2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor.

Pages: 280 pages

Length: 1 month (October)

Participants: SarahKat, TerryJane, Beth, Jannene, Dominique, Jaida

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

Started this!

I'll start, too, then.

Started yesterday

I just finished this one and (view spoiler)[I found it to be a perfectly creepy 4-star book for spooky season!

I've read one other book by this author, and gave it 4 stars as well (The Other People), but I didn't realize until yesterday that author C.J. Tudor is a woman. I think she wrote Ed and other male characters in a very believable fashion, but I had a hard time connecting with the females in the story. Perhaps they just weren't as fleshed out as Ed and the other guys since Nicky left town decades ago.

The whodunnit aspect kept me guessing throughout, and that's always a plus. I also enjoyed the way the two timelines were done. (hide spoiler)]

I will seek out more books by this author!

That was fast! I read The Other People by this author a few months ago and it was great!

I'm about halfway through this one. (view spoiler)[Definitely a lot going on here. I honestly don't even know what to think. Who is leaving the chalk figures? Is it going to end up being Eddie himself? It's weird he sees dead people.

Still don't know who Mickey was talking about when he said "I know who really killed her." The Waltzer Girl? Her pregnant blond friend? I have more questions than comments. (hide spoiler)]

Hoping to finish this weekend. It's a really fast read. I've just been busy.

Finished! I agree TerryJane. (view spoiler)[Perfectly good 4-star book for me too. I liked all the moving parts and it had me guessing throughout the book as well. I had a feeling Ed had Elisa's head somewhere, but I never thought he killed her. I was wondering about the white chalk men though. I know Ed did the ones that led to Elisa but weren't there other ones earlier? The dog one? Who did that? Mickey?

I did figure the Reverend was guilty. Though I didn't see him being sentient enough to try to kill everyone at the end of the book. Also interesting that Hoppo was the one who killed Mickey because he spiked his drink back in the day that caused the crash. I appreciate when murky, red herring things actually make sense within the plot and it's not just there to throw us off. (hide spoiler)]

I finished yesterday.

(view spoiler)[ Lots of lies and secrets. With all the dreams that Ed was having, I thought that he was the killer and was slowly realizing it. Gav keeping the secret about the bike, Hoppo about the night of Gav's accident and the night of Mickey's death. Didn't expect Hoppo of doing something like that. The reveal that it was the Reverend was a nice twist.
Poor Mr. Halloran, even though Ed didn't intentionally put the ring there to implicate the teacher made everyone thought he killed himself because he was guilty while the truth was it was from a broken heart that he killed himself.
Was not expecting Chole being his daughter back to get the scoop on what happened 30 yeas ago.

Ed seeing the body and doing the chalk to find the body and especially for him to keep the head was mind boggling.. and to top it off, he starting to lose his memory. (hide spoiler)]

I finished today. I had the same thoughts as Dom. I never saw the emd coming. The book kept me engaged and entertained.

Hi all, I finished the chalk man this morning and enjoyed it. I wouldn't say its my favourite from this author, but it did keep me engaged throughout. Didn't predict all of the plot twists/reveals so that was nice as well.

(view spoiler)[
I predicted the vicar would be a creep, but didn't see it coming that he'd be the killer. I agree with Terryjane re the female characters, I didn't feel particularly attached to them and they felt quite shallow compared to the other characters. I thought Nicki would play a much larger role in this book as well. In terms of the chalk men, the dog one is a mystery but my guess is Ed. There were times in the book, like when they found the body, where we thought Ed was just as clueless as us, but in reality he actually drew them. I definitely think Ed is an unreliable narrator. ended up giving it 4 stars. (hide spoiler)]

Finished today. This definitely kept me engaged and guessing throughout. I feel like there were some plot holes left open, but overall the resolution was enjoyable.

Like others, I can definitely see reading more from this author; this was my first of hers.

(view spoiler)[Ed, you naughty boy! Did anyone else guess he'd "collected" Elisa's head?

I was also expecting Ed to be revealed as the killer, but then not really because he was being thrown as a suspect too early in the plot. I also thought Mr Halloran would wind up being a more important character to the plot than he turned out being... maybe he'd help solve the crimes.

And now Ed, going off to Manchester with the implied beginnings of Alzheimer's. He's going to forget that head is in his car. (hide spoiler)]

Beth wrote: "Finished today. This definitely kept me engaged and guessing throughout. I feel like there were some plot holes left open, but overall the resolution was enjoyable.

Like others, I can definitely ..."

Absolutely not! The head was something that miffed me.