In his debut novel “Then We Came to the End,” Joshua Ferris took a clever look at an advertising agency in hard economic times. His insightful use of the first person plural narrator brought the reader into the action. I looked forward to reading whatever else he produced.

I don’t quite feel the same after finishing “The Unnamed,” his follow-up book. Part of me wonders if the first book was just a fluke or if he just had trouble living up to its high standard and right the ship with novel number three.

The premise of “The Unnamed” is that a high-powered lawyer in New York has a strange affliction which compels him to walk long distances. He can’t control the impulse, and it takes over his life. So many people believe he suffers from some mental disorder, but he insists that the problem is 100 percent physical.

The book begins in winter, so he has to walk around in heavy clothes with a hiking pack at the ready at all times. He has no idea when the walking spells will begin, and he simply sleeps where he stops so his wife makes sure he has all the provisions to avoid problems with the weather.

Of course, the walking causes strain in his work and personal life. Ferris has a wonderful style of writing and makes it easy for the reader to not just leap to the conclusion that this guy is nuts. After all, he’s mentally acute enough to continue handling important cases at his law firm. he’s aware enough to take the precautions for the weather. He can’t be nuts.

But this nugget of an idea for a compelling tale falls apart because there ends up being nothing more than a story of an insane man in between the covers. There is no medical mystery. He’s just crazy. On top of that, the story jumps around, skipping long periods of time or merely providing vignettes about his life on the road with no real connection to the plot.

The saving grace is Ferris’ writing. Sadly, his storytelling does not reach the same levels, leaving the reader to have no real connection with any of the characters. It’s sad that a story about someone who wanders aimlessly for no real reason suffers from the same malady.