I found this book to be both entertaining and intriguing.

The author makes very good use of the dual time-frame in the crafting of this novel.

I liked the quality of the dialogue, especially in the sections describing the child-hoods of the 'gang'. The characterisation was excellent. At times some of the characters had an almost ghost-like quality.

The tension builds steadily throughout the book. There are plenty of red herrings along the way before the real perpetrator is revealed. This novel certainly kept me gripped.

My thanks go to Netgalley and Penguin UK (Michael Joseph) for a copy in exchange for this review.

"A short distance away, a pale hand stretched out from its own small shroud of leaves as if searching for help, or reassurance that it was not alone. None was to be found."

OH MY GOD, SO MUCH TO SAY!

First of all: yes, The Chalk Man is creepy and mysterious and suspenseful, but at various times it is also warm and funny and shocking and disturbing and heartbreaking. It is much more than an unnerving whodunit: it is more of a WHAT EXACTLY IS GOING ON HERE-it. :)

"We think we want answers. But what we really want are the right answers. Human nature. We ask questions that we hope will give us the truth we want to hear. The problem is, you can’t choose your truths. Truth has a habit of simply being the truth. The only real choice you have is whether to believe it or not."

Second of all: I LOVE a dual timeline narrative, so hearing Eddie's story from both 1986 and 2016, building up what has happened, worked really well for me and I was immediately hooked. The chapters pretty much alternate between the two time periods and almost all of them end with a twist or a cliffhanger, each of which was so good that I wanted to carry on reading THAT timeline, right now, there and then, not go back or forth in time just yet; and that happened nearly every time.

"The leaves curled and crinkled and eventually lost their fragile grip on the trees. A feeling of withering and dying seemed to pervade everything. Nothing felt fresh or colourful or innocent any more. Like the whole town had been temporarily suspended in its own dusty time capsule."

C.J. Tudor has a brilliant writing style. It's beautiful and compelling but also really natural and unpretentious, and so insightful - it was like she'd crawled right inside my head and knew exactly how I think! The story is complex and masterfully plotted - there was so much going on, but it was so cleverly done, and you felt like you were right there every step of the way with the characters.

"The blue had been scoured from the sky by Brillo-grey clouds, now starting to drip rain on to the coffin and the mourners."

The descriptions throughout are so vivid and evocative and I could see it all so clearly in my mind; sometimes disgustingly so (Sean Cooper, anyone?), and sometimes gloriously so: long lazy summer days, the sun beating down on party games or drizzle in the autumn gloom, almost-teenage feelings, hopes and fears, joy and sorrow. Even the more gruesome parts are irresistibly described. That said, it is also really funny in places.

"A badge pinned to his lapel informs me that his name is ‘Duds’, which seems less of a name and more an admission of a chronic fault."

C.J. Tudor really brings 1980s childhood to life - the dreams, the tastes, the smells, the insults! Even though I'm about five years younger than the main characters, so much of their story felt familiar to me: bike rides in the woods, hanging around the local playground, the ups and downs, the secrets and frustrations, the friendship break-ups and make-ups.

"Mum and dad exchanged ‘adult’ looks, the sort that adults seem to think, because you’re a kid, somehow, magically, you can’t see."

In case you haven't guessed, I absolutely loved this book, I cannot recommend it enough, and I suspect it will stay with me for a long time yet. It is first an foremost a mystery but there is so much more to it - it is best not to know too much about what to expect and to just jump in and enjoy.

Thank you so much to C.J. Tudor, NetGalley and Penguin UK - Michael Joseph for the ARC of The Chalk Man.

This first time novel from C J Tudor has received massive publicity and loads and loads of “must read” reviews, but I’m really sorry to say, it just didn’t grab me..
It does have a Stephen King type premise and I had to keep reminding myself it was set in the UK in Bristol.
The stories chapters alternate between 1986 and 2016, narrated by Eddie, in the past tense in 1986 aged 12, and in the present tense in 2016, aged 42.
Eddies friends Fat Gav, Hoppo, Nicky and Mickey are a unique set of characters all on the on-set of adolescence whilst also thinking themselves young adults. The friends start to create secret codes by using different coloured messages in chalk around the vicinity, and this code eventually leads them to finding a dismembered body in the woods.
By 2016 the friends have all moved on with their lives until one day Eddie receives a letter containing a chalk stick figure. He then finds out that all the friends received similar letters and sets out to get to the bottom of why.
Whilst the standard of writing is high, as I said before, the novel never really grabbed me. There was no hook in the early pages to make me want to keep on reading. I very nearly gave up about half way through but the novel is quite short so I persevered. But for a short-ish book, surely the action should move quicker. When I got to the end, sadly for me, the conclusion was not really satisfying, but hey, I know there will be many people out there who will strongly disagree with me and no doubt the book will get many many 5 star reviews.
I will, hopefully, read CJ Tudors next book though. I just hope that one will “grab me” from page one.

Short version: It, without the demonic clown.

Eddie Adams thinks his past is tightly locked up in his head. But as childhood friends and old memories start to come out of the woodwork, is it finally time to face up to the past? Because in 1986, five pre-teen friends have their idyllic summer holiday shattered first by a horrific accident, and then the discovery of a dead body. But the chalk stick figures – they were just a game. Who, then, has sent each of them a letter 30 years later, with just that single stick figure drawing?

There was something in the description of this that called to me, despite the fact that I rarely read dark thrillers these days. But, oh, this spoke to the teenage me who adored Stephen King books – and it really is somewhere between Stand By Me (aka The Body) and It – although as I say, without those supernatural elements. They aren’t missed: this is a gripping enough mystery without bringing in anything other worldly.

The chapters alternate between 1986 and 2016, and both strands follow Eddie as his life goes from perfect childhood to tinged with terror and darkness. It’s very well done: both plotlines are equally intriguing, adding to the other, so the flip back and forth never left me wishing for the other segment. I did prefer the earlier segments, though, as the mood that’s conjured is just brilliantly evocative of those 1980s childhood summers that some of us remember (albeit with less, y’know, dead things!), and some have grown to love from watching Stranger Things.

I did think I’d guessed the ‘whodunnit’ early on, only for the whole thing to swerve in an unexpected direction – hurrah! Still, as the mysteries start to be unravelled at the end, there were just a few bits that seemed perhaps a little too coincidental.

Otherwise, though, I gobbled this in just two days – it really was that gripping! Absolutely recommended.

In 1986 Eddie and his friends Fat Gav, Hoppo, Metal Mickey and Nicky are growing up and doing all the things that 12 year olds usually do. But a day at the fair ends in a horrific accident, the first of a series of unpleasant events to befall the English town of Anderbury and its residents.. Even 30 years later in 2016 there are still many unanswered questions about the things that happened.

This is a fantastic murder mystery with wonderful characters and I highly recommend it to everyone.

Crime fans seeking something new and exciting, listen up: this is a riveting, intriguing novel which I absolutely loved!

The Chalk Man has the right balance of creepiness (plenty of that at times!) and comedy (dark comedy, mind!) plus some great character development. I loved Ed, despite his flaws and/or strangeness at times, and though the people around Ed had their own problems, and weren't always that likable, they were very interesting so I still hugely enjoyed reading about them!

Ed was a great narrator, leading the reader back in time (to the 80's - one of my favourite decades to immerse myself in) and then back around to present day, when I couldn't wait to find out what on earth was - and had been - happening! 

The Chalk Man featured lots of subtle clues and hints (which I always love!), plus BIG twists and turns (also love!) and that ending... it left me reeling!

I don't want to say much more on the plot as I don't want to give anything away or lead the reader to expect anything. I'll just say that the writing is excellent - I can't believe it's a debut novel, and to be honest I'm sort of upset that it is because I want MORE to read now by C.J. Tudor - please, release something new soon!

The Chalk Man is a rollercoaster of mystery and surprise and a brilliant novel that I'd highly recommend. Read it now!

Ok, so this review could be very, very short. Basically, all that I will say in it can be summed up in these few words 'It is bloody brilliant and you should read it.' 

If you'd like to know a little bit more about the book then keep reading, no spoilers obviously, but if not then you get the gist and that is all that you need to know. 

I'd heard a lot about The Chalk Man by CJ Tudor and was desperate to read it, I just couldn't wait until publication day so I totally abused my position as a book blogger and begged the publisher to let me read it earlier. Luckily for me, they were very obliging. I was so excited when it landed on my Kindle that I started to read it straight away and once I started I struggled to stop. It was just so so good I couldn't put it down! Forget the washing/cleaning/cooking/shopping/kids/pets/work/tv/sleep/anything, it won't get done until you finish reading this book. I'm a slow reader and I read it in two days, sleep didn't matter, I just had to keep reading. 

That this book is a debut is incredibly impressive, the writing is solid and the plot is twisted and well written, the characters are believable and realistic. It's pretty much as close to a perfect book as you can get.

It is 1986 and Eddie Adams is 12 years old when he first experiences the tragic event that will haunt him and his friends throughout their lives.

Eddie, Fat Gav, Metal Mickey, Hoppo, and Nicky are friends in the English town of Anderbury. They have the hopes and fears of all youngsters of that age and they have never been so excited as when they are allowed to go to the town fair by themselves.

As Eddie stands by the Waltzers, admiring a strikingly beautiful girl with red hair, the air is suddenly rent with screams and blood spray - as a part of a fairground ride breaks loose and smashes into Elisa, the girl Eddie was admiring – right in front of him. Eddie and a new teacher at the school, Mr Halloran, try and stem the worst of the bleeding from Elisa’s severed leg as Eddie fights hard not to look at Elisa’s heavily disfigured and bloody face.

Told in a dual timeline in alternating chapters between 1986 and 2016, The Chalk Man is in part a rites of passage story and in part a psychological thriller.

C.J. Tudor offers a well painted picture of 12 year old Eddie and his friends, and it is easy to understand how, through the alternating timeline chapters, the young Eddie morphs from being a strange little boy to being a teacher, living alone (except for his lodger) without any close attachments.

The narrative is very well told and the reader’s interest is extremely well held throughout the book as more and more plot points are added in and bodies begin to surface in the small town with increasing alacrity. There’s darkness at the heart of this story and it creeps and seeps into every corner of the reader’s mind.

From the pretty gruesome opening prologue to the sometimes quite graphic descriptions of violence, this is a book that does not shy away from tackling some quite difficult subjects, but the richness of the book lies in the way that the events of 1986 are shown to stick and reverberate some 40 years later, using Eddie’s voice as the coherent storyteller through that period.

I did enjoy it very much and found it to be an extremely accomplished book, especially given that it is a debut novel – I’d never have guessed that because the writing is so strong.

Where I did have a bit of an issue was with the way in which the various plot strands were tied together. In the end, for me, it all felt just a bit too rushed; a touch implausible and over dramatised.

Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed it and would definitely look for more from this author.

Amazon

I enjoyed this story which twists and turns and leaps back and forth in time. The writer ensures we can stay on board by starting each chapter with a reminder of the year (up to 2016) and keeping the story close to home, set mostly in one English town. The one constant throughout is that we never leave the point of view of Eddie, from being a boy of 12 through to being a troubled man thirty years later.

The plot gives many opportunities for thriller readers to suspect, to guess and to leap to conclusions. But there will always be some niggling doubt, some element which doesn't quite fit or an unexplained gap. We know what Eddie knows but he doesn't always know what he knows. And there are secrets to be uncovered.

This story is mainly about friendships and there are many to be explored. I felt sympathy for most of the characters and we see them again and again at different ages. It's always fascinating to see the influences on children affecting them as adults and this novel is a carefully crafted 'coming of age' story. Of course adults change too over thirty years and Eddie is very sensitive to indications of deterioration, giving a poignant counterpart to the maturing youngsters.

I definitely recommend this novel to lovers of psychological thrillers and I'm sure you'll enjoy the crawling sense of horror and mystery. But there is more to it than that; it is beautifully written and has some moments of emotional clarity which, on rereading, are somehow merely hints, combinations of words which tease out forgotten personal memories. A neat trick or the magic of a poet?

It's incredibly hard to believe that The Chalk Man is a debut novel. The writing is so effortless, and the words seem to reach out and speak to you - I could of quoted so many passages from the book (but I would be here forever!).

The book is told in a dual timeline that is perfectly weaved together and very easy to follow. We go from 1986 when Eddie is 12 years old, and in 2016 when he is middle aged.

Eddie and his group of friends; Fat Gav, Metal Mickey, Hoppo and Nicky are living a fun, carefree life in the school holidays like 12 year olds do. That is until a fair ground accident takes place, injuring and disfiguring one young girl. It's also the night when Eddie first encounters The Chalk Man.

When one of the group gets an odd present of chalk for his birthday present, Eddie gets a spark of an idea in his head after talking to The Chalk man - they start using the chalk to leave each other messages and symbols. Each friend has a different colour so they know who has left it for them. It's all fun at first, until one day they find chalk arrows leading them to the discovery of a body.

Eddie in 2016 is now a school teacher, he still lives in the same place he grew up, in the same house, with the same childhood friends - but his memories keep resurfacing from that summer....

I have to say that I thought I had a pretty strong idea of what this book would be like, where the story would go - but I could not of been more wrong, and I love being proved wrong in a book, as you know it's something special! It was a whole goodness of a surprise.

It's hard in a book to make separate adult and child voices for the same person, that ring true and are believable. I have to give full credit to the author for making both Eddie's voices 100% convincing.

I also massively loved the whole nostalgia going on in this book. The chapters in 1986 were set to perfection; making it feel you were actually back in that time - the way the kids spoke, how they hung around on their bikes just exploring (as it was safe in those days and there were no such things as X boxes etc..) references to good old Woolworths, hubba bubba, wham bars, even a famous tennis saying. If you spent your childhood in the 80's and 90's you'll just smile at these little things, get a good little trip down memory lane and realise how well thought out this book is.

Yes, The Chalk Man is a fresh, quirky, nostalgic, murder mystery, but it also focuses a lot on growing up, childhood friendships, life through a child's eye - how they see things and understand things. It's a book of consequences and what if's. There are also a host of tougher subjects blended in; alzheimers, rape, suicide, bullying and abortion.

I wouldn't say this is a fast paced book but, it doesn't need to be - the writing, and all the twists, turns and secrets will have you completely engrossed - with an ending that is oh so satisfying!

The Chalk Man is so much more than you'd expect, and is going to be pretty blooming huge in 2018!!

This is one of those books that keeps you up all night, you do not want to put it down!
So much mystery and intrigue, so many things to keep you hooked.
If you have not bought and read this book yet I highly recommend it!

This book alternates between 1986 and the present day. In 1986, children still played out all the time and had gangs of friends. Eddie and his pals, Mickey, Hoppo, Gav and Nicky were not part of the cool crowd. They had their own gang and shared adventures and secrets. They communicated with each other by leaving drawings of chalk stick men for each other.
In the present day, Ed looks back on those childhood years when everything changed following an incident at a fairground. Mickey reappears after an absence and suddenly messages start arriving with drawings of those chalk stick men.
This is a tense, well written thriller which keeps the reader guessing to the end.
I just loved the retro feel of the 1986 chapters in the book – took me straight back there!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a review copy if this book.

I had heard so much about this book that I was looking forward to getting stuck in... and I wasnt disappointed!

The Chalk Man focuses on 5 friends along two different timelines - in 1986 when they are carefree kids and modern day now they have gone seperate ways but each haunted by the events of 1986.

Its difficult to review more without giving away any spoilers... there literally are twists and turns of everypage of this rollercoaster of a story!

The only reason that I lost a star in the rating is that the book reminded me a little of the British TV series 'The Five' written by Harlan Coban.

This description of The Chalk Man was what first drew me to C.J Tudor’s debut novel.

‘None of us ever agreed on the exact beginning. Was it when we started drawing the chalk figures, or when they started to appear on their own? Was it the terrible accident? Or when they found the first body?’

C.J. Tudor gets off to a strong start — so much so, I read the first 30 percent of The Chalk Man in a single sitting.

The idea for The Chalk Man is intriguing and slightly scary.

The story opens when a dismembered body is found in the woods. Schoolboy Eddie Adams is the main narrator. He’s an interesting kid who observes a lot of what is going on around him even if he doesn’t always understand what he sees and hears.

Inspired by something a teacher says, Eddie gets the idea of drawing chalk men as a secret code. He and his friends then begin to use the code to leave messages for each other. They use different colours so as to distinguish who drew which message.

The timeline switches between 1986 and 2016. Apart from the discovery of the dismembered body, other troubling events take pace in 1986. Then, as adults, Eddie and his friends each receive a letter containing a chalk stick figure. The letters scare them for different reasons. Each has secrets from the past and reasons to fear discovery.

The more that I read, the more I found myself wondering about the intended audience of The Chalk Man. It may appeal more to the YA market than to adult readers. I felt the characters didn’t really develop as the story progressed. I found this frustrating, particularly in the second half of the book. More frustrating, though, is that when secrets are revealed, they don’t always live up to the promise of The Chalk Man’s strong opening.

That said, this is a fast read and received some great reviews on Goodreads.

Eddie was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Standing near the fairground hot-dog stall, across from the Waltzers, a twelve-year-old not ready to become a hero. But fate flung itself into his life, pulling him into a swirl of events, the ramifications of which haunt Eddie for the next three decades.
So starts C.J. Tudor's excellent debut novel. Set in the small town of Anderbury, the story contrasts coming-of-age angst with the sinister local underbelly of colliding ideologies, perversion, and murder. It's a story that encompasses the fickleness of friendships and family, of misplaced love, and, above all, of the destiny that awaits, be it kind or cruel.
Eddie is on the cusp of becoming a teenager, and spends his time with his gang of mates. Their adolescent innocence of creating a code of chalk pavement drawings seems like a neat idea. It allows them to send secret messages to each other. But when the same chalk men drawings presage a horrific attack and the uncovering of dismembered bodies, the fragility of Eddie's naivety is dealt a blow that follows him into adulthood.
Told over the dual time-lines of 1986 and 2016, the narrative is intricately crafted. The pace never slackening. The young Eddie's main interests are being cool, the somewhat mysterious Mr Halloran — who has arrived from out of town to teach at Eddie's school — and Nicky, the girl who tags along with him and his friends. Thirty years later and Eddie still lives in Anderbury. He is a bachelor and inwardly ill at ease with himself — and he holds a crush for Chloe, his much younger female lodger. The townsfolk appear to have forgotten and moved on from the upheaval of the past, but Eddie hasn't. As the plot unfolds, we learn that Eddie isn't the only person preoccupied with the past. The chalk man drawings materialise again, scrawled on paper and sent out to the former childhood friends. Are these fresh chalk man drawings an intentional harbinger of another suspicious death?
This is a story crammed full of surprise and suspense — and a nagging sense of disquiet. The current-day Eddie feels that life has left too many enigmatic loose ends unresolved, and an unexpected visit from one of his boyhood friends prompts Eddie to search for a satisfactory conclusion to the uncomfortable memories he carries. Will he be able to fasten off those loose ends from the present? And if he can, will he be able to cope with the truth of the role he played in Anderbury's murky bygone years?
Wading further into the lapping of the fast-approaching tide of mystery, each chapter will beckon you deeper in, and once you become immersed there is no natural break. You'll always suspect that a dark secret lies just beneath the surface of the current page. And you'll be correct. Like warm blood dripping from the tip of a sharp blade, the narrative will fascinate and horrify, keeping you within its grasp. It will invariably leave you wondering what is around the next corner... or concealed by a pile of fallen leaves amid the trees in the woods... or hidden in a box under loose floorboards...
This is a novel that spins more violently than a fairground waltzer. The ride is exhilarating and highly recommended. Read it.

When I was a little girl we used chalk to mark out beds to play peever on – hopscotch, for non-Scots. Sometimes we’d use them to draw pictures, the braver among us describing an approximation of male genitalia on the hot summer pavements of Glasgow. In The Chalk Man, a group of disparate friends use chalk figures to send messages to each other. Lets meet at the park, see you in the woods.

But when the chalk figures start to reappear when the kids are all grown up, they know something sinister is afoot.

On the basis of this book it would be easy to call CJ Tudor the British Stephen King: outsiders? check; death? Check; a band of kids? Check; the past coming back to bite them on the bum? Huge check.

I have read several thriller/mystery books recently that share the King vibe, yet each one has been different and enjoyable in it’s own way. Knowing the time between writing and publication, it’s unlikely this is a fall out from the recent successful film of It. But I do wonder why there seems to be so many. At least it’s a welcome change from all ‘The Girl ...’ titles.

The Chalk Man is well written. The characters are well drawn, not all likeable, but their actions seem reasonable within their circumstances and I really was rooting for the main protagonist, Ed. I enjoyed the plot and the creepy vibe and I’d definitely read more by this author. It’s a shame that the book’s impact might be diluted because of other similar themed titles, but if you decide not to read this book because of that, you’d really be missing out.

The year is yet young, but if this is the standard of book I can expect this year, I’m going to be a very happy Nettie!

4.5 rounded up to 5 .. what a debut novel this is . Slow simmering suspense with a totally wow ending I loved this book !! Definitely one look out for in 2018 . Thanks to netgalley and the publishers and also the the author for my chance to read this . I look forward to reading more

After reading just the first few paragraphs, I was hooked straight away on this book and on the clever writing which instantly created so many questions in my mind, that I knew I wouldn't be able to put The Chalk Man down any time soon. The book was packed with tension and every single paragraph made me want to read on.
The narrative was split into past and present which added to the haunting sense of foreboding created by the little hints and breadcrumbs of information that were dropped in along the way to give a small taste of what had happened in 1986. I often found myself suddenly realising the significance of earlier things which seemed unimportant when I first read them, and I really appreciated this level of detail.
I particularly enjoyed the build up to finding out the 'why' and even though I had guessed the 'who', I was so riveted by the story, that it didn't detract from my enjoyment in the slightest. I stayed up way too late finishing this because I simply couldn't stop reading!
The twists and shocks continued until the very end, even after everything seemed to be over. I found myself gasping constantly and at times it got so tense I almost forgot to breathe!
Overall, I'm giving The Chalk Man 4.5 out of 5. It was haunting, dark and hypnotising. A really fantastic debut from C. J. Tudor.

The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor

In 1986 12-year-old Eddie and his four friends live in the small town of Anderbury. They entertain themselves as best as they can, avoiding the bullies when possible, worrying about their friend Nicky, the daughter of the vicar, who regularly has bruises on her arms. They set up a code – they contact each other with drawings of stick men, each of them using a different coloured chalk. But one day the chalk men lead them into the woods and there they discover a dismembered body.

Thirty years later, Eddie believes that he has left the past behind but when one of his four friends, long estranged from the others, turns up out of the blue, raking up the past, he’s not so sure. And then each of them receives a letter with a chalk man and soon one of them is dead. Eddie realises he has no choice but to face a past that refuses to let him go. He has to find out what really happened all those years ago.

The Chalk Man is a debut novel by C.J. Tudor and it is a fine achievement. As much horror as crime thriller, its atmosphere is second to none. This is a deeply moody and evocative mystery horror, moving between past and present, and filling both with a deep foreboding and chill. You can feel it in the woods, in the river, in the school, in the pub and the houses, in the fairground – everywhere in Anderbury is infused with a fear. It’s very effective indeed.

Eddie is a brilliant character and he is the heart of the novel. We see everything through his eyes and we feel his moods. But he remains elusive. He is trying to deal psychologically with the trauma of the past and with events of the successive years that have changed his relationship to his close childhood friends. At its core, this is a novel about friendship and one young man called Eddie. We learn about him as he learns about himself and it’s such a fascinating tale. And on the sidelines we have the lives of his four school friends and their parents and siblings. At times it is horrifying – there is are moments that shock in this book – and at other times it is desperately tragic. And adding to it is the sense that something is watching.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Chalk Man. It’s a compulsive read. I read it until late into the night and finished it in a couple of days. It’s so hard to put down, the characters so hard to forget. I loved how the mystery developed and welcomed its surprises. Above all else, though, I loved Eddie, Gav and Nicky, and I was haunted by that beautiful girl we glimpse in the fairground through Eddie’s eyes at the beginning of the novel. This is a book that stays in the mind. It’s a fantastic debut novel and I look forward to seeing where C.J. Tudor will take us next.

Intriguing from start to finish. ‘The Chalk Man’ is a fast paced chilling story which had me wanting to keep turning the pages to find out what happens next. The writings style is nice and the plot well build. I’d like to read more from this author.