This is one scary book to read. I felt a distinct sense of discomfort from the beginning.

Lots of empathy for Dan and John Garvie in the efforts to cope with an earlier traumatic experience when Dan was much younger.

The plot evolved steadily as the main characters evoked their very own but distinctive coping mechanisms.

The other emotion I felt was a deep sense of sadness. No-one escaped unscathed from the many threads in the plot.

The author has created an intense, provocative novel that insisted I turn the pages faster to find out who was behind everything and why.

Alex North is an excellent writer and manages to walk that knife edge of crime fiction and supernatural thriller with ease. He’s particularly brilliant when it comes to ramping up tension and using your imagination to ‘fill in the blanks’.

Ultimately though, with THE MAN MADE OF SMOKE, I wanted to love this book more than I actually did. True to Norths style the beginning of the book is absolutely terrifying. But as the book progresses I felt like the momentum and fear factor kind of cooled off and went into a slow burn.

I found the internal dialogue that David lent into throughout the book allowed for a lot more leaps of faith to become truths. Most of his investigation’ was marred by his own interpretation and analysis as opposed to pure factual evidence.

Overall I enjoyed the book but not as much as his others.

Thanks to NetGalley for my advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

A child in life threatening danger. Do you help? Can you help? As a child himself, Dan Garvie makes his decision and runs. A decision that shapes his future and allows a serial killer to continue his harrowing work. Nobody sees, nobody cares.

The dark imprint left on Dan leads him to become a criminal psychiatrist as an adult. Moving on from that fateful day as best he can, away from his childhood home, Dan finally feels he has left his past behind him - until his Dad, John disappears.

Returning home, Dan pieces together his Dads last known movements. Links to a dead body, links to a missing boy, links to that dark terrifying day. Facing his childhood horrors, can Dan stay strong enough to find his Dad and finally solve the mystery of the past?

My first Alex North read and what a cracker of a book this was ! Jaw dropping beginning followed by a slow burn, then everything comes together. I found myself with my hand over my mouth at times, holding my breath as the story progressed. Dan’s method to enable him to carry on in his search was powerful and brilliantly written. The strength of a bond between child and parent, despite a turbulent past is abundantly clear.

Fantastic writing taking you to a dark place where humans do the unthinkable. I wish the slow burn wasn’t there after such a fast start but it was well worth it. If you like a thriller, I highly recommend this one. Released 8th May 2025, available to pre-order. Thanks to NetGalley and Michael Joseph Penguin Random House UK for the ARC.

This book wasn’t bad but it didn’t blow me away. It has a dark, dreary atmosphere and none of the characters are likeable.

The story is quite dark and touches on a number of societal issues, but none are really explored in any depth. There are quite a lot of convenient coincidences throughout the book and about half way through the story, the main character seems to make an assumption that we, as readers, don’t understand how he reached - I found it odd.

This was an enjoyable read, but the story just felt so totally far fetched and grasping at straws.

Absolutely Chilling!
A fantastic plot, brilliantly written with fantastic characters, thrilling yet devastating and without doubt, a web of despair and lifelong horror that un weaves with each new page.
Five Stars from me.

This book was a mixture of thriller and horror and i dont usually read horrors, but i'm so glad i did. What a rollercoaster of emotions!!
The story kicks off nicely enough with a young boy named Dan, his best friend ( a girl he is starting to have feelings for) and his mum and dad on a holiday. They pull in at a service station where the boy encounters another young boy of similar age in the toilets, bedraggled and filthy with a terrified look on his face, his eyes pleading for help. He is waiting outside a toilet and it becomes clear that whoever is inside is the reason the young boy is terrified. Dan hears a haunting whistling coming from the toilet and as the lock clicks back and the door opens, Dan rushes inside his cubicle, lifts his feet off the ground and sits terrified, shaking, unable to help the poor boy escape the clutches of the man he later learns is the "Pied Piper", who kidnapped and murdered young boys. The young boy leaves behind a photograph that Dan picks up after he's left, and looks at it. After his brain registers what he is seeing he lets out a haunting scream.......................and is never the same again.
the story follows years later as Dan and his father, John, a retired policeman, navigate life after the day that changed their lives. Dan has moved away and John now lives alone on the Island since his wife disappeared, looking through cold cases and walking in the Woods to pass the time. One day John stumbles upon the remains of a woman burned to death and dumped in the woods. Pretty soon more bodies start appearing and then John disappears and Dan is called back to the Island he'd hoped never to return to. As the bodies pile up, it becomes clear that whoever is responsible is sending a message..... you will pay for doing nothing to help that day at the service station. And Dan is next on the list..
Absolutely brilliant read. Haunting, terrifying but with an emotional touch. Loved it, want rewind time so i can go back and read it again for the first time. An absolute must read!!!!!!!!!

This is an excellent read.

Tense and atmospheric, genuinely addictive and often quite creepy, it's an easy one sitting read if you have the time.

It is a serial killer thriller but with tons of heart, some really engaging characters and an isolated feel that adds so much.

Overall excellent. High recommend.

Free courtesy of Netgalley. I have never read a book by Alex North, but I really enjoyed it. I like to read before bed, on my kindle, with the lights off and this wasn't a good idea as any little noise scared me as the book puts you on edge.

The Garvey's stopped for a break at the services on their way home from the Zoo. When Dan the teenager of the family nips to the toilet, he encounters a child, just stood outside a cubicle waiting for someone who was inside whistling but he felt that the child was in danger. He wanted to help the young boy but the whistling stopped and he panicked and hid in a cubicle. The child follows the man out of the cubicle but leaves Dan a photo as he exits. What Dan comes to realise is that he had encountered the serial killer known as the pied piper.

Years later Dan is now a psychologist who works within the prison system. He gets a phone call to say that his dad has committed suicide but they cannot find the body yet. Dan rushes back to the island where his dad lives but all is not as it seems, is the disappearance linked to the pied piper, who was found dead years earlier.

The book looks at the difficult relationship between Dan and his father, after his experience with the pied piper and how the killings have affected people who were involved in the case.

I would recommend this book, the storytelling was amazing

This was a great read! I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It centres around Daniel who, as a child, witnesses a scared looking boy with what turns out to be a serial killer. Dan as an adult returns to his hometown when his father dies and revisits his encounter to figure out what happened to his father. This delves deep into father and son relationships, has creepy, dark elements and was so well written. A really gripping book, quite a slow burn but I highly recommend it. I cannot wait to read ‘The Whisper Man’, ‘The Angel Maker’ and ‘The Shadows’ by this author too!

This psychological thriller from Alex North, which finds a psychiatrist investigating the disappearance of his own father, takes place along several time lines, as we discover that the events of the past have had a dreadful impact on the present. When Dan Garvie was a child, he was one of the few eyewitnesses to see The Man Made of Smoke - a prolific killer whose career ended suddenly and violently.

But now Dan's dad thinks that the killer, or someone who connected to him, may be back. And he's disappeared in the middle of his investigations. As Dan digs deeper into what his dad discovered, he uncovers the unintended consequences of the past, and is forced to reckon with his own feelings of guilt over what he failed to do when he was a child....

North excels at psychological exploration in this unnerving and page-turning novel that explores guilt, grief and the things that can drive us to unexpected and violent impulses despite our best intentions. Despite its serial killer thriller trappings, it's a quieter, more meditative book than some -- although there is violence, it eschews some of the blood-n-fury approaches others might take -- and somehow all the more effective for it, with certain scenes linger like dark smoke at the back of our minds. Absolutely excellent, and one that will remain in reader's minds long after they've turned that final page.

Woah! This book is fantastic. I raced through it and it really got into my head. To the point that when I put it down at 2am to go to the toilet I jumped at my own shadow! Just brilliant.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Such a page turner. I really enjoyed the slowly unravelling story around Daniel and his encounter at a service station as a child.
His father goes missing,presumed dead and Daniel returns to the island where he grew up, to wait for bad news.
Things don't go to plan and his past comes back to haunt him.
I really did think this was an excellent story but it was quite tricky to follow at times, with alot of different people, timelines etc. 4 stars though for a highly recommended read.

I just finished Man Made of Smoke by Alex North, and wow — it gave me chills in all the best ways. From the start, I was hooked by the eerie atmosphere and the slow unravelling of Daniel’s past. North has an incredible way of making you question what’s real and what’s just lingering trauma, and it kept me guessing until the end. If you love psychological thrillers, this one’s definitely worth a read.

Wow wow wow this was a fantastic book that I couldn't put down.

When Dan has an encounter in a service ststion as a child it takes over his entire life.

Years later as a criminal psychiatrist, that night rears its head again when his father and other go missing.

Can he find out what happened all those years ago?

4 stars

Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for this arc.

This started very strong then ultimately was a slow burn for sure until about the last 30% but it’s written well, I never had the ”moment” where everything comes together and your jaw is on the floor you always want with a thriller, but the twists were still enjoyable and the characters are very well written. Would definitely recommend and read more books from the author.

This latest offering by Alex North is just brilliant. It is atmospheric and full of suspense. Genuinely scary - I actually jumped once. The tension builds throughout and I was gripped from the first page.
The story begins years in the past with the abduction of a young boy and is told over several timelines and from several points of view.
Dan is a criminal psychiatrist who years previously as a young boy had an encounter with a serial killer known as the Pied Piper. The events of that day and Dans reactions continue to haunt him into his adult life and when his father disappears and he is drawn back to this childhood home, memories of that long ago day return.
The author delivers a master class in fear, where events become ever more terrifying. The reader is lead along a path to the point where you are sure you have a handle on the outcome - only to have the story take a completely different turn. I defy you not to be fully engaged and on the edge of your seat whilst reading.
Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC copy in exchange for an unbiased review.

A riveting and unpredictable read, this book introduces a slightly supernatural element into the psychological thriller genre, but done in a way that makes it believable. Thoroughly enjoyable- my first book by this author but I will look for others. Recommended.

The Man Made of Smoke by Alex North is a chilling and psychological book that explores guilt, redemption, and the complexities of human behaviour. The premise, focusing on a man who witnessed a serial killer as a teenager and now, years later, is faced with the disappearance of his father, creates a suspenseful backdrop.

Dan's journey, both to find answers about his father’s disappearance and to finally face his fears about the mysterious killer from his past, is compelling. The tension between his past and present kept me engaged as he unravelled a dark and haunting mystery.

I particularly appreciated the subtle yet significant relationship between Dan and his father. While it’s not the primary focus of the book, the emotional connection between them guides Dan’s journey and adds depth to the plot. It was fascinating to see how the unresolved guilt from the past influenced Dan's actions.

This book delves into the psychology of fear and guilt, and I enjoyed how the suspense built steadily throughout. The mystery of the man-made smoke is gripping, and the unexpected twists keep me on the edge of my seat. Highly recommend it for fans of psychological thrillers with a deep emotional core.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

I absolutely loved this book. Having read the whisper man I knew this would be a creepy, brilliant read and I was not disappointed at all. I love all that almost gothic horror mixed with crime. Absolutely epic!!!TheManMadeofSmoke #NetGalley

This book was a bit of a slow burner. It’s starts with Daniel Gracie returning to the island he grew up on after his father goes missing and is presumed dead. This return leads Dan to follow a trail of clues his father has set up for him that links to an event that happened in his childhood, one where several children had gone missing.

As the story progressed, especially the last quarter, I found myself really absorbed in it. It had a dark and slightly creepy feel to it and I didn’t guess who the killer was so that’s always a good thing, definitely recommend.