Catherine Ryan Howard | THE NOTHING MAN

 Plot (via Goodreads):

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 beings 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 ...

Review:

The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard is an exceptionally well-written and cinematic masterpiece that is both captivating and eerie. What I loved about this story was that it was a complex and generously paced thriller that featured both the backstory of a survivor and what her life was like after the attack and the killers life as well. The contrast between how one kind of sunk into normalcy and the other was dragged into a whirlwind was so interesting and realistic with these characters.

I loved the characters in this story! I could easily read a book about Eve and a book about Jim separately and thought all of the characters played such great parts in this one. I love the book-within-a-book plot and this one is probably the best example I can think of as to why. The tension and the portrayal of these characters lives was so great when combined and I loved how the author kept the tension at an all-time high in this type of story without having to deal with red herrings or the typical thriller plot points. This story is cinematic and intricate and has almost an unsettling Hitchcockian feel to it, which is evident in all Catherine Ryan Howard novels.

The ending to this one blew my mind away and just made me sit back and smile thinking "Catherine, you have done it again." The ending was perfect and twisty and dark, which is everything I love - especially when it comes to Catherine Ryan Howard. So, if you want something dark and sinister that oozes tension and will grasp you within the first chapter, introduce yourself to The Nothing Man.

Special thanks to Blackstone Publishing for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 5/5