Erin (from Long Island, NY) wants to read The Man Made of Smoke

"If you’re looking for a thriller that will leave you smoldering with suspense, Alex North’s The Man Made of Smoke is your next read.





From the first chilling pages, North plunges readers into the dark heart of trauma and terror. Dan Garvie, a criminal profiler shaped by a haunting childhood encounter with a serial killer, returns to his small island hometown after his father's suspicious death. What begins as a reluctant homecoming quickly spirals into a harrowing search for the truth, as it becomes clear that the nightmares Dan thought he left behind might never have ended.

North masterfully weaves multiple points of view and timelines, layering past horrors with present dangers. As Dan peels back the secrets of the island and his own buried guilt, people tied to the decades-old crime begin disappearing, each after confronting something unspeakable. The tension builds relentlessly, packed with shocking twists that kept me turning pages late into the evening.





The Man Made of Smoke is more than just a serial killer thriller. It’s a haunting exploration of guilt, redemption, and the shadows cast by the past. North’s writing is at once introspective and utterly terrifying, capturing the complicated bond between fathers and sons while delivering the kind of pulse-pounding suspense he’s known for.

With razor-sharp pacing, unforgettable characters, and a mystery that burns hotter with every revelation, Alex North has another winner on his hands. If you love crime thrillers that dig deep into the human psyche and aren’t afraid to rub your face in raw fear, The Man Made of Smoke will leave you breathless and eager for more.

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥- Five out of five fires, this book burns with suspense and emotion."

"4.5 ⭐️

“NOBODY SEES and NOBODY CARES��

On the drive home from a visit to the Zoo, the Garvies pulled into a rest stop for refreshments. Young Dan Garvie decided to use the rest room, and in it he ran across a young boy with a dirt streaked face and eyes which seemed to beg for help.

Too young to know what to do-but not too young to recognize danger-he hid. A whistling man, would usher those words- “Nobody Sees, and Nobody Cares�� as he left with the boy.

Not much later, Dan would learn that he had crossed paths with a serial killer who would be dubbed, “The Pied Piper��.

Narrowly escaping the fate, that would befall the boy in the restroom, would haunt Dan Garvie. He became obsessed with a book about the case-“The Man Made of Smoke�� by Terrance O’Hare, and he would grow up to become a criminal Profiler-trying to make sense of the “human monsters�� who inflict that kind of pain on others.

His father John, a Policeman, would spend his retirement years, trying to solve the cold case too.

Dan gets a call summoning him back home, when his father commits “Suicide�� but the circumstances surrounding his death seem suspicious, and it’s soon apparent that despite the many years that have passed-this case still has both men firmly in its grip��.

This was an engaging slow burn mystery with a strong sense of foreboding from the opening pages-the kind of book that has you double checking the locks on your doors and drawing the blinds tightly shut. Nothing disturbs me more than TRUE CRIME or books that read like such, as this does.

Alex North has done it again!

You can pick up your copy on May 13, 2025 or if you are lucky enough to have a LFL (Little Free Library) near you-you might get to borrow a copy TODAY as early readers like myself will be dropping off our copies to these libraries on March 1, 2025 behalf of Celadon books!

Happy Hunting! I just dropped off my copy in Gilbert AZ! Need a hint? The photo of the LFL is in my profile pics! 🍀

Thank You to Celadon books! As always, these are my candid thoughts!"