The Man Made of Smoke
A Novel
-
-
3.8 • 4 Ratings
-
-
- $16.99
Publisher Description
"So well written and neatly plotted that it will appeal even to readers who usually shy away from this sort of thing." ―New York Times
The latest gripping serial killer thriller from the New York Times bestselling author Alex North.
Dan Garvie’s life has been haunted by the crime he witnessed as a child—narrowly escaping an encounter with a notorious serial killer. He has dedicated his life since to becoming a criminal profiler, eager to seek justice for innocent victims. So when his father passes away under suspicious circumstances, Dan revisits his small island community, determined to uncover the truth about his death. Is it possible that the monster he remembers from his childhood nightmares has returned after all these years?
With his signature shock and suspense, Alex North brings us The Man Made of Smoke. In turn emotional, introspective, and utterly terrifying, this is a story of fathers and sons, shadows and secrets, and the fight we all face to escape the trauma of the past.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
North's rollicking latest (after The Angel Maker) centers on a serial killer who targets children. When Daniel Garvie was 12, he narrowly escaped the notorious Pied Piper killer at a highway rest stop before encountering a boy who'd soon become one of the Piper's many victims. Decades later, Daniel has forged a career in criminal psychology and remains obsessed with the case. It also became an object of fascination for Daniel's policeman father, John, who spent much of his retirement trying to crack it. When Daniel learns that John has died by suicide, he returns to the unnamed island where he grew up to follow breadcrumbs his father left behind—both about his own suicide and about a new string of murders that suggest the Piper may have reemerged. As Daniel pieces together John's clues, he learns that all of the recent victims were present at the same rest stop where he fled the killer. North toggles smoothly between Daniel's present-day inquiry, John's sleuthing in the past, and the final days of a young boy named James. Fans of Thomas Harris will be creeped out by North's hair-raising antagonist and gripped by the plot's dual investigations. This is a winner.
