The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard

 

Eve Black had an encounter at age twelve only a few individuals will ever have.  A serial killer broke into the family home and killed her mother, father and younger sister.  Eve escaped as she had gone to the bathroom when the man broke in.  She actually saw him as she stood at the top of the stairs but he made no move to kill her also.  He left, leaving behind nothing but questions for Eve.  Who was he?  Why did he choose her family to victimize?  Why did he leave her alive and kill the rest of her family?  The police put the crime down to the man known as The Nothing Man who had been attacking other families.

Twenty years on, the man responsible has never been discovered.  Eve grows up to become a writer and her first book is the story of her life.  It is an instant hit and even supermarket security guard Jim Doyle is drawn to the book.  But Doyle has a reason no one else has; he is the Nothing Man and this book could bring the retribution he thought he would never have to face.

Eve's book says she will never stop until she finds out who The Nothing Man is.  Doyle is determined to prevent her success and the only way he knows how to do that is to revert to the killer he was all those years ago.  He plans to kill Eve.  Will he be successful?

Howard was born and raised in Ireland where the novel is set.  She has had lots of different jobs and has written several other highly successful suspense novels.  I listened to this novel and there were both a male and female narrator.  This dual narrator use mirrors the two opposing stories that play against each other in the novel to make it suspenseful.  This book is recommended for thriller readers.