Readers Guide for The Man Made of Smoke

Present Narrative in regular text, flashbacks in italics

Daniel had a prior encounter with a serial killer called the Pied Piper.

In a flashback, we see John, Daniel’s father, finding a dead woman in the woods, and then receiving a photo of himself standing by the body.

Daniel finds that photo among his father’s belongings. He finds an abandoned tent at the location the photographer was standing with ID belonging to Darren Field.

Flashback to 1998 when a boy named James is kidnapped by a whistling man.

Daniel goes to talk to Darren Field and find out his father had done the same thing, but Daniel is missing.

Flashback to John coming to talk to Darren. Who says it was dark and it was cold.

John asked Darren if he thinks he was abducted from the bar. Darren thinks his drink might’ve been spiked. He says the man who abducted him seems very angry and made him watch as he killed a woman. Then Darren woke up in his car.

John asks Darren why he didn’t report the incident. Darren says he thought it was a terrible dream.

In the present, Daniel recaps for us: his father John found the body of a murdered woman and a photograph that had been taken of John finding the body. This photo pointed John to Darren Field. John went to talk to him, then Darren disappeared.

Dan cracks the password of his father‘s computer and finds his father was on a website about “The Pied Piper.”

2001. A police officer gets called to a domestic violence incident. He finds a camper van with a dead man inside. He also finds the body of a 10-year-old boy named Robbie Garforth.

Dan realizes the Pied Piper website is based on a book he read called The Man Made of Smoke. We learn that when he was a child, Dan found a terrifying photograph in a rest stop bathroom of a little boy surrounded by tools. Daniel and John were both mentioned in the book. The book claims that Robbie is the boy that Dan saw at the rest area.

At the time, Dan didn’t think so. He was sure that the boy was someone else, but the adults convinced him it was Robbie.

In 2001, the police found the body of the man they thought was the Pied Piper. Dan was haunted by the idea that he could’ve saved the boy. Now he notices in the book that a teenage witness to Robbie‘s abduction was a 19-year-old named …Darren Field.

In a flashback, John is thinking about his conversation with Darren. He thinks about the trauma that Daniel under when and why he lied and said the boy he saw was not Robbie.

Once again we review: John Garvie found the remains of a woman in the woods. Someone took a photograph of John finding the body and mailed him the photo. John figured out where the photo was taken and got to Darren‘s tent. John talked to Darren, who disappeared. Now Dan also knows that Darren Field was at the rest area when Robbie was abducted.

Dan wonders if there’s a copycat Pied Piper. He goes to his father‘s internet history and finds the address of a woman named Rosemary Saunders. He sees that Rose Saunders was also a witness to the 2001 abduction. He wonders if Rose was the woman in the woods.

1998: The POV of one of the kidnapped boys, kept in a wooden pen with his ankle tethered to a post.

Daniel goes to look for Rose. Rose’s partner Gill said Rose had disappeared twice. The first time was a couple of months ago. When she retuned, she told him she had been kidnapped and told that if she reported this, the man would kill her next. 

Also, Dan learned his father had been to talk to Rose. Daniel wonders if just like Darren, Rose was abducted and forced to watch someone being murdered. Daniel‘s notified that his father‘s body has been found.

In the past, John keeps calling Darren‘s wife. He takes out a piece of paper and writes notify my son.

Daniel learns that someone on a boat spotted a body. It’s not John, but a younger man who Dan suspects must be Darren.

Daniel goes to Sarah‘s house and they discussed the fact that when he was a child, Daniel did not think the boy he saw was Robbie.

Dan and Sarah helpfully recap for us again: Rose saw someone get murdered. After she went to the police, the killer took her and forced Darren to watch her die. Then Darren disappeared. They suggest the killer could be Robbie, taking revenge on everyone who didn’t help him.

The next day, Sarah shows Dan an article about two other missing men with a connection to the rest area: Oliver Hunter and Graham Lloyd.

Based on the dates of their disappearances, Saran and Dan wonder if:

• Oliver Hunter died, witnessed by Graham Lloyd
• Graham Lloyd died, witnessed by Rose Saunders
• Rose Saunders died, witnessed by Darren Field

In the past, John tries to talk to Liam Fleming about the woman in the woods.  He revisits the case of James, the boy abducted in 2001.

Sarah and Dan go visit Michael Johnson, the only living witness to the abduction besides Dan.

Michael says he was forced to watch Darren Field be murdered. He is also unsure that the boy he saw abducted was Robbie. Daniel decides to go back to the rest area and try to remember.

John goes to a cemetery to visit a young woman’s grave. Abigail Palmer died in 1998. She was James Palmer’s mother. James died in an accident. He was assumed drowned. John is convinced that James Palmer is actually the child that saw. Then someone calls him on the phone.

Daniel heads to the police station. While looking through his father’s case files, Daniel found the boy he saw at the rest area: James Palmer. But he can’t believe that scared boy is now a killer.

John is at the beach. He just got a call from a man named Michael Johnson. He has a suicide note that he wrote. He sees Craig walking up the foot path.

The Ending of The Man Made of Smoke

Flashback to James being held captive and trying to lead his fellow captive to freedom.

Sarah calls Dan, telling him she’s been kidnapped. Liam calls Dan and says that Michael Johnson is dead.

John who is alive but being held captive, sees Craig bring Sarah. He realizes that Craig is James Palmer’s father. Then John helplessly watches Craig hit Daniel, who has arrived as per the kidnapper’s instructions. John realizes that he, Sarah, and Dan are the last victims in Craig’s chain.

Dan regains consciousness to see Craig is bending over him, but his father swings a post at Craig’s head.

Flashback to James lighting the compound on fire.

Craig pleads guilty to the murders of Oliver, Graham, Rose, Darren, and Michael

Dan is back at work. Dan is still confused. Me too! Craig had a relationship with James’ mother Abigail. Craig either was (or thought he was) James’ father. 

Craig found the book The Man Made of Smoke, saw the drawing of the boy that Dan saw in the rest area and realized it was his son James. He blamed everyone for not saving James.

John and Dan visit the graves of Abigail and James