The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A gripping psychological thriller peppered with shades of horror amongst the long shadows of the past.

In 1986, Eddie and his friends are enjoying a day at the fair when tragedy strikes. A fairground ride collapses, leaving one teenage girl with horrific injuries, but miraculously alive, thanks to Eddie and new teacher Mr Halloran. So begins the tragic chain of events that befalls that summer. When one of the group receives a box of chalks for their birthday, they begin to use them to send coded messages to each other with a series of chalk men. Only the chalk men soon begin to appear on their own.

In 2016, Ed finds that the events of 1986 are not as far in the past as he had believed, while the Chalk Man still haunts him. Events in the present are soon to take a tragic turn when an old friend from the past is found dead. Perhaps it was just a tragic accident. But Ed is unconvinced that it isn’t linked to the murder of a teenage girl back in 1986, whose dismembered body was discovered in woodland.

As secrets of the past and present are unearthed, Ed finds that the mystery of the Chalk Man is far more tragic than everyone believes and that the malignancy of evil often does not find its source in an outsider.

I’ve been planning to read ‘The Chalk Man’ for quite some time, and it did not disappoint. Moving backwards and forwards in time, the narratives of 1986 and 2016 are told simultaneously, building to revelations in both past and present and a final satisfying twist. The relationships between the group of young friends and their respective families lies at the core of the story and it is through the dynamics between them and how those relationships have changed in thirty years that you feel the passage of time.

A fantastic debut novel by C.J. Tudor, incorporating the chilling tendrils of horror within its tone and imagery, blended with the fast-paced twists and turns of a psychological crime thriller. I am highly anticipating reading Tudor’s second novel, ‘The Taking of Annie Thorne’, very soon.



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