CJ Tudor bursts forth onto readers' 2018 must-read hit-list with her thrilling and suspense filled debut The Chalk Man, which will have readers glued to every word until the shocking and sinister finale.
The year is 2016, and 42-year-old Ed is teaching in his hometown of Adenbury. Twenty years on, Ed believes that the events of both his (and the town's) past are over, but with the arrival of a mysterious letter containing only a piece of chalk and drawing of a stick man, it appears not to be so. Soon after receiving the eerie letter, Ed finds himself revisiting the macabre summer of 1986.
Two decades previously: twelve year-old Ed is a typical young teenager, he has a close group of friends - Fat Gav, Hoppo, Metal Mickey and Nicky - with whom he spends most of his time hanging out and taking the mickey out of each other. Aside from an interest in collecting things, his mind is otherwise occupied with girls (the aforementioned Nicky in particular, not that he would ever admit it out loud) and avoiding the local town bullies. All of that changes suddenly, however, thanks to a terrifying accident at the local fair and his first encounter with Mr. Halloran, AKA The Chalk Man.
Eddie and the gang head to the fairground, where Eddie is drawn to a beautiful young woman, thereafter known as 'Waltzer Girl', when the unimaginable happens. One of the waltzers detaches from the ride she is standing beside, flying across the grounds and gruesomely maiming her. Eddie is petrified to see limbs dangling and blood gushing, but with help and guidance from their new school teacher - an albino man called Mr. Halloran - the pair save her life and become intimately bonded.
Thusly, this terrible accident - and the resulting chance encounter - sets in motion a series of dark events that will overshadow the town for many years to come. The thing with shadows, however, is that they conceal many things, and the residents of this town have a lot to hide. Everyone, it seems, has secrets.
Although Mr. Halloran's pale appearance and chalk-white hair may at first be unnerving for young Eddie, his charming personality and caring nature soon win him over, even after some unsavoury discoveries. After all, it's Halloran who suggests the chalk game to Eddie, one which allows Eddie and his friends to leave secret messages for one another around the town by drawing chalk symbols and pictures. These drawings eventually lead Eddie and his friends to discover the body of a dismembered teenage girl.
Tudor has created an exciting and thrilling tale, where creative plot twists and unexpected developments keep you guessing and second guessing, as to not only where the story is going, but what truly drives each character. How much can you take someone at face value? Who is innocent? Who is guilty? Should the past remain the past? The plot is always one step ahead, and that final piece of the puzzle evades your grasp until the moment when the author decides to bestow it upon you.
The style of writing appropriately shifts between young Eddie's perspective and that of grown Ed, but not so much that the reader feels like they are reading about two completely different characters. Also, Tudor manages to instill an unnerving element that takes hold, and doesn't let go - the sense of unease and doubt planted in the reader's mind is the kind that lingers, making you look over your shoulder and tuck those bed-covers in just a little more tightly.
At just over 300 pages, The Chalk Man could easy be consumed by in one sitting, and I myself was fairly reluctant to put the book down - I envisage readers suffering from a reading hangover, having spent all night demolishing it's pages. Although thoroughly enjoyable, the story did flounder a bit towards the end and it was a bit difficult to keep track of all the revelations (Tudor somewhat bombarded the reader with inter-connected shocks at one point) but nonetheless, she managed to grapple it back for the finale.
The Chalk Man has been described as this year's Girl on a Train. Having been the focus of a nine-way publisher auction, it is no wonder that this book, due to be sold across 39 territories this January, is already in film talks with producers.
