I have never read a book with a premise quite like this one. The text switches between two main perspectives. The first is of Jim Doyle, an ordinary security guard with a dark secret – he led a double life for years as serial killer ‘The Nothing Man’. The second comes in the shape of a book-within-a-book, written by the sole survivor of Jim’s final attack – Eve Black. Eve claims to be writing the book to catch the killer and we read along with Jim as he determines just how much she knows…
The book-within-a-book felt very genuine to me. ‘Eve’s’ writing had its own voice and it made for a believable ‘true’ crime read. It also keeps you on your toes, as you never know how reliable a narrator Eve is. Initially, I was concerned that the book would lack suspense seeing as we know the identity of the Nothing Man from the start, but this wasn’t an issue. The game of cat and mouse between Eve and Jim is gripping, and there are a surprising number of twists in the final section.
I also enjoyed Catherine Ryan Howard’s take on the serial killer character in general – she discusses the way our society and media glamorise the people committing these awful crimes, often at the expense of their victims.
The book-within-a-book felt very genuine to me. ‘Eve’s’ writing had its own voice and it made for a believable ‘true’ crime read. It also keeps you on your toes, as you never know how reliable a narrator Eve is. Initially, I was concerned that the book would lack suspense seeing as we know the identity of the Nothing Man from the start, but this wasn’t an issue. The game of cat and mouse between Eve and Jim is gripping, and there are a surprising number of twists in the final section.
I also enjoyed Catherine Ryan Howard’s take on the serial killer character in general – she discusses the way our society and media glamorise the people committing these awful crimes, often at the expense of their victims.