This one actually was one of the Book of the Month club releases for December so many of you might have read them already.

I loved this book. The description sounds a lot like Stephen King's, "The Stand", which apparently is a turn off for several people. I've never read any of King, so I can't comment on what some readers considered blatant ripoffs, including some character names.

Essentially, this is the story of a group of young friends living in a sleepy English village in the 1980s. The four boys and one girl (sounds a lot like "It" there from what I know of that novel) are all wrestling with certain demons from abusive parents to a traumatizing experience at a summer fair. The book is about how the events of a year change their lives and how certain actions they took changed the course of other people's lives as well.

The action toggles back and forth from the past to the present in 2016. I admit that I didn't pick up on what all the twists were (and there are a lot), which was a welcome change. This was a real page turner that kept me engrossed from beginning to end.

I know I am in the minority here but I didn't much care for this one. I had trouble keeping the characters straight and stayed lost most of the time. It could just be me and the mood I was in.

I was really excited about this novel, I mean really excited and I think I would have liked it more had the author not broken up the text so often between the present and the past. The novel switches between the years 1986 and 2016 sporadically, as the characters were teenagers and then as they are middle age. Not every book thrives on having the two sides narrated this way and I feel this novel suffered because of it.

I liked the story that was set in 1986 when Eddie and his “gang” were teens and life was easy. This summer would be their first experience attending the midway by themselves and they were ready. They were having a fantastic time at the fair when suddenly Eddie realized that he had lost his wallet. He told the others to continue on without him while he backtracked his steps. He soon found himself beside Mr. Halloran, the new schoolteacher and in front of one of the rides, The Waltzer. This afternoon’s events would mark the beginning of a chain-of-events that would grip the teens lives in the years to come.

Moments later, blood and destruction laid all around Eddie as he tried to come to grips as to what exactly transpired. So much for relaxing as screaming and chaos overtakes the scene. I was creeped out by Mr. Halloran the minute Eddie set eyes on him by the ride. His mannerism, the way he held himself, and what he said didn’t settle right with me. I found myself reading slowly any passage that mentioned his name. Maybe he was just a loner, maybe he was just odd or perhaps there was nothing wrong with him but I just thought there was, nevertheless he rubbed me the wrong way.

It was an extraordinary summer, the summer of 1986, as the teens also uncover a body in the forest. They soon realized this just wasn’t an ordinary body but one that held a unique story. The teens had been using chalk to communicate with each other, they had created their own secret language and now this chalk helped lead them to the body.

Fast forward to 2016 and the teens are in their early forties. The summer of 1986 has never really gone away and now, someone is bringing it back to life. I liked how we learn more information about the past and individual’s true colors were shining through. It’s funny how some individuals never change and how some people think they have changed but they haven’t. I enjoyed the novel but I feel that I missed out on some of the excitement.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for providing me a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion.

30 years ago strange things happened in the village where Eddie and his friends lived including a series of chalk figures leading to a dead girl. The same type of chalk figures the boys had been using for their secret communication. 30 years later Eddie gets a note and a visit from an old friend. bringing up the old incident. As the book fills in the events of the past and discloses the current events a very different picture emerges of the village and of Eddie and his friends. This book is indeed a mystery and there are definitely twists throughout but the suspense is low-key as the reader is gently guided through the maze of intentions and actions by Ms Tudor's excellent writing.

This was such a good thriller. I am not even kidding when I say that this is one of my favorite thrillers and I would be hard-pressed to find another that can match up to it. I absolutely loved the plot. It was complex and kept the reader on their toes as it flitted from past and present. There's murder and gossip and rumors and evil - but whether that evil is supernatural or man-made is something the reader has to figure out on their own. I was caught up in the revelations of the past more than the way things were coming together in the future, but this in no way took away from the story. I loved reading about the younger versions of all of the characters as well as how they grew up. There were so many twists and turns that this novel took, and it definitely brought all of the thrills. There were points when I was too scared to continue reading without the lights on! This was such an intricate and beautifully written piece of work, with a tense story line and the perfect characters and setting for such a disturbing tale. Anyone who loves thrillers would not be disappointed with this book! I will definitely be giving this a 5/5 stars and would recommend it to anyone and everyone! I can't wait to see what this author will come up with next!

For being a debut novel, the author certainly knows how to write something so twisted. I love having to read present and past scenes. It’s a better way to understand the plot and a better way to understand the character.

It was well though out and it it kept me on my toes the whole time I was reading it. In a way it was sorta nostalgic because it made me think the Losers Club from the novel IT. You’ll know what I mean when you read the book.

I would have gave it 5 stars but it was one thing that kinda left me iffy. I’m left with so many unanswered questions that i still didn’t understand and feel like something isn’t right.

Great book! Definitely would recommend if your into suspense and mystery.

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Crown Publishing and CJ Tudor for the opportunity to read this debut book - wonderful!

This story is told from the viewpoint of Eddie in two different timeframes - 1986 and 2016. In 1986, Eddie was in a group of friends in a small town with all that comes of growing up - bullying, family issues, school, religion. They develop a method of communicating with each other by drawing chalk men - but one day, the chalk men lead them to a gruesome discovery. In 2016, Ed is still living in his family home, teaching school in town, still friends with some of the group. But the past has a way of never staying in the past.

There are so many twists in this book that I'm keeping my review short and sweet as to not spoil anything. This book does contain some gruesome scenes but I never saw the twists coming - especially the ending. Can't wait to read more from this author!

Why am I always so contrary? The Chalk Man arrived with a lot of pre-hype. I'm finding, with some exceptions, the books the mainstream world tells me I should love are inevitably the books that make me shrug indifferently at the end. I certainly didn't hate the book, but I didn't love it either.

Let's start with the genre. The pre-release hype claimed this book to be a serial killer thriller. It's really not, at least not in the traditional sense. This is more literary suspense with a high creepiness factor. The serial killer aspect is an often obscured undercurrent. For the most part, the focus is on the oddness of the characters in their day-to-day lives.

The story is told in alternating timelines, both from Eddie's perspective. The present timeline is written in first person present tense, and the past timeline is first person past tense. The transitions are clear and work well for the story's purposes.

The past timeline is a coming of age story, centered around childhood friends in a town where everyone is a little strange. (Putting it mildly.) These parts, to me, felt more fluid and compelling. The present timeline didn't fully engage me until right near the end. I found the characters, as adults, totally unlikable. Mostly, they annoyed me more than they intrigued me.

While reading, you need to pay close attention to the little details in order to put the story together. Yet, some details are irrelevant, tossed in for no particular reason at all. And some things wind up feeling unfinished or, as Eddie admits about his own story, there are plot holes.

I have immense respect for the author's vision with this story but I just can't jump on the bandwagon with the other readers who have loved it.

Now that I'm home from vacation and have my laptop, I can finally review The Chalk Man, which was one of my most anticipated 2018 releases!

In 1986, Eddie and his group of friends start using chalk as a way to communicate with each other - drawing stick men in different colors with different symbols to mean different things. When a deaths happen in their small town and chalk men begin appearing that weren't drawn by Eddie and his friends, nothing is ever the same and their group of friends fractures.

Now, in 2016, Ed is still living in the same town, but has moved on from the events that happened in his past. His world is turned upside-down when he receives a drawing of a chalk stick figure in the mail. Unsure where it came from, he contacts his old friends, only to learn that they all also received similar letters. When one of them dies, Ed is worried his past is coming back to haunt him.

I was SO EXCITED to read this book, especially because I'd heard such wonderful things about it from many of my fellow bloggers! I dove in and was immediately hooked. The premise really intrigued me, and I could tell from the beginning of the book that there were events happening in both the past and present that the author was building to.

The Chalk Man was told in alternating timelines, switching back and forth between 1986 and the present day. While this was an interesting way to tell both stories, I did find that it took me out of the story each time the timeline switched - it made the book easy to put down at each timeline switch.

I really enjoyed the resolution and end of the book, and the last line had me reeling! The book wasn't packed with twists and turns, but had a few throughout the book until the grand finale, which I liked. I liked the fact that more and more details were revealed as the book progressed, and the reader found things out slowly instead of being given all of the details of the events that transpired in 1986 right up front.

All in all, I enjoyed the book and rated it 4 stars. If you're looking for a book that will keep you wondering "what happened?" as you read, this is a great choice for you! I'd like to thank Netgalley, Crown Publishing, and C.J. Tudor for an advanced copy of the book. It was my pleasure to provide an honest review!

A dark and mysterious tale. This book reminded me of Stand By Me. I'm sure this isn't the first time the author has heard this comparison and it won't be the last. However, it was a well written novel.

Told in alternating forms, chapters jumping between 1986 and 2016. This novel centers around a group of adolescents who use chalk men to communicate. Only they know what the symbols mean. Until one day a mysterious chalk man appears that no one admits to. This leads the group to a body in the woods and things are never the same.

The novel is told from one point of view. Eddie is a love-able loser that was part of the gang who used chalk men to communicate. However, now it's 2016 and after receiving a letter in the mail with a chalk man, he knows someone is summoning himself and his friends from their childhood days to solve the mysterious death that took place in 1986.

There is no more tiresome endorsement for a new book than “the next Gone Girl.” There is no such thing. Its success was that it was not formulaic, any attempt to repeat that is essentially writing to formula. Happily, first-time author C. J. Tudor is not trying to write the next Gone Girl and so succeeds in writing something wonderful, fresh, and dynamic. The Chalk Man goes back in forth between 1986 and 2016, between Eddie as a child and as an adult.

Eddie and his friends discover a young woman in the woods, murdered and her body chopped up and cast about the woods. Her head is never found, but she is identified as Elisa, a teen who Eddie and a local high school teacher named Mr. Halloran saved with first aid after a horrific accident at the fair earlier in the year.

It’s a trying time for Eddie. He is being bullied by his friend’s older brother, his mother is the target of fanatical anti-choice protesters. He has a crush on his friend Nicky whom he thinks is abused by her fanatical father Rev. Martin. Martin is the person leading the persecution of his mother. When the Rev. is attacked, his father is a suspect in a savage attack on him that leaves him catatonic even thirty years later.

There are many crimes. Who stole Sean’s bike which led to his death? Who beat Rev. Martin? Who killed Elisa? Who killed Mickey? Who spiked the punch that led to his friend Gav being in a wheelchair for the rest of his life? Who is Chloe and why is she spying on him? So many questions and they are answered slowly, bit by bit, and always fairly.

I loved The Chalk Man. I had not planned to read it until January because I am so far behind after a bad cold that kept me from reading, but it slipped off my stack of books and when I picked it up, I read the first paragraph and could not put it down. It’s that good.

I like the way the story unfolds, the mysteries accumulate and fester under the surface. There’s real suspense and sometimes Tudor plays with her readers, such as the time Eddie comes home and finds the door unlocked, his tenant missing, and blood on the floor. It isn’t what you think! Eddie as a narrator is wise and foolish, he is empathetic and sometimes hard and unbending. He is harsher in judging himself than he is with others. I like him, though he’s definitely a bit off.

I love the complexity of The Chalk Man and how the solutions are rooted in human nature. They make sense. This may be Tudor’s first, but she writes with confidence. I look forward to many more by her in the future.

The Chalk Man will be published January 9th. I received an Advance Reading Copy from the publisher through NetGalley and a drawing at Shelf Awareness.

The Chalk Man is an engrossing story of a group of friends who are led by a code of their own creation to discover a dismembered body. Jumping back and forth through time the reader is led to a startling conclusion in this stellar debut.

"Better to be a fool than an angel."

It's 1986 and Eddie Adams and his group of friends are celebrating the last few days of summer exploring their small English town. After a teacher shares that he and his friends used to communicate through coded chalk drawings, Eddie and his friends soon do the same. However, after a tragic event and a gruesome discovery, the lives of Eddie and his teacher, Mr. Halloran, are suddenly intertwined.

Thirty years later, Ed is now a school teacher himself. After receiving a mysterious note in the mail with a single chalk drawing, Ed reconnects with his childhood friends and intrigue builds. The Chalk Man has returned. But who is he?

C.J. Tudor's "The Chalk Man" is an incredibly clever concept and a solid debut novel. It left me wanting a little more, but the mystery and suspense are definitely there.

"Look out for the chalk men."

The novel reminded me a lot of Stephen King's "IT" - a group of kids (including the sole red-headed female) fighting against an overarching bad guy. In addition to being thrillers, they're both coming of age stories. Except in "The Chalk Man," they're not facing Pennywise.

If you're looking for a mystery this winter, "The Chalk Man" is definitely something to check out. Many chapters end on cliffhangers so you fly through the pages. It also focused heavily on the childhoods of these characters.

I received an advance copy of "The Chalk Man" in exchange for an honest review. "The Chalk Man" is available January 9, 2018.

Eddie and his friends are typical kids enjoying their summer vacation by going to the local fair when a tragic event changes everything. The story of that fateful summer and the effect it had on them twenty years later was compelling and eerie, however the ending disturbed me so it took me two days to figure out what to write in my review.

In the summer of 1986, 12 year old Eddie, and his four best friends, come up with a cool way to send secret messages. Inspired by a new albino teacher, who gives Eddie the idea, Eddie and his friends use chalk in different colors to talk to each other. The summer starts off with an accident that maims a local girl. Eddie and the albino teacher are the ones to find and save her, leading to a sort of friendship. Eddie and his friends are the victims of a group of bullies and the albino man, known to the kids as The Chalk Man, assures Eddie they will be punished one way or another in time. It seems odd when the head bully actually drowns. Even more strange is when a bunch of chalk man drawings lead Eddie and his friends to a dismembered girl in the woods.

In 2016, Eddie and his friends are all grown. Ed (as he is now known) is an English teacher living a solitary and quiet life. Eddie finds himself faced with his past and the events of that summer when he receives a letter that he hopes is a joke. When an old friend comes knocking and then goes missing Ed learns that something in his past doesn’t want to be left behind.

This story flips between now and then giving us a good idea of why Eddie is single and trying to live a quiet life. I liked both his present and his past story-lines equally. This story captures being a kid in the 80’s pretty well with riding bikes and hanging out without really doing much. The meet-ups were the most important thing about being a kid and these chalk drawings allow them to tell each other where to meet without letting the bullies (and their parents) know where they were going.

There were a few scenes in this story that really shocked me. I mean, these bullies are the real deal and why we are all so scared for our kids now-a-days. I can’t imagine a childhood that includes a dead body, but just like in The Body (by Stephen King), all of these kids are changed after the discovery.

My only issues with this story would be the reveals right before the end that happen surrounding Ed’s current residence. There was one too many coincidences there. I would have also liked to learn more about the chalk drawings themselves. I was all sold on the idea, but I would have liked more descriptions of how the kids used them to communicate.

I think this is a solid psychological thriller that is really intricate. The characters in this story are well fleshed out and each one is important to the story. THE CHALK MAN is almost a must read for thriller fans. All of those twists and the big reveal at the end really surprised me. They kept me thinking about this book long after I finished the last page.

2.5-3 STARS!
I didn't love it but I didn't hate it either... I just felt meh.

For a debut novel, I thought that this was really well written. C.J. Tudor is a new to me author that I will definitely keep an eye on.

"Sometimes, Ed... it's better not to know all the answers."

Everything you need to know about the book is in the blurb... I enjoy thrillers when they keep you guessing and thinking and wondering throughout.

Things I liked...
I enjoyed the alternating time POV's from 1986 to 2016 and thought that the use of the chalk men as messages was different. I really enjoyed their friendship and watching them as children to how different they were in 2016—how their past and everything that happened shaped who they would become as adults.

As far as things I didn't like... The reason I feel so meh is because it didn't WOW me... it was just okay. I guess I was hoping for more heart racing scenes, more scenes that evoked fear in me or maybe that whole shock and awe feeling that I felt was missing. Maybe if the pacing was a little faster, it wouldn't have felt so flat in some parts of the book. I think when it comes down to it, I wish that some things weren't as predictible and that there were more twists—that the reader was able to experience more of the surprise effect to the very end.

OMG THIS BOOK WAS SO GOOD IT KEPT ME ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT THE WHOLE TIME !

So I just realized i was supposed to come back and do ACTUAL review of this but I forgot so here I am.

THIS BECAME ONE OF MY FAVORITE READS THIS YEAR ! It follows Eddie in the years 1986 and 2016. In the summer of 1986 Eddie and his friends used chalk mans to communicate with each other and Thank one of these chalk men leads to a dead body.

I enjoyed the back and forth of the times I know a lot of people don’t like when books are like that but those are my favorite parts in books.

This book had so much suspense. I didn’t have any clue on who did what literally until Eddie found out and when we both did I was so SHOOK ! (Idk why I just used that saying I don’t even like it ) I was so shocked and was not even expecting the person who was the accused.

If you love thriller , suspenseful books THE CHALK MAN is the one for you. I didn’t go into much detail because I don’t want to spoil anything but for sure this book kept me on the edge of my seat. I had to keep reading and finding out what happens next. There were so many plot twists ! Must read guys. Get your copy on JANUARY 9, 2018

I waffled a bit on what rating to give Chalk Men, but in the end decided on 3.5 stars, which puts me in the clear minority of this book. I was REALLY excited to read this (maybe the hype was too great?), but in the end, I was like “Ok, that was good, but definitely not as great as other readers are gushing about”. There are things that I really liked, and some things that I felt were just there. This is not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, because I did. Just not as much as others, I suppose.

Let’s start with the good. I really liked the writing and look forward to more books by Tudor. This was a debut novel, and there is some serious potential happening here. The characterization was amazing. I felt like I knew Eddie, Fat Gav, Hoppo and Metal Mickey. They were just so real. I also really, really liked Eddie as the narrator. I found him rather humorous and often found myself laughing at this dark, twisty tale. Finally, the story was original and most of the twists and turns were surprises. This always earns bonus stars with me because I read so many books in this genre that it is very hard to keep me guessing.

Now, onto the “less good”. For such a short book, this story took entirely too long to develop. For 288 pages, this one should have come out of the gate swinging and never let up on the gas until the end. Some may classify this as a “slow burn” but it felt more “dragged out” to me. And I do like myself a slow burn, but Chalk Men needed more “petal to the medal”. Then, when you really got to the meat and potatoes of it all and the whodunit, it was a bit of a letdown, although there was a nice little surprise at the end that made me smile and nod knowingly.

I do believe that most readers will find this book to be a 4-5 star read and while I did enjoy it, it just wasn’t as strong as I would have hoped.

So, The Chalk Man. What can I say? The concept sounds great. When I Read the blurb for this, I was excited. Everyone's reviews were great. "The twist." That's actually what got me to finish this book. The twist at the end. Well, in truth, for me at least, just getting through the first 40% of the book took me weeks. It was BORING. I love a coming of age story. Why? The kids. Boys or girls. Doesn't matter, because I was a tomboy. So I identify with both. Maybe not the whole doll thing, because they're just creepy, but everything else...yeah! These kids were not brought to life by the author. She tried. Lord knows she stole bits and pieces from every Stephen King book that she could think of, but alas! Nope. It just came across as second or third rate thievery. I always try to give people the benefit of doubt when it seems they may be stealing from King. Mostly because he's written everything about all things. But the comparison was obvious, and poorly done. I knew who the bad guy was from almost the beginning. Although nobody really walked away clean in this story. I also knew immediately who had the head. Way too obvious! Thing is, either as kids or adults nobody was likable in the whole book. "Maybe Ed 's dad." About 35% into this book, I was hating it so much, that I finally had to tell myself to either shit or get off the pot! I should have got off the pot. I'd probably read another book from this author, but I'll wait a few years, and let her develop more. Oh yeah, as for the twist? If you saw it coming from miles away and dismissed it as too obvious? Just don't. It really was that easy.

Started this morning and could not stop picking it back up all day. A very addicting mystery with a lot of surprises. Loved how the story alternated between the characters as kids and now as adults. Well worth the read!