The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor
The Chalk Man is a mystery/thriller that follows Eddie and his friends. In 1986, as preteens, the group came across the body of a young girl, but her head was nowhere to be found. This was all strange enough as is, but what led the boys to the girl’s body in the first place was even stranger…drawings of chalk men. Now in 2016, the boys are adults, and not as close-knit as they once were. Eddie knows who they say killed the girl, but he doesn’t believe it. It’s been 30 years, but maybe they can figure out who actually killed her.
It never came. There were extensive searches, questions and appeals but, despite the best efforts of all the detectives and all the town’s men, her head was never found, and the girl in the woods was never put together again.
•Thriller •Mystery •Dual timeline •Unreliable narrator •Coming of age •Trust no one •Chalk Drawings
They were wrong. Mr Halloran was many things, but normal was never one of them.
In 1986, Eddie and his group of friends, which consisted of Fat Gav, Metal Mickey, Hoppo and Nicky, were going to the fair. It was at this fair that Eddie’s life changed forever. Whilst searching for his lost wallet, Eddie sees a beautiful girl, standing and staring as pre-teens do. Eddie heard a horrifying noise as the axis on the waltzers broke and flung off, taking half of the young girl’s face with it. Eddie was knocked to the ground next to her while a stampede broke out. A new teacher at his school, Mr Halloran, came over to help save “Waltzer girl” and, with Eddie’s help, they were able to put pressure on her leg to save that, and were hopeful the doctors could save her face. They did. Eddie didn’t know the girl’s name, and so he named her Waltzer girl in his head.
It was after this fatal event that everything changed for Eddie and his friends. It wasn’t all technically related to this event, but this was the start. For Fat Gav’s birthday, he gets a bucket of chalk, which he immediately writes off as a lame gift, until Eddie tells him they can use the chalks to leave each other messages. An idea he got from Mr Halloran, each boy in the group had their own chalk colour, so they would know who left the message & different drawings meant different things, a stick figure with a circle meant meet at the playground and so on. Blue chalk was a message from Mickey, Fat Gav was red, Hoppo green, Nicky yellow and Eddie orange. The chalk drawings that led to the body in the woods were drawn in white.
This book is set in a small town in England, and thus, everyone knew everyone; they all knew everyone’s business. A lot is going on in the town for everyone: the dead body, the chalk drawings, the new abortion clinic being opened with protestors outside, a dead teenager, and a teacher dating a girl a lot younger than him. This book is set in 1986 and 2016. In 1986, you got the excitement of young boys finding something cool, and in 2016, the same boys as adults looking at the situation with adult eyes.
In 2016, Eddie is now a teacher and lives with Chloe, a roommate in the house he lived in growing up. Eddie has been trying to put the past behind him, even if he does acknowledge that there are unanswered questions, that is, until he receives a letter with a drawing of a chalk man. Then Mickey comes back into Eddie’s life, saying he is writing a book about what happened, and that he knows who the real killer is. Unfortunately, the police turn up the next day to tell Eddie that Mickey has been found dead.
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
I didn’t know who it was that had killed the girl for quite some time while reading. I did figure it out before it was announced, but it was a good plot twist. I won’t say who the book tries to make you think has done it; I don’t want to spoil your read. This book is my May book club read, and was put forward as a horror book, so I was disappointed when I was reading it, because in my eyes, this is not a horror. I know on Amazon it is number 38 in psychological horror, but I would definitely say it is a mystery/thriller. I think that may be part of the reason I rated this as 3 stars, because I was expecting horror.
I read this in 2 sittings, and I did enjoy it; it was easy to read and flowed well. It does alternate between past and present, which I know isn’t everyone’s favourite, but I don’t mind that, and I think the author did a good job with the dual timeline. The book is told from Eddie’s point of view. I wasn’t on the edge of my seat whilst reading this, but I was trying to figure out who done it and what happened to her head. It wasn’t the best thriller I have ever read, but likewise, it definitely wasn’t the worst. I would recommend this to people who enjoy thrillers and whodunit mysteries. If you are a fan of Freida McFadden, I imagine you would like this book.
Karma. What you sow, you reap. You do bad things, and they’ll come back eventually and bite you on the backside.
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
