The Nothing Man

by Catherine Ryan Howard

Overview

“Gripping, beautifully written, and genuinely chilling, The Nothing Man had me from page one. Simply stellar.”—Meg Gardiner, Edgar Award–winning author of The Dark Corners of the Night

I was the girl who survived the Nothing Man. Now I am the woman who is going to catch him …

At the age of twelve, Eve Black was the only member of her family to survive an encounter with serial attacker the Nothing Man. Now an adult, she is obsessed with identifying the man who destroyed her life.

Supermarket security guard Jim Doyle has just started reading The Nothing Man—the true-crime memoir Eve has written about her efforts to track down her family’s killer. As he turns each page, his rage grows. Because Jim’s not just interested in reading about the Nothing Man. He is the Nothing Man.

Jim soon begins to realize how dangerously close Eve is getting to the truth. He knows she won’t give up until she finds him. He has no choice but to stop her first …

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781665087971
Publisher:	Blackstone Publishing
Publication date:	08/03/2021
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	4.10(w) x 7.40(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Catherine Ryan Howard is an internationally bestselling crime writer from Cork, Ireland. Her novel 56 Days was named a best thriller of 2021 by the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Irish Times; was her second Irish number one bestseller; and won Crime Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards. Her previous work has been shortlisted for the Edgar Award for Best Novel and the CWA’s John Creasey New Blood and Ian Fleming Steel Daggers, and she’s been shortlisted for the Irish Crime Novel of the Year multiple times. Her work has been published in nineteen languages, and a number of her novels have been optioned for screen. She lives in Dublin.

Editorial Reviews

Expertly crafted—storytelling at its best.”

bestselling author of The Missing Ones Patricia Gibney

Whip-smart, thrilling, and utterly compelling.”

bestselling author of Lying in Wait Liz Nugent

It might be cliché to say that a strong storytelling tradition runs in Irish genes, but…Cork native and current Dubliner Catherine Ryan Howard would seem to be indicative of this…This juxtaposition of predator and prey—and the underlying question of just who is which—renders the stakes breathtakingly high. It’s a clever, meta construct—and one the author fully, and frankly, embraces…The Nothing Man is clearly influenced by Michelle McNamara’s I’ll Be Gone In The Dark…but don’t be mistaken: it’s still very much a work of fiction, albeit one that’s grounded in the realities of crime, recidivism, and victimization. The Nothing Man himself may be quite ordinary, but Catherine Ryan Howard’s book-within-a-book is anything but.”

Strand Magazine

This is probably one of the best books I ever read…I absolutely loved the book within a book format…The author did a fantastic job, and if you are a fan of Meg Gardiner, which I am, you will love this book.”

Seattle Book Review

Utterly compelling, completely original, The Nothing Man will be the standout novel for 2020. This is a book you won’t forget as Catherine Ryan Howard brings crime writing to a new level.”

bestselling author of Little Bones Sam Blake

“The Nothing Man is the most original and chilling thriller I’ve read in a long time, and is perfect for fans of Serial and The Fall.”

bestselling author of The House Guest Mark Edwards

[A] compulsive thriller…Those familiar with Michelle McNamara’s I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, which inspired Howard, may spot similarities between the Nothing Man and the real-life Golden State Killer, but Howard (nominated for an Edgar for The Liar’s Girl) takes her story in other directions. The Nothing Man is an ingenious nesting doll, revealing surprises in alternating chapters from Eve’s book and those from the killer’s point of view as he reads said book. Howard can paint moving depictions of grief and survivor’s guilt while terrifying readers and making them triple-check the locks on their doors. This isn’t nothing; it’s the author’s best work yet.”

Shelf Awareness (starred review)

The queen of high-concept crime fiction strikes again: this is the first novel I’ve read that really captures the chills and twists of the true crime that obsesses us. Catherine Ryan Howard has always been thrillingly good at what she does, but she’s just getting better and better with every book.”

author of the Maeve Kerrigan novels Jane Casey

A book to steal your waking hours and haunt your sleeping ones. Chilling and brilliant.”

award-winning author of In a Cottage in a Wood Cass Green

I was truly blown away and couldn’t read it fast enough. I can’t shower it with enough praise. Terrifying, brilliantly plotted, and extremely satisfying.”

bestselling author of With Our Blessing Jo Spain

Gripping, beautifully written, and genuinely chilling, The Nothing Man had me from page one. Simply stellar.”

Edgar Award–winning author of The Dark Corne Meg Gardiner

★ 08/10/2020

Between 2000 and 2001 in County Cork, Ireland, the Nothing Man, the villain of this fiendishly clever psychological thriller from Edgar finalist Howard (The Liar’s Girl), raped, tortured, and—toward the end of his spree—killed his victims. After the Nothing Man killed 12-year-old Eve Black’s parents and seven-year-old sister, the murders stopped. Now, 18 years later, Eve has published a memoir, in which she writes: “I was the girl who survived the Nothing Man. Now I am the woman who is going to catch him.” Jim , a security guard in his 50s, spots Eve’s book at the shopping mall where he works. After opening a copy (“The Nothing Man. His other name. The one the newspapers had given him. The one no one knew belonged to him”), Jim begins to read. Chapters alternate between passages from Eve’s book and Jim’s reaction to them. The stakes rise with the publication of a revised, second edition of the memoir, which contains new revelations. Howard uses serial killer tropes in original and surprising ways in this tour de force. Agent: Jane Gregory, David Higham Assoc. (U.K.). (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly