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desihorcrux 's review for:
The Nothing Man
by Catherine Ryan Howard
This had me at the ‘book within a book’ format. Entirely captivating and perfectly paced, The Nothing Man is exactly what I needed to get over my reading slump.
Let me talk about the one thing I loved most in this book - Structure. It’s a very innovative way to present a story that could’ve easily ended up being cliche and boring if had been told linearly. We see two POVs within this book - One is of the nothing man himself (Jim) and the other is of Eve (one of the survivors from 20 years ago) told via a book that Jim is reading. We get a chapter of what happened from Eve’s perspective and we get another one of Jim recalling the same event from his perspective. It was interesting to see the difference and how the author dealt with plot progression along the way with this format. Not once did it get boring or repetitive.
Let me warn you that if you are in for a whodunnit, this one is probably not for you. They tell us exactly who the perpetrator is in the very first chapter of this book. So the rest of the book is pretty much a recollection of what happened in the past and how the reader responds to it in the present. A tricky writing technique where the plot of the book is used to further the plot of the book. This is also much slower than your usual crime thriller books, but not at the cost of your investment in it. There are detailed descriptions of each murder and the victims’ backstories before the same. The author points out through one of the characters that our interest in serial killers doesn’t extend to their victims. We could all name a lot of serial killers, but not one of their victims. This is of course unfair, but also gives the criminals exactly what they seek - attention and fear usually mistaken for admiration. This toxic culture we have associated with violent criminals has always fascinated me and I’m glad this book addressed that.
The ending was spectacular and was definitely worth sitting through this one.
Let me talk about the one thing I loved most in this book - Structure. It’s a very innovative way to present a story that could’ve easily ended up being cliche and boring if had been told linearly. We see two POVs within this book - One is of the nothing man himself (Jim) and the other is of Eve (one of the survivors from 20 years ago) told via a book that Jim is reading. We get a chapter of what happened from Eve’s perspective and we get another one of Jim recalling the same event from his perspective. It was interesting to see the difference and how the author dealt with plot progression along the way with this format. Not once did it get boring or repetitive.
Let me warn you that if you are in for a whodunnit, this one is probably not for you. They tell us exactly who the perpetrator is in the very first chapter of this book. So the rest of the book is pretty much a recollection of what happened in the past and how the reader responds to it in the present. A tricky writing technique where the plot of the book is used to further the plot of the book. This is also much slower than your usual crime thriller books, but not at the cost of your investment in it. There are detailed descriptions of each murder and the victims’ backstories before the same. The author points out through one of the characters that our interest in serial killers doesn’t extend to their victims. We could all name a lot of serial killers, but not one of their victims. This is of course unfair, but also gives the criminals exactly what they seek - attention and fear usually mistaken for admiration. This toxic culture we have associated with violent criminals has always fascinated me and I’m glad this book addressed that.
The ending was spectacular and was definitely worth sitting through this one.