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The Stone Man (10th Anniversary Special Edition) - A Science Fiction Thriller: The Stone Man: Book One
THE 10th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EDITION OF THE #1 AMAZON BESTSELLER!
Now with 120 pages of unseen bonus content from Books 1-3, a new afterword, a new foreword, and an all-new edit, this is the definitive version of the word-of-mouth breakout hit. Rediscover the mystery that spawned a saga and captured the imagination of thousands of science fiction and fantasy fans worldwide!
"THE STONE MAN is a novel that intrigues, enthralls, horrifies, thrills, and hits the reader with an emotional resonance as only the best stories can."
- Ain't It Cool News
Nobody knew where it came from.
Nobody knew why it came.
When an eight feet tall man made of stone appears in the middle of a busy city centre one July afternoon, two-bit (and antisocial) reporter Andy Pointer assumes it's just a publicity stunt.
Indeed, so does everyone else ... until the Stone Man begins to walk, heading silently through the wall of the nearest building, flattening it and killing several people inside as a result.
As efforts by the local police - and soon, the government - to halt the Stone Man's inexorable progress prove futile, only three questions are on the watching world's
Where has it come from, where is it going, and what does it want?
Andy is determined to be the first person to answer those questions; after all, he was there when it arrived. Surely the headaches and visions he's experiencing are proof of a mental connection to The Stone Man? Clearly his dreams of champagne and notoriety are all about to be fulfilled once he uncovers the truth ... and the scoop of a lifetime.
In a pursuit that carries him the length of the country and the breadth of the Atlantic, Andy uncovers the jagged pieces of an increasingly terrifying puzzle. As the number of lives lost in the wake of the Stone Man reaches grim figures, the terrible results of Andy's blind determination force him to confront the savagery of human nature.
When irresistible forces aren't met by immovable objects, how far is too far? Andy must discover the answer - and find out who he really is - in the shadow of the Stone Man.
PRAISE FOR 'THE STONE MAN':"Tagged as both science fiction and a thriller, this is a book that has it strong characterization, moral quandaries, mystery, and a whole lot of tense moments all presented through the narration of a fallible, all too human protagonist that you can't help but root for. Reading the final sentence of The Stone Man was truly a bittersweet moment. " SFsignal.com, Hugo award-winning website"If you've read anything else by Luke, you will be wanting to read this. If you've not, then this is as good a place as any to start." simon211175, Amazon Vine VoiceWant to download the first few pages of this book for FREE so that you can try before you buy? Click the 'Send sample now' button on the upper right hand side of this page to do just that!
Now with 120 pages of unseen bonus content from Books 1-3, a new afterword, a new foreword, and an all-new edit, this is the definitive version of the word-of-mouth breakout hit. Rediscover the mystery that spawned a saga and captured the imagination of thousands of science fiction and fantasy fans worldwide!
"THE STONE MAN is a novel that intrigues, enthralls, horrifies, thrills, and hits the reader with an emotional resonance as only the best stories can."
- Ain't It Cool News
Nobody knew where it came from.
Nobody knew why it came.
When an eight feet tall man made of stone appears in the middle of a busy city centre one July afternoon, two-bit (and antisocial) reporter Andy Pointer assumes it's just a publicity stunt.
Indeed, so does everyone else ... until the Stone Man begins to walk, heading silently through the wall of the nearest building, flattening it and killing several people inside as a result.
As efforts by the local police - and soon, the government - to halt the Stone Man's inexorable progress prove futile, only three questions are on the watching world's
Where has it come from, where is it going, and what does it want?
Andy is determined to be the first person to answer those questions; after all, he was there when it arrived. Surely the headaches and visions he's experiencing are proof of a mental connection to The Stone Man? Clearly his dreams of champagne and notoriety are all about to be fulfilled once he uncovers the truth ... and the scoop of a lifetime.
In a pursuit that carries him the length of the country and the breadth of the Atlantic, Andy uncovers the jagged pieces of an increasingly terrifying puzzle. As the number of lives lost in the wake of the Stone Man reaches grim figures, the terrible results of Andy's blind determination force him to confront the savagery of human nature.
When irresistible forces aren't met by immovable objects, how far is too far? Andy must discover the answer - and find out who he really is - in the shadow of the Stone Man.
PRAISE FOR 'THE STONE MAN':"Tagged as both science fiction and a thriller, this is a book that has it strong characterization, moral quandaries, mystery, and a whole lot of tense moments all presented through the narration of a fallible, all too human protagonist that you can't help but root for. Reading the final sentence of The Stone Man was truly a bittersweet moment. " SFsignal.com, Hugo award-winning website"If you've read anything else by Luke, you will be wanting to read this. If you've not, then this is as good a place as any to start." simon211175, Amazon Vine VoiceWant to download the first few pages of this book for FREE so that you can try before you buy? Click the 'Send sample now' button on the upper right hand side of this page to do just that!
425 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 10, 2024
82 people are currently reading
11 people want to read
About the author
Luke Smitherd
32 books593 followersLuke Smitherd is the author of The Stone Man (shortlisted for Audible Book of the Year 2015) and its sequels as well as several other novels. A former singer and guitarist, he now writes full time, hosts the comedy music-discussion show Cracker Juice, and performs around Los Angeles as a stand-up comic. He divides his time between the United States and the United Kingdom.
www.lukesmitherd.com
www.lukesmitherd.com
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 31, 2024
Still a fantastic book, rereading now ahead of reading the final book of the series. Great to have all the extra parts/deleted scenes at the end!
June 29, 2024
Definitive edition of a great book
This book is excellent. Simply excellent, with creepy mystery vibes from the start, well written and well paced. No spoilers here, but if you love creepy strange stories that leave you feeling like something weird might just be moving furtively behind that hedge in the dusk, then this book is a just read. It has been a long time since I read an author and finished a book excited to read the next one. Luke Smitherd gives just that. A talented writer that deserves your attention.
This book is excellent. Simply excellent, with creepy mystery vibes from the start, well written and well paced. No spoilers here, but if you love creepy strange stories that leave you feeling like something weird might just be moving furtively behind that hedge in the dusk, then this book is a just read. It has been a long time since I read an author and finished a book excited to read the next one. Luke Smitherd gives just that. A talented writer that deserves your attention.
September 25, 2025
Call me shallow but this only appeared in my TBR list because I'd seen it in Audible and must have liked the cover image. I'd finished a podcast and couldn't decide what to listen to next, I saw this waiting for me and decided to take the plunge.
The story is told from the perspective of Andy, who is a local reporter. It is set in Coventry, why not? A globally significant event happens when a giant stone man just appears one day. Andy is there on the day and in the location when the stone man arrives. What does it want? Where does it come from? Is it alien? Is it sentient? Is someone controlling it? Is it programmed for something? These are the questions that burst in my mind as I listen on through the chapters. There is a lot of exploration of the questions and thoughts of the main character. Not surprising when it is told in retrospect through Andy's dictaphone recordings. The problem I had was that some sections of the story were nicely paced but a lot of it was told too slow. Andy turns out to be quite self absorbed. Asides from his friendship with the other main character Paul and a professional relationship between them and an army Brigadier, there is no other significant relationship in his life. He comes across as a bit of a dick and at about half way through I stopped caring about him and the predicament. One problem with this story is that it is told from the perspective of two ordinary blokes. They don't have any answers and so there is very little science in the story. I feel it doesn't quite scratch my itch: when I am reading sci-fi I would generally like to get some exposure to science even if it's pseudo science. Stuff does happen but there is a lot of exposition and it happens S-L-O-W-L-Y because of that. I wanted to shout "just get on with it!" a few too many times. I like a mixture of dialogue, action and commentary to keep my interest in a story. I felt there was just too much commentary and analysis. Okay, I understand it was being told as if I were listening to a dictaphone recording - I do understand this. But make the book shorter please if you're doing that!
The book was self-published originally. I can only imagine what that journey would have been like for the author, a real struggle. I liked that there was an Afterword by the author himself talking about the book. Interesting that Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke was an inspiration. At the time of writing the Afterword there was only the one book and it was intended to be one book but the author alluded to there being possibly further roads to explore with the central idea, just not with the same characters (maybe). I've seen other books by the author now, with similar cover images so I guess there are others to read. Not that I want to return to this world in the near future. I didn't find the answers presented by the story particularly revealing and I got no satisfaction at the end of the story. It's a story about an extraordinary event but telling it through the eyes of one or two ordinary man just dumbs it down for me. I didn't feel like I could relate to the main character Andy. He seemed only interested in his own fame and wealth but when he achieved fame and wealth he wasn't happy, the miserable git. The efforts of the military and scientists were frustratingly simple or one dimensional, bringing no significant insight or scientific method into the phenomenon. I found it a bit too simplistic and in that sense unrealistic. It wasn't gritty enough in the right places and was overly sentimental in others. By far the most maddening thing was having to listen to the minutia of all of the narrators thoughts. This was increased tenfold at the climax of the story, when the narration switches to Paul. Clearly he had found some kind of solution but I found a description of it was withheld for an unnecessarily long time. For these reasons I can't find it in me to give any more than 3 stars. The idea had some potential but the execution just wasn't entertaining enough. It might have been a different kettle of fish if the author hadn't self-published but had worked in collaboration with an editor.
The story is told from the perspective of Andy, who is a local reporter. It is set in Coventry, why not? A globally significant event happens when a giant stone man just appears one day. Andy is there on the day and in the location when the stone man arrives. What does it want? Where does it come from? Is it alien? Is it sentient? Is someone controlling it? Is it programmed for something? These are the questions that burst in my mind as I listen on through the chapters. There is a lot of exploration of the questions and thoughts of the main character. Not surprising when it is told in retrospect through Andy's dictaphone recordings. The problem I had was that some sections of the story were nicely paced but a lot of it was told too slow. Andy turns out to be quite self absorbed. Asides from his friendship with the other main character Paul and a professional relationship between them and an army Brigadier, there is no other significant relationship in his life. He comes across as a bit of a dick and at about half way through I stopped caring about him and the predicament. One problem with this story is that it is told from the perspective of two ordinary blokes. They don't have any answers and so there is very little science in the story. I feel it doesn't quite scratch my itch: when I am reading sci-fi I would generally like to get some exposure to science even if it's pseudo science. Stuff does happen but there is a lot of exposition and it happens S-L-O-W-L-Y because of that. I wanted to shout "just get on with it!" a few too many times. I like a mixture of dialogue, action and commentary to keep my interest in a story. I felt there was just too much commentary and analysis. Okay, I understand it was being told as if I were listening to a dictaphone recording - I do understand this. But make the book shorter please if you're doing that!
The book was self-published originally. I can only imagine what that journey would have been like for the author, a real struggle. I liked that there was an Afterword by the author himself talking about the book. Interesting that Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke was an inspiration. At the time of writing the Afterword there was only the one book and it was intended to be one book but the author alluded to there being possibly further roads to explore with the central idea, just not with the same characters (maybe). I've seen other books by the author now, with similar cover images so I guess there are others to read. Not that I want to return to this world in the near future. I didn't find the answers presented by the story particularly revealing and I got no satisfaction at the end of the story. It's a story about an extraordinary event but telling it through the eyes of one or two ordinary man just dumbs it down for me. I didn't feel like I could relate to the main character Andy. He seemed only interested in his own fame and wealth but when he achieved fame and wealth he wasn't happy, the miserable git. The efforts of the military and scientists were frustratingly simple or one dimensional, bringing no significant insight or scientific method into the phenomenon. I found it a bit too simplistic and in that sense unrealistic. It wasn't gritty enough in the right places and was overly sentimental in others. By far the most maddening thing was having to listen to the minutia of all of the narrators thoughts. This was increased tenfold at the climax of the story, when the narration switches to Paul. Clearly he had found some kind of solution but I found a description of it was withheld for an unnecessarily long time. For these reasons I can't find it in me to give any more than 3 stars. The idea had some potential but the execution just wasn't entertaining enough. It might have been a different kettle of fish if the author hadn't self-published but had worked in collaboration with an editor.
February 6, 2025
I liked the story and the characters were engaging, but I find it unbelievable that a species that can travel across space or through the different dimensions should not have a more economical way of collecting DNA. Have their scientists not discovered PCR (polymerase chain reaction)?
They don't need to kill a person to get their DNA. The smallest amount can easily be amplified and they can have as much as they want!
They don't need to kill a person to get their DNA. The smallest amount can easily be amplified and they can have as much as they want!
May 15, 2024
Ten years-ish ago, the Stone Man was born. Now’s the time to read about them as the last book of the series is scheduled to be out later this year. Can’t wait to see how the Stone Man -or the world- is destroyed. After all, with Luke Smitherd you never know what to expect.
June 19, 2024
Next?
Liked it. Left a little confused about a new book in the series though. Not easy to follow in series on amazon.
Liked it. Left a little confused about a new book in the series though. Not easy to follow in series on amazon.
November 20, 2024
Interesting story. I wasn't invested enough to read any of the bonus material, although I probably will read the second book.
December 15, 2024
Awesome! Totally different take on alien invasion - or is it??
March 24, 2025
DNF. sweet idea but the execution sucked.
March 20, 2025
Really interesting premise - it’s rare to find something genuinely unique in sci-fi anymore, so this was a great surprise, and I can’t believe I never heard of it before now!
The narrator of the audiobook was fantastic and able to do almost any accent, and overall the characters were well-written and interesting.
One odd thing I couldn’t abide though is the men are described as just standard men, but there’s far too much detail given about women’s bodies and features; a bit creepy to be honest.
The narrator of the audiobook was fantastic and able to do almost any accent, and overall the characters were well-written and interesting.
One odd thing I couldn’t abide though is the men are described as just standard men, but there’s far too much detail given about women’s bodies and features; a bit creepy to be honest.
March 10, 2025
((This is a review for the 10th Anniversary edition, not the original.))
And while I'm at it, this is the one you should be reading folks! The definitive version of The Stone Man Book One, now packed with delicious bonus content!
I don't usually write reviews (or ever, really) but for my second favorite author, I'll give it a shot. Sorry in advance if it's lacking. All I hope is that it can help make up the mind of whoever's reading this to give this book a try if you're on the fence about it.
This book is very dear to my heart. I remember I was sick in bed and looking for an audiobook to get me through it. I had just finished You See The Monster and was itching for more of Luke Smitherd's writing so I went with his most popular release.
And I loved it SO much.
I was about to say I loved it even more after reading this new edition, which in a way is true (though nothing beats meeting a book for the first time.) This edition definitely benefited from having an editor's perspective.
Even though there were no major changes in the content, the writing is tighter and the story flows much better.
Andy is such a compelling character too and his arc is absolutely fantastic. You won't always like him and being in his head and reading his thoughts, but it comes together beautifully at the end.
Aside from character development, one of Smitherd's strengths I think is his balance between action-packed scenes, and quieter, more introspective moments. I never felt overwhelmed or bored by too much action or too much down time. The pacing is just right.
There's so much more I could say but I find it hard to review a book without giving anything away so I think I'll leave it here.
Give this book a try--it's really, really good.
And if you're anything like me, by the time you reach the end you will want to stay in Stone World for as long as possible and more right on to the sequel.
And while I'm at it, this is the one you should be reading folks! The definitive version of The Stone Man Book One, now packed with delicious bonus content!
I don't usually write reviews (or ever, really) but for my second favorite author, I'll give it a shot. Sorry in advance if it's lacking. All I hope is that it can help make up the mind of whoever's reading this to give this book a try if you're on the fence about it.
This book is very dear to my heart. I remember I was sick in bed and looking for an audiobook to get me through it. I had just finished You See The Monster and was itching for more of Luke Smitherd's writing so I went with his most popular release.
And I loved it SO much.
I was about to say I loved it even more after reading this new edition, which in a way is true (though nothing beats meeting a book for the first time.) This edition definitely benefited from having an editor's perspective.
Even though there were no major changes in the content, the writing is tighter and the story flows much better.
Andy is such a compelling character too and his arc is absolutely fantastic. You won't always like him and being in his head and reading his thoughts, but it comes together beautifully at the end.
Aside from character development, one of Smitherd's strengths I think is his balance between action-packed scenes, and quieter, more introspective moments. I never felt overwhelmed or bored by too much action or too much down time. The pacing is just right.
There's so much more I could say but I find it hard to review a book without giving anything away so I think I'll leave it here.
Give this book a try--it's really, really good.
And if you're anything like me, by the time you reach the end you will want to stay in Stone World for as long as possible and more right on to the sequel.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews