Review of "The Chalk Man: A Psychological Thriller" by C.J. Tudor

The book's narrator is 42-year-old Eddie (Ed) Adams, an unmarried English teacher who still lives in his childhood home in the English village of Anderbury.



Lonely and longing for company, Ed has taken in a lodger - a pretty, twentysomething called Chloe who works at an alternative clothing shop in Boscombe.



As the story opens Ed is anxiously expecting a visit from his childhood friend, Metal Mickey, whom he hasn't seen in decades. Whatever Metal Mickey wants.....it can't be good.



The story alternates back and forth between events that occurred thirty years ago, in 1986 and what's happening now, in 2016.

*****

During the summer of 1986, twelve-year-old Eddie Adams had a little gang of friends that would meet to ride their bikes, visit each other's houses, go to the playground, traipse through the woods, and so on. The group included Eddie, Fat Gav, Metal Mickey, Hoppo......



.....and a girl called Nicky.



As the novel unfolds, we learn about each of these characters - their quirks, personalities, and home lives.

When the fair came to town that summer Eddie and his pals met on a Saturday, to attend the big event. That was the day 'everything stopped being normal.' Eddie - searching the fairgrounds for his lost wallet.....



..... happened to be nearby when the Waltzer ride snapped and threw a carriage.



The flying metal sheared half the face off a pretty teenage girl, and almost severed her leg. Pressed into service by Mr. Halloran - a new teacher in town - Eddie helped save the girl's leg.....and life.



From that moment on Eddie thought of the mutilated teen as 'Waltzer girl', and had a lasting bond with Mr. Halloran.

When Eddie was chatting with Mr. Halloran one day, the teacher - who liked to draw with pastels - described a game he played as a youth. He and his friends made up a secret code using 'chalk men', which they employed to leave covert messages for each other - like 'meet me at the park.' Eddie and his friends thought this was a nifty idea, and invented chalk men symbols to communicate with one another. Each kid had his/her own color, to identify the message writer.



This was all good fun until the day chalk men drawn in white, which was nobody's color, led the boys to the woods. There they found the body of a dead girl, dismembered and scattered around.



An Anderbury resident was blamed for the crime, but Eddie had doubts about the person's guilt.

Skip ahead to 2016, and Metal Mickey - during his visit with Ed - says he's writing a book about the girl's murder and wants Ed to help.



When Ed seems reluctant, Metal Mickey throws in the clincher - he claims to know 'who really killed the girl.'

That's the backbone of the novel, but only part of the story, since there was (and is) a lot going on in Anderbury.

In 1986, for example, drama in Anderbury included: child abuse; bullying;



an accidental drowning;



anti-abortion protests; an unwanted pregnancy; a man being beaten senseless; a pet tragedy; inappropriate romances; a suicide; and Eddie talking to ghosts.



During that year Metal Mickey distanced himself from the gang and - later on - a car accident made the estrangement permanent.

In 2016 things are pretty quiet in Ed's life, though he drinks and smokes too much.



Ed's sedate existence changes, however, when he and his friends receive envelopes containing a stick of chalk and a chalk man drawing.



These mailings are followed by Metal Mickey's visit - which leads to another death.



By the end of the book, all the story's mysteries are resolved (well.....maybe not the ghosts), and Waltzer girl's story comes full circle.

The characters in the book are three-dimensional and interesting, and the story is well-crafted and engaging. There are clever surprises that aren't over-the-top, which I appreciate. (Hyperbolic revelations at the climax of thrillers seem to be very popular lately).

All in all, this is an enjoyable psychological thriller that I'd recommend to fans of the genre.

Rating: 3.5 stars