THE CHALK MAN - C.J. TUDOR

Never judge a book by its cover, they say. Well, at first what attracted me to the British author C.J. Tudor’s debut novel The Chalk Man was the title and the cover of the book . The picture of a stick figure , drawn with chalk, with a noose around its neck is really creepy and intriguing. The book explores the darker side of childhood, the secrets that people keep & the huge consequences that even small acts can have.

The Prologue of the book in which a dismembered girl is lying in the woods and someone comes and takes away her head in a bag sets the tone for the book. The book is set in two time periods 1986 & 2016.

In 1986 we find a twelve year old boy Eddie and his friends. Everyone in this gang of five is known by their nicknames. So we have, Eddie Munster, Fat Gav, Metal Mickey, Hoppo and Nicky. One day they go to the local fair. Here Eddie meets his new school teacher Mr Halloran. Together Mr Halloran and Eddie rescue a teenaged girl who has met with a terrible accident at the fair and this sets into motion a chain of events which ultimately leads to tragedy. It is Mr Halloran who introduces Eddie to the Chalk drawings.The idea takes root and soon the gang is sending each other secret messages through the chalk drawn figures of stick men. Trouble brews when the chalk figures start appearing on their own and they ultimately lead them into the woods where they find a murdered and dismembered girl.

Then after thirty years we see a grown up Eddie or Edward Adams in the year 2016. He is now a school teacher in the same town. Eddie thinks that the events of 1986 are are past him. But one day he receives a mail containing a drawing of a stick man and a piece of chalk. It turns out that all his friends have received the same mail. Metal Mickey pays a visit to Eddie and discloses that he is thinking of writing a book about the events of 1986. He says that he knows who the murderer was. On the way to his hotel from Eddie’s house Mickey is drowned in the river. In order to survive Eddie must now discover the truth of the events of 1986. As Eddie investigates he is in for a shock. 

We see the events from the perspective of Eddie. In 1986 we see the events as it appears to a twelve year old Kid. While in 2016 the world is seen through the eyes of a mature forty two years old Edward. To connect the two periods the author employs the technique of flashbacks as Edward reminiscences about his childhood .

Though it is Tudor’s debut novel but it never feels so. She is a skilful storyteller and writes in a simple, uncomplicated and lucid manner. To describe the horror of Eddie who mistakes Mickey for his dead bother Tudor writes, “Ghosts didn’t exist in daylight, or zombies. They only existed in that sleepy hollow between midnight and dawn, crumbling to dust at the sun’s first rays. Or so, at the age of twelve, I still believed.“ The characters are well drawn out. We have the jovial Fat Gav who is the leader of the pack. His humour is evident in the manner in which he describes people’s secrets, “Secrets are like arseholes. We all have them. It ‘s just that some are dirtier than others.”

Tudor’s love of the horror, of the dark and macabre is clearly influenced by Stephen King. There are enough scenes in the book which makes one’s hair stand up on end. The prologue, the discovery of the body in the woods, the bullying of Eddie by Mickey’s elder brother Sean Cooper and his cronies, the appearance of Sean’s ghost and the final struggle with the killer is creepy and horrific.

The only problem with the book is its pacing. The mystery unfolds at a very slow pace. A lot of time is given in building up the atmosphere. The narrative shifts between the present and the past and a lot of time and space is given to the activities of the children, their games etc. Also you feel just a little bit cheated at the final revelation, though it is quite unexpected .

The Chalk Man is one of the best mystery novels to come out in 2018. It is being hailed as The Girl on the Train of 2018 and undoubtedley it will be made into a movie soon. This book is highly recommended for the mystery lovers.

C.J. TUDOR