The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor

My Rating: 3 Stars.



Date finished: 19/3/18



Date published: 11/1/18



Synopsis from Goodreads: 





In 1986, Eddie and his friends are just kids on the verge of adolescence. They spend their days biking around their sleepy little English village and looking for any taste of excitement they can get. The chalk men are their secret code; little chalk stick figures they leave for each other as messages only they can understand. But then a mysterious chalk man leads them right to a dismembered body, and nothing will ever be the same.

In 2016, Eddie is fully grown, and thinks he's put his past behind him. But then he gets a letter in the mail, containing a single chalk stick figure. When it turns out his other friends got the same messages, they think it could be a prank... until one of them turns up dead. That's when Eddie realizes that saving himself means finally figuring out what really happened all those years ago.

Expertly alternating between flashbacks and the present day, The Chalk Man is the very best kind of suspense novel, one where every character is wonderfully fleshed out and compelling, where every mystery has a satisfying payoff, and where the twists will shock even the savviest reader.

My review:

I was really looking forward to reading this book and I have to say, it was a little bit of a let down overall. I was expecting to find it a lot more mysterious and frightening, but the book fell very short of this. I finished the book still not really knowing who the chalk man was and the chalk figures didn't play that much of a starring role. The book mostly focused on Eddie's life, who really killed Waltzer girl, and what was happening with the Reverend. 

For me, the positive parts of this book was that the overall story was a decent read. I found it easy to get through and managed to read big chunks of the book before putting it down for a break. I prefer my books to be of the easy read type. I think the author would have been better writing a different synopsis for this book, as it then wouldn't have been a let down. Finding out who really killed Waltzer girl was a good part of the book and probably one of the bests. The alternating between flashbacks and the present day also worked really well. 

My absolute let down for this book was that the part of the chalk man was relatively dismissed. I would have liked more scare in the aspects of the chalk figures. I didn't follow the hype for this book but reading some of it now, I am even more glad that I didn't. I also didn't particularly love any of the characters either. Eddie was ok as far as characters go, but nobody really stood out for me either. 

Overall, I think this book has a long way to go if it is to follow on from the 'best kind of suspense novel'. I am feeling a little disappointed but it seems a lot of readers did love this book. 

Happy reading :)