Review | The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor

Eddie and his friends spent their summer in 1986 leaving chalk stick figures drawings as messages for each other. But things changed when the chalk drawing led them to a dead body. Thirty years later, adult Eddie receives a letter with a chalk stick figure drawing. He reconnects with his childhood friends in order to solve the mystery of a 30-year-old murder and the chalk man. But things are not at all what it seems.

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.

Taking place in 1986 and 2016, The Chalk Man is reminiscent of Stephen King’s It but never fully embraces the mystery of the murder. I like the past story where everyone seems to be hiding a secret – enough to make you wonder where it might lead. The reveal of characters’ lives are insightful especially when it forces them to delve into issues that are not easy to talk about – abuse, homophobia, bigotry. Eddie seems to be a normal 12-year-old boy, but there is something sinister about his personality which intrigues me.

Unfortunately, the present story is a huge letdown. Eddie as an adult is bland and weirdly self-conscious. When we finally realise the kind of person he really is, it’s too little too late. The mystery is resolved by having every character do something bad leading to something worse, and the denouement is disappointingly anti-climactic. What could have been an interesting exploration of a character’s dark side is instead revealed like a twist. I don’t mind twists, but it only works if there is a build up to it that make sense for the story. Here, it’s not executed to its full potential. However, I found the writing compelling enough to make me interested in reading the author’s future books.