Book Review: The Chalk Man

The Chalk Man | C.J. Tudor
01.09.2018 | Crown Publishing
Rating: 5/5 stars

In 1986, Eddie Adams is trying to live life like any other adolescent boy. Eddie and his friends are filling their summer vacation days with adventures and activities. The gang of friends decide to create a secret code for where to meet with chalk men drawn in colors corresponding to each kid. One day a mysterious set of white chalk men show up and lead the group of kids straight to a dismembered body. Who is responsible for this crime and who drew these chalk men?

If our world was a snow globe, it was the day some casual god came along, shook it hard and set it back down again. Even when the foam and flakes had settled, things weren’t the way they were before. Not exactly: They might have looked the same through the glass but, on the inside, everything was different.

The Eddie of 2016 still lives in his childhood home, where he watched is father die and his mother leave him to explore a new life. He is actively trying to put his past behind him, but with the arrival of a letter containing a chalk man drawing the summer of 1986 comes flooding back in to his life. In order to make things right and finally put the past to rest Eddie must face his fears. Who really killed that girl in the woods 30 years ago? Who is responsible for these chalk men drawings?

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.

C.J. Tudor absolutely kills it with her debut novel THE CHALK MAN. Alternating timelines between 1986 and 2016 walk the reader through the mind of Eddie Adams and the crimes haunting his past. Eddie is a flawed narrator and his group of friends are no better. Tudor gives the reader a story that radiates 80’s nostalgia with a gripping crime and fascinating cast of characters. In order to get to the bottom of the mysterious chalk men the reader must trust Eddie’s meandering mind and unlock a chest of long held secrets. THE CHALK MAN is the perfect read for fans of crime fiction, thrillers, and 80’s era nostalgic shows like Stranger Things.