I’ve read Catherine Ryan Howard’s work in the past and so I knew I was in for a cracker of a read with The Nothing Man. I didn’t expect something quite so innovative and cunning as this though.
For this is a book within a book. We begin with a man, a security guard, who we know is The Nothing Man. The blurb tells us this so it’s definitely not a spoiler. He’s reading a book, one he spotted at the supermarket where he works. That book is The Nothing Man! It’s a true crime book about his own crimes, told by Eve Black, the only survivor out of her family who were murdered by The Nothing Man.
Clever right? Eve’s book is actually embedded into the book so that we read exactly what Jim reads. It took me a little time to settle fully into the two different styles of writing (one true crime and factual in style and the other very much fiction) but once I had a handle on that I was away and fully engrossed in the whole thing.
It’s not hard to imagine what a serial killer might feel upon reading about his crimes for the first time in twenty years. Excited, wary, nervous, energised. I was all of these things too. Also scared! This is not a book to read in bed, at night, not if you want to get any sleep anyway.
The Nothing Man is a fast-paced and exhilarating read, with layer upon layer of thrills and spills to delight the reader. I think the author has done something very clever here, something unique. Don’t have nightmares folks!
For this is a book within a book. We begin with a man, a security guard, who we know is The Nothing Man. The blurb tells us this so it’s definitely not a spoiler. He’s reading a book, one he spotted at the supermarket where he works. That book is The Nothing Man! It’s a true crime book about his own crimes, told by Eve Black, the only survivor out of her family who were murdered by The Nothing Man.
Clever right? Eve’s book is actually embedded into the book so that we read exactly what Jim reads. It took me a little time to settle fully into the two different styles of writing (one true crime and factual in style and the other very much fiction) but once I had a handle on that I was away and fully engrossed in the whole thing.
It’s not hard to imagine what a serial killer might feel upon reading about his crimes for the first time in twenty years. Excited, wary, nervous, energised. I was all of these things too. Also scared! This is not a book to read in bed, at night, not if you want to get any sleep anyway.
The Nothing Man is a fast-paced and exhilarating read, with layer upon layer of thrills and spills to delight the reader. I think the author has done something very clever here, something unique. Don’t have nightmares folks!