The Nothing Man – Catherine Ryan Howard (Atlantic Books, $32.99)
reviewed by Louise Ward, Wardini Books
In a wholly original twist on the genre, The Nothing Man is a book within a book. We are reading The Nothing Man written by the character Eve Black, survivor of the serial killerwhose nickname was given because police could find out nothing about him. Her book is being read, at the same time we read it, by the killer himself, Jim Doyle.
Eve was 12 years old when The Nothing Man entered her home in the middle of the night and murdered her parents and her little sister, Anna. Eve survived and was whisked away by her grandmother in an attempt to let her grow up away from the media. As an adult, Eve confronts her past in an article and is persuaded to write a book in the hope that by revisiting the crime she might flush out the killer, who has never been caught.
We know the killer is Jim Doyle, a security guard now in his 60s whose days are spent repressing his anger and tolerating his wife, Noreen. Their daughter is at university and, oblivious to her father's alter-ego, requests a copy of Eve Black's book. Jim is thrown into a panic and decides to read the book, which is gaining huge media attention, in order to find out what Eve has uncovered about him.
Eve is deeply traumatised and there are areas of the night in question that she finds impossible to revisit. Her family were not the only victims of The Nothing Man and she is desperate to find links between the others and her own family in her quest for clues. As we read her story, and Jim's narrative as he reacts to it, we are wholly immersed in the now as Eve's investigation brings the case into the present, and then when Jim stalked the streets in darkness, menacing the people of Cork.
The Nothing Man is a fast paced psychological thriller with elements of procedural crime. Being in the minds of the killer and the victim make the read immediate and thoroughly engaging. Highly recommended.
