The Chalk Man

by C. J. Tudor

[zooloo1983]

This is book is something else. It is a book that will make you question everything and everyone. I can’t tell you what I loved the most about the book because well it’s a huge spoiler but it is immense. The Chalk Man is one clever twisty tale. A story that leads you down so many paths and they aren’t necessarily ones you are ready for.

This was a debut by the talented Ms Tudor, but I have read it last. All her tales err on the edge of the supernatural within the visceral pictures that are chalked in front of us (oh yes I did that). It is no different here, unexplained things happen within these pages, enough to send that shiver down your spine and who doesn’t love that thrill.

Within this small world built by Tudor, we are shown a past where its 1986 and ways to entertain ourselves do not include phones, internet or computers. Instead, the story focuses on how young boys imagination with chalk can cause deadly outcomes. When things start to get a bit juicy, we are brought back to the present day, where history can not rest until we have answers. These answers are delicious and some were not expected and some were shocking and some are left to your imagination, mine is a wild one!

The ending feels like a full circle, not sure if it’s satisfying for my bloodthirsty needs but it’s a tantalising one for sure.

I would be sitting there thinking ooh X has happened it would be awesome if it was Y that happened. Then I turn the page and I chuckled with glee when Y did happen but then Z happened too and I hadn’t planned for that and then throw in A and B! Then you are close to understanding a book by CJ Tudor.

I would read anything Caz writes, I am itching for her next book and The Other People is definitely one of my favourites I have read this year. To have a story teased out the way she does, yet never relenting the tension over 300 pages is no easy feat. I was on tenterhooks trying to finish this book and over 3 evenings I did. I was buddy reading this with Chloe (Chloe’s Reading Room) and she was flying quicker than me but it didn’t stop with all our speculation. Shame I can not share some of our theories because of well SPOILER!! But it was great because she made me realise things I hadn’t thought of so it was much more interesting for sure.

If you haven’t read this one yet then I urge to read it and enjoy this journey. You may never look at a bucket of chalks or chalk men the same way though…