his surviving victims. Yet despite the fact that the reader know all of the actors involved in these heinous crimes, one will soon realize it is not the who but the why that keeps them riveted. What's scarier than the portrait of a serial killer, the portrait of both his faces, that of a mad man and that of a family man. Reading Eve's true crime memoir through the eyes of a killer and being privvy to his inner thoughts was absolutely terrifying. The audiobook was brought the characters of Eve and Jim life by the use of two fantastic Irish narrators Alana Kerr-Collins and John Keating, which made the story more authentic.
Now there are parts of the book that can read a bit like a police procedural so how much one enjoys those parts will depend on one's interest in the forensic of a crime. In other parts, the book reads like a memoir so how much those sections are enjoyed will depend on ones interest in the examination of psychological trauma. I found myself vested in Eve's story, so I enjoyed all aspects of its unfolding, whether it was the examination of previous evidence and interviews with other people involved, particularly detective Ed Healy as well as the exploration of Eve's own psyche. The Nothing Man is a fantastic thriller where astonishing revelations constantly unfolds up until the book's gratifying conclusion.

The Nothing Man is the story of Eve Black, whose family was attacked and murdered one night by a man who will go on to be known as The Nothing Man, a rapist and killer. Twenty years later, Eve writes a book about this killer,

I reviewed the audiobook version. This audiobook has two narrators. Alana Kerr-Collins is the voice of Eve and John Keating is the voice of The Nothing Man.. Both do a fantastic job. Kerr-Collins has a suspenseful note to her voice that keeps you on the edge of your seat and Keating’s eerie Nothing Man is spellbinding.

Catherine Ryan Howard has written a thriller that is full of suspense and will keep you guessing. The ending is surprising and well thought out.

Fans of crime novels will enjoy this one.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from Blackstone Publishing via Netgalley My review is voluntary.

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.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

WOAH.

I honestly didn't think I would love this one as much as I did!

THE NOTHING MAN was my first NetGalley audio so thank you to them for this great listen!

Originally, I planned to listen to this while doing other thing (laundry, washing dishes, etc.), but once it got going I couldn't stop! I found myself being wrapped up in the story and forgetting that I had other things to do.

Plot: A survivor of a serial rapist and murderer writes a memoir and he reads it with growing anxiety.

Characters: I didn't want to throttle anyone in this book! (WHAT?!) Well apart from Jim, duh. If I had to complain, the wife Noreen did kinda irk me at the end. Katie I felt SO SORRY for! And without spoiling, I love the end for Eve.

Setting: Ever since After He Died I've been kinda wary of Irish narrators. It's not that I don't like them, I don't know why, but the accents and the vernacular grate on me. This one still had weird (to me) phrases, but it wasn't infuriating!

Conflict: The whole book is a conflict. It seriously jumps right in to the problem. 'Reading' THE NOTHING MAN along with the actual Nothing Man is fascinating! Of course hearing what he did is terrifying, but also hearing what he was thinking during those attacks is so interesting.

Resolution: While I do think everyone pretty much got what they deserved, I WANTED MORE.

Now I'm going out to get the physical copy-on August 20th.

I have no words to express how perfect this book was! It felt like it was written just for me, I loved it that much! I also loved the narrators of the audiobook, so it was an amazing experience.
I love how it is a book in a book, I loved the characters and I loved how the author was able to make the format work so well.
I will need to buy a physical copy of this book for my favorites shelf!

The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard is one of the best thrillers I've read this year. It is a captivating game of cat and mouse between a serial killer who has been dormant for 20 years and the daughter, now grown up, who managed to escape the brutal fate of her family who fell victim to his crimes.

As an adult, Eve Black is a writer, and she doesn't want to write about the tragedy of her youth, but when she's convinced that writing about her story may help catch a killer she writes The Nothing Man. This taunts Jim Doyle, who had settled into family life and sets him on a path to kill Eve before she can expose him.

I had the chance to listen to this as an audiobook, which enhanced the experience with Alana Kerr Collins and John Keating as narrators. Run time is 9 hours and 57 minutes.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and Blackstone Publishing for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

Sometimes when I’m deciding which book to read next I go to Goodreads and check what my friends have thought about a book. I don’t read much of the reviews because I want to go in mostly blind but I look at star ratings and the first sentence or two just to get a sense. Here’s what I found when I looked up The Nothing Man:

“5+ outstanding stars!” - Lindsay - Traveling Sisters Book Reviews
“WOW what a thriller!” - Berit
“This book completely caught me off guard in the best way.” - Dennis
“Honestly, THIS is what a thriller should be!” - Chelsea

That was certainly enough testimony to get me excited to pick up this book next and I’m so glad I did!! The book starts with Jim, a security guard at a grocery store, seeing a customer with a new book called The Nothing Man.

The book is written by Eve who was the only survivor twenty years ago when her family was murdered by the serial killer known as The Nothing Man. He earned that name because the police had nothing on him. She’s written this book in an attempt to find him. Why is Jim so thrown off to see the book? Because he was The Nothing Man. Does Eve know? Is there a chance they are on to him?

Told in alternating perspectives between Jim and Eve (through her book) this was a great twist on the typical thriller. We know who the killer is right from the start - but will he get caught?

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook and audiobook copies to review.

Eve Black was the only member of her family to survive a serial killer when she was 12. Now years later she is writing a book hoping to bring “The Nothing Man”, the serial killer to justice. It is a well-written, a book within a book. Some chapters are from Eve’s book some from the Nothing Man himself. The book doesn’t keep it a secret that Eve knows who the Nothing Man is, it is more about the cat and mouse game as she and a police detective work to bring the Nothing Man back into action after so many years of silence. The audio book narrated by Alana Kerr Collins and John Keating, do an excellent job of bringing this Irish story to life. The Irish accents are there, but not broad enough to make it difficult to understand. The voices bring tension and suspense to the forefront.

My Highly Caffeinated Thought: An addictively dark and multifaceted serial killer novel that will grab you from page one.

If I am being honest, THE NOTHING MAN has it all. Howard has given us a story told by the victim and the serial killer with equal weight. However, for me, it was the book within the book that brought it to the next level. The melding together of the narrators and the Eve Black’s true-crime memoir is such perfection. It allows the story to flow all the while adding to the suspense and emotion.

What I loved about this book was that it is a compulsive read with a smartly constructed story. The way the author builds the tension through her characters is so well done. There is such depth to Eve Black and Jim Doyle. Each of the characters come alive on the page. Jim Doyle’s reactions to Eve’s book bring him back to who he was when he killed her family. The way he obsesses over each word is brilliant and also adds to the creepy factor he brings to the book.

THE NOTHING MAN was hands down a fresh, compelling, and positively thrilling crime novel. I binge read this book in one day. The author expertly weaves together the best of what a true-crime novel can be with the disturbing attributes of a flawless thriller. Brilliantly dark and oh so good.

The audiobook was excellent. The narrators were initially hard to understand as I hadn't expected the accents, but once I got used to it, they just filled the story even more with their voices. Great narration of an amazing thriller/mystery book. This is the kind of book I've been wanting to read (or listen to in this case) for a long time.

There is an essay in Lindy West’s The Witches Are Coming (highly recommend) titled Ted Bundy Was Not Charming–Are You High? and this novel feels like the fictional equivalent to that. Which is to say mediocre white men who murder enough people to qualify as serial killers get grossly obsessed about and elevated as being more than mediocre awful white men by our problematic society’s gross obsession with real life serial killers (and mediocre white men). Howard takes aim at this with this cat-and-mouse thriller that starts with a hell of a hook.

Eve Black was a little girl when she survived the night her family was murdered by a serial killer. No one knows this or who she is. Until now. She’s written a book, which we read, along with the serial killer who is just now discovering who Eve is and that she’s decided to come find him…

Alternating between reading Eve’s chapters in her book and the now “retired” serial killer’s reading of the book–including him going to her book signing!–we get front row seats to a cat-and-mouse game where Eve is determined to figure out his identity, and he’ll stop at nothing to keep that from happening… If you like Irish and dual narrators go with the audiobook!
(TW rape/ domestic abuse/ mentions suicide, detail)

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.

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.

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