In this amazing debut, we meet our young narrator, Ed, and his friends, growing up in small-town mid-eighties England. They're just an innocent, fun-loving group of goofy of middle grade boys, with one token girl they may all be half in love with. Life isn't perfect, but it's good. All that changes in an instant when Ed witnesses a horrific tragedy, and it alters the course of his life forever.

The narrative jumps back and forth from kid Ed to adult Ed, and both sides of his personality are expertly drawn. In fact, each character is revealed slowly and deliberately, making it impossible to guess what's coming next. This is next level writing, and I'll definitely be on board to read this author's future work. Her style is reminiscent of early Stephen King, and she also nails the creep-out factor without going overboard. My only complaint is that the pacing and believability of the ending went a little off the rails.

Perfect for fans of Stranger Things, thrillers, great writing, or anyone into 80's nostalgia pieces. I think this book will find a wide audience.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read an early copy of this novel.

My first thought when I started reading this...

Oh great. Another piece of writing involving boys during the 80's, one feisty red head girl of the bunch....and bikes.

However, having loved the recent <i>IT</> movie and already being obsessed with Stranger Things, I gave this is a shot. Because let's face it...1986 was a great year. I mean, I really don't know since I was born that year, but I've heard it was like totally gnarly and tubular.

So where do I begin. That's the thing with good books such as this, it's hard to begin, and then if you do, you risk spoilers spilling out. So I will keep this brief.

This book is very reminiscent of Stand By Me, It, Stranger Things, and any other book, show, movie involving young boys coming of age. And that's about it. I honestly wish I had read this over Halloween because holy crap, it's creepy! Some parts made me a little squeamish so I will warn you about that, as well as being prepared to laugh, cry, gasp, and read this quickly!

THE CHALK MAN the psychological suspense debut by author C.J. Tudor, I predict is going to be one of the books for 2018…a brilliant piece of fiction, and the BEST THRILLER book I have read now in 2017! This novel will keep readers guessing right up to the shocking ending. I find it is very difficult to write this review, as I don’t think I could do any of it justice. It is a “Gem” waiting to be discovered!

This is a coming of age creepy story, of a 12-year-old boy surrounded by misfortune and mystery. This novel has it all with believable characters that are fully fleshed out, and a plot that keeps on giving-the whodunnit aspect of the story is amazing, with clues released on a need-to-know basis. Wonderful story telling at it’s best.

In 1986, Eddie and his friends are just kids on the verge of adolescence, and when new teacher Mr. Halloran came to town. They spend their days biking around their sleepy little English village and looking for any taste of excitement they can get. The chalk men are their secret code; little chalk stick figures they leave for one another as messages only they can understand. But then a mysterious chalk man leads them right to a dismembered body, and nothing is ever the same. Please note: There is one highly uncomfortable bullying scene, but without a ton of graphic violence.

In 2016, Eddie(Ed) is fully grown, and thinks he's put his past behind him. But then he gets a letter in the mail, containing a single chalk stick figure. When it turns out that his friends got the same message, they think it could be a prank . . . until one of them turns up dead. That's when Eddie realizes that saving himself means finally figuring out what really happened all those years ago.

With alternating chapters from 1986 to 2016, and the story is told from Eddie's point of view, creating a focus point for these mysterious chalk drawings. Tudor creates a small town setting with an amazing set of characters: Eddie, Fat Gav, Nicky, Metal Mickey and Hoppo. Each character is unique and plays a definite role in the overall plot bound by mystery, lies and deceit. I really enjoyed the interactions between Eddie and his childhood friends which reminded me of STAND BY ME, with references to the 80’s within the storyline.

This author C.J. Tudor has a fabulous way with words. There is so much depth and knowledge to this novel, that I found I escaped to another plane, and experienced my youth all over again. One particular quote I liked was from teacher, Mr. Halloran to Eddie, and one that I live by.

“What goes around comes around.”

“You do bad things and they’ll come back eventually and bite you in the backside. That boy will get his one day. You can be sure about that.”

I also liked Ed’s quote on life:

“My life has been defined by the things I didn’t do. The things I didn’t say. I think it’s the same for a lot of people. What shapes us is not always our achievements but our omissions. Not lies; simply the truths we don’t tell.”

Once I finished the novel, I found myself thinking about my own childhood memories and how they were shaped.

The surprise ending, I never saw coming. There was so much going on at the end, that my mind went into overdrive, and if anyone interrupted me, I would explode! I was a little bit overwhelmed and confused as there were so many questions running through my mind. A very satisfying read and one that I will not forget!

My thanks to C.J. Tudor, Crown Publishing and Net Galley for the ARC.

Loved this debut thriller mainly because it was so unpredictable! Unlike most, somewhere near the end you may think you have things figured out, but certainly not this one! Going back and forth in time from 1986 to 2016, we see Eddie and his friends just being kids, going to the park, riding bikes, and yikes...finding a headless body! But there is much more to this mystery than just who killed her and why. Delving into the town's (and society's) issues, Tudor explores the timeless themes of sin, redemption, betrayal, deception, guilt, and fear. It's not until the final page that you can truly breathe a sigh of relief that the mysteries are solved. Might keep you up till all hours of the night! So good!

One of my favorite book bloggers went nuts over this story. After reading her praise, I immediately went to NetGalley with my fingers and toes crossed that I would get approved. And thanks to the Book Gods, I got to experience this delectable little number before its release.

As a book junkie, I've read my fair share of mystery thrillers. After reading a couple dozen (at the very least), I admittedly tend to be a tough critic especially towards this genre. I hardly (if ever) give thrillers five star ratings for many reasons. My biggest issue is they tend to become predictable once you've devoured so many. However, The Chalk Man was the freshest breath of thriller air I've had in quite a long, long time.

Tudor tells us a magnificent story from two perspectives, then and now. While this view has been done by many, I feel like Tudor easily mastered and perfected this manner of story telling. Each side was riveting and held so many clues and secrets that made it impossible to put the story. The little stinker (Tudor) would also reveal something decently shocking and make you wait a whole chapter before addressing the item revealed. Which surely encouraged me to keep going and going.

Tudor is clearly into some type of voodoo, because his ability to create and develop characters was magical. This book introduces you to numerous people. Each character presented to the reader had their own personality types, struggles, and characteristics. This was particularly impressive to me since we met a good amount of people in this story.

Overall, I am not trying to tell you much about the plot. I just want you to know, you should be prepared for some delectable twists and turns. This story is without a doubt going to be one of the most talked about Mystery Thrillers of 2018. Easily. And I am already anticipating more stories from this great mind of Tudor's.

Wow, love that ending! I really enjoyed the part of the story set in the 80s. Took me back to my childhood, riding bikes around the neighborhood and playing in the woods. Stayed up late finishing this in one day! Definitely recommend.

I love, love, loved The Chalk Man. I won’t summarize the story itself, because no summarization of it within a few lines would do justice to this complex tale.

I enjoyed the character development. Every character is distinctly depicted and easy to fathom as a real-life person.

The book moves back and forth between Eddie as a twelve-year-old in 1986 and Ed as an adult in 2016. Those transitions were clearly done, and I was never confused as to the time period being written about.

Many times during the course of the book, I was clueless as to who did what, although not in a bad way. The twists and side stories were intriguing and kept my interest throughout. It is suspenseful and fast paced to say the least; it becomes even more suspenseful as the story rolls on. The ending was a great conclusion, tying up any and all loose ends.

This book completely captured me. I literally could not put it down and kept reading from start to about 85% finished, when my eyelids would not stay open another page longer; I could not fight sleep and had to finish it in the morning.

It is remarkable that this is a first novel by Ms. Tudor. She writes like a pro. Well done, Ms. Tudor. I would give this book more than five stars if I could; it was terrific. A sincere thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review The Chalk Man.

4.5 stars

I want to be careful what I say because I don't want to give anything away. This is an extremely compelling and entertaining thriller. I look forward to reading more from this author. The characters and chapters are so well written, I fell asleep with the book next to me as I continually bargained with my eyelids to stay open, "...just one more chapter... okay just this next one..." I didn't finish it last night but I woke up this morning and immediately picked up where I left off. It's been a while since I've been that entertained by a book. At the same time, I don't want to build the book up too much because if you pick it up thinking it's going to change your life, you might be disappointed. It's a book, it's job is to thrill you, and it does it's job very, very well. The characters and situations are so well-realized and descriptive that it was almost like seeing a movie.

So there. I've told you absolutely nothing about the plot, because I don't want to give anything away or spoil anything. You're welcome.

For me, The Chalk Man, is a perfect example of how hype can ruin your reading experience. I have seen several absolutely glowing reviews of this book and I was prepared for it to be one of my new favorite books of the year. Unfortunately, it fell far short of my expectations.
Let’s start with what I did like. I really like Tudor’s writing style. This is the author’s debut novel and her writing already feels distinctive. I also am a big fan of multiple timelines and I thought it was done pretty well here.

The story was told in Eddie’s 1st person POV and I wish I could say that gave me a connection to him, but it didn’t. I never really cared that much about him. He was basically the only character in the book that had much character development and it just didn’t really do it for me. I didn’t care about his childhood friends in either timeline or his odd relationship with his lodger, Chloe.
Even though I liked the writing, I felt bored a great deal of the time. Things are revealed very, very slowly and don’t pick up until close to the end. There is a nice little twist at the end, but I felt that there were so many clues dropped into the backstory to make sure the twist made sense that it did not even come as a big surprise. I also figured out the resolution to the main mystery awhile before it was revealed.

Overall, The Chalk Man was not a bad book, but it definitely fell short of the hype for me. The slow pace, characters I didn’t really care about, and a twist with very little pay-off left me pretty disappointed. However, the author’s writing style is pretty much what made this book for me and I know I will be reading more from her in the future.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 3 Stars

SOOOOO GOOD!!
Wish I could give more than 5 stars :)

This is one of those reviews where I just don't want to say too much about the plot or the characters. I just don't think I could do any of it justice. What I want to do is just my experience with this book, and hopefully it will tweak your interest enough to grab a copy yourself....

This book came out swinging right from the first chapter and didn't let up until the last. For sure a solid thriller, but it is oh so much more as well.

Highly addictive, intense, and gripping, I couldn't help but think of the amazing film 'Stand By Me'.
The feel of that time period is very present in the chapters dedicated to the past and I found myself deeply invested. I love a book that can 'take me away' from my life, even for a few chapters.

C.J. Tudor is definitely on my radar and her next book can't come fast enough!

I highly recommend to anyone who loves a good mystery and enjoys being taken for a wild ride.

ARC provided by NetGalley

A simmering suspense novel about a group of childhood friends who devise chalked symbols to communicate with each other, but when those same chalked symbols are high-jacked by a murderer, their lives are changed forever. The friends are reunited as adults when events from the past seem to repeat themselves in unfathomable ways.

Superb thriller.

Thank you, netgalley, for the e-review edition.

I give this 4.5 stars.

Sometimes you see a bunch of your Goodreads friends raving about a book, and you hope that you'll find it just as good as they did. In the case of C.J. Tudor's terrific debut thriller, The Chalk Man, that definitely was the case for me.

"Personally, I have found that it is much better to take your fears, lock them up in a nice, tightly shut box and shove them into the deepest, darkest corner of your mind."

In the summer of 1986, Eddie and his four best friends—Hoppo, Fat Gav, Metal Mickey, and Nicky (even though she was a girl)—were on the cusp of adolescence. They bike around, commit mischief, tease each other, and try to avoid Mickey's older brother and his bullying friends. It seems like a magical summer—they even leave coded messages in chalk for each other to spell out their plans or their whereabouts.

But the idyllic time seems to be ending, as the adults around them wind up in the midst of some trouble, and tragedies strike close to home. Then one day, a strange chalk man leads them to a dismembered body in the woods. Nothing is ever the same again.

Thirty years later, Ed is still living in his childhood home. He'd like to think that he's put the events of that summer behind him, but the fact is, he's never been able to settle down into a relationship, he still spends time with Gav and Hoppo, and he teaches at his old school. When he gets an anonymous letter with a chalk man in it, it dredges up those memories, as does the return of an old friend who had seemingly gone away. And when he finds out that all of his friends received a similar letter, he realizes that perhaps not everything was tied up as neatly as they thought all those years ago.

Are there real answers to be found, and if so, what good would it do to find them? Will solving the mystery put everyone's demons to rest and allow them to get on with their lives, or will it put them in danger? Can we ever recapture our childhood innocence after it has been shattered?

The Chalk Man hooked me from the very first page and didn't let go. It evoked a little bit of the nostalgic feelings of Stand By Me, with a little more mystery and violence, and a lot of heart. There's a lot going on in this book, lots of twists and turns to keep you guessing and lots of interesting characters to fascinate and (perhaps) distract you. Tudor is a terrific storyteller, and it's so hard to believe this is her debut novel, because the writing is so self-assured.

Like with any thriller, I always suspect everyone, and while I was a little surprised at certain twists, and I didn't love every choice Tudor made, I thought this was a great read, one that made me wish I had just a few minutes more to linger over the book every time I picked it up. Believe me, this is one you'll want to read before everyone else starts talking about it.

NetGalley and Crown Publishing provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

The Chalk Man is a delightfully twisted oldschool thriller that could somehow be a cross between an early Stephen King novel and an episode of Midsommer Murders. In a small town in 1980s England, a series of events occurs in the life of 12-year-old Eddie Adams - a beautiful girl is injured in a freak accident at a local fair; a mysterious new teacher arrives in town; a girl will soon be found murdered; and in the middle of it all, one of Eddie's friends receives a bucket of chalk as a birthday gift.

Though it's a comparatively short thriller (not even 300 pages), CJ Tudor packs a whole lot into this book. There are more background characters and subplots than you'd initially expect, and the result is a fast-paced, addicting, plot-driven novel that's nearly impossible to put down once you start reading. I'm left with absolutely no doubt as to why this is being heralded as one of the first big thrillers of 2018. Tudor is going to be a name to look out for.

At first I was sure this was going to be a 5 star read, but (without getting into spoiler territory) I wasn't entirely satisfied with the ending... I found a lot of it predictable and I thought there were too many plot points conveniently tied up all at once. It's one of those endings that's a bit too neat and doesn't leave much to the imagination. I loved reading this, but I doubt it will stay with me years from now. That said, it's a must-read for anyone who likes their mysteries creepy and addicting. I dare you not to fly through this once you pick it up.

While it's not an outright horror novel, this book flirts with horror more than your average thriller, so proceed with caution. NB triggers for rape and gore.

The Chalk Man is a dark, compelling, chilling and suspenseful psychological thriller that grabbed our attention right from the very start and held on right until the very last page. This one was a winner for all of us that we all thoroughly enjoyed and it brought some excitement into our discussion.

C. J Tudor does a great job here creating some realistic and interesting well-developed characters here with this very cleverly well-written story. There were a few things going on here with these characters that had us guessing at how they were connected to the mystery of this story. This created an interesting discussion throughout this one.

The story alternates between the past and present as we learn how the past catches up to our main character Eddie. We all loved the chapter-ending cliffhangers that really added to the suspense of the story. We also really enjoyed the references to the 80’s within the storyline and loved the gang of kids riding around on their bikes to see what excitement they can get themselves into and it brought back a sense of time for some of us to the days we grew up and gave us a warm feeling. However, that’s where the warm feeling ended as there were some not so innocent things going on in this small village leaving us guessing what secrets and evil is lurking right up to the end.

It is worth mentioning that there is one highly uncomfortable bullying scene that disturbed us all. Other than that, we found it was the way the author had the ability to scare and creep us out with words without a whole lot of all the gory details for that we applaud her and we found that is a nice change from your typical thriller. We highly recommend

Expected Date of Publication: January 9th, 2018

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Crown Publishing, and C. J. Tudor for the opportunity to read a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Traveling Sisters Reviews can be found on our sister blog:
http://www.twogirlslostinacouleereadi...

5 Stars.

Now This is How You do It!!

C.J. Tudor has written One of the Best Thrillers of the YEAR my friends.  If there is one mystery you decide to pick up - it should be this one!!

Reminiscent of Stephen King’s The Body - known to most people as the movie Stand By Me - “The Chalk Man” is a story about 5 young friends: (four boys and a girl), who go through an experience at the cusp of adolescence, something fierce and terrifying. Something that haunts them for the rest of their lives.

As kids in 1986, they live life freely: hanging out at the playground, riding bikes, sending coded messages to each other using different colored chalk. And then they discover something and it’s bad.  It changes everything.

Fast forward to 2016 and everyone is quite grown up. Eddie known known as Ed, (one of the kids who made the discovery) is a teacher, living in the house he grew up in. The past haunts him, as it does the rest of the friends who stayed behind, including Gav and Hoppo. If only the past stayed in the past. Yet bad things: they keep happening. And somehow, Chalk Men keep appearing and Ed can’t figure out how or why. He knows it means something. He and the gang have to figure it out even if it’s the last thing they want. And even if it spells trouble.

“The Chalk Men” reads like an old school mystery.. I felt like I was back in the 80’s, living life, hanging out with my friends after school.. everything felt really familiar - well, except for the bad stuff that kept happening to Eddie, Gav, Nikki, Hoppo and Mike. Yeah that stuff? It never happened to me. (LOL!!)

This book wowed me big time. I couldn’t tear myself away. The characters, they felt like friends. Each one vivid, rich, alive... And what the kids discover? All I can say, I don’t know how they slept at night.. How it impacts them as adults and what happens to them then? Unfrakkinbelievable. C.J. Tudor knocked me for a loop. I didn’t see it coming. And I tried, believe you, me.

So what else can I tell you? This is a suspense novel you absolutely MUST-READ. If you don’t, you are missing out on one of the best mysteries out there.

This was a traveling sister read. It included Brenda, Norma, Diane, Melisa and Lindsay.

Thank you to NetGalley, Crown Publishing and C.J. Tudor for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Published on NetGalley, Goodreads, Twitter and Facebook on 11.4.17.
*Will be published on Amazon on 1.9.18.

Back in 1986 Eddie and his friends were typical kids always looking for something new to do to entertain themselves. They spent their time biking around the town and avoiding the bullies in the neighborhood that summer. The group came up with a secret code using chalk figures that they used to communicate until the day that same chalk led them to a dead body.

Now Eddie and his friends are adults and have put the past behind them until one day Eddie gets a letter with a chalk figure on it. Contacting his old buddies he finds that they have received the same and wonder if it’s a prank until one of them turns up dead. It soon becomes apparent to find out what is going on now they need to take a look at just what happened in the past.

The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor is a thriller read that almost immediately reminded me of stories I’ve read by Stephen King so it didn’t take me long to become engrossed in this novel. The story is told by alternating the chapters between current time with Eddie as an adult and flashing back to 1986 when he and his friends were kids.

The flashing back to the eighties also was a favorite of mine really bringing that era to life. The story was easy to follow along with on both timelines as the guessing begins as to what happened in either. I would warn though that there was a scene in the past that was rather cringe worthy and graphic that may bother some readers, almost needing a rape warning for it.

This story was one that makes me think of the comparison to an onion in which you need to peel back the layers to find out the truth and what had happened. It kept me quite engaged with the characters and crimes to be solved all throughout with a twinge of horror mixed in the thrilling tale. In the end I’d rate this at 4.5 stars and I’d definitely recommend checking this one out.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

I received an ARC via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. There is much to recommend about this book. First and foremost, the book is exceptionally well-plotted. There are the mysteries you know are being slowly revealed, and then there are the ones you did not even know were mysteries until the answers were presented. The flipping back and forth between 1986 and 2016 is used to great effect, providing a steady diet of mini-cliffhangers until the final pages. Nothing about the plotting or the writing feels like the work of a debut author.

I have to admit I didn’t love the book in the way that some of the other reviewers have. There’s an emotional distance—probably deliberate—between the main character and the reader that kept me from getting fully absorbed in the story. Still, the book is impressive and will hold your interest throughout. Recommended.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5 stars!

This novel was the perfect Traveling Sisters Read which I read along with Brenda, Lindsay, Diane, Rita, Susanne and Melisa - what an excellent choice to read for Halloween!

THE CHALK MAN is a debut psychological thriller novel by C. J. TUDOR that is a chilling, suspenseful, gripping, and a spooky good read that had a sinister feel to it which had me flipping those pages as fast as I could to find out who or what was behind all those mysterious chalk men.   

C. J. TUDOR delivers a unique and cleverly written story here with realistic and well-developed characters that all brought a mysterious and interesting aspect to this story for me.  There is a constant sense of foreboding surrounding the whole idea of who or what the mysterious chalk men were or represented which did keep me puzzled and guessing throughout this whole story.

The story flips between flashbacks from 1986 and present day of 2016 and I loved the younger voice of our main character, Eddie and really enjoyed how the story was told to us through his childhood eyes. I really enjoyed the interactions between Eddie and his childhood friends which kind of had a STAND BY ME vibe to it for me and I also really liked the references to the 80’s within the storyline.   

Just a word of caution as there was one highly uncomfortable and disturbing bullying scene that took me a little by surprise but other than that one scene the author does a fantastic job at scaring you with words and not through graphic violent scenes.

To sum it all up it was an enjoyable, fun, fast-paced, and an entertaining read which had that creepy good vibe going on without all the gory details. Would highly recommend!!

Expected Date of Publication:   January 9th, 2018

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Crown Publishing, and C. J. Tudor for the opportunity to read a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

The author titled each chapter with the year time-stamped. It saved valuable time that would have been lost as a consequence of the scenes interchanging between 1986 and 2016. I liked that. Made for smooth reading. The storyline is told from the main protagonist, Eddie. It was filled with suspense as each scene took me unsuspectingly further into the chilling darkness that lay ahead.

Back in 86', twelve-year-old Eddie Adams was part of his own Rat Pack: Gav, Mickey, Hoppo and Nicky. Nicky being the only girl. They were a tight group. It was summer in Anderbury, England and what's more, school was out. Living in their own world by the root of their imagination with energy that never quit. At that age, anything seemed possible. On top of the world.

Things were really looking up as a fair had come to town. Naturally, the group all went. Eddie became separated from his friends and witnessed a horrific accident. A Waltzer carriage separated from its base and flew into the midway. A girl, wrong place wrong time, was horribly mutilated. Eddie and a teacher from his school helped keep the victim alive till medical assistance arrived. It was a gory scene.

Not letting go, the repercussions of that night would deeply impact all of their young lives forever. Days that loomed ahead would take them on a journey they were completely unprepared for. After so many twists and turns, finally, culminating with an astounding ending that threw me off balance. One, I never saw coming.

This ARC was received from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Gratitude sent to Crown Publishing for allowing this pre-release made available.

NO SPOILERS.... NONE.... NOT EVEN TINY ONES!

If more mystery suspense books were written like this one -- I’d read them more often than I do!!!!!

ABSOLUTE FAVORITE MYSTERY SUSPENSE novel I’ve read all year!!!!!

There is something that feels very different about this book - than other mystery thrillers I’ve read. Wholesome and creepy! Warmth with gore? How is it possible?
At times the storytelling is humorous - clever - and charming - other times - my goodness I was shaking my head....( as in YUCK, YIKES & WRONG...just WRONG)......
But most of the time —