When Will I Ever Learn??? - The Chalk Man Review

TITLE: The Chalk Man
AUTHOR: C.J. Tudor
PUBLISHER: Crown Publishing Group
PUBLISHING DATE: January 9, 2018

FROM GOODREADS: In 1986, Eddie and his friends are just kids on the verge of adolescence. They spend their days biking around their sleepy 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.

In 2016, Eddie 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. 

MY THOUGHTS: So I'm sure I'm going to have one of the more unpopular opinions about "The Chalk Man" and maybe because I just expected to love it so darn much. I mean, the whole world is raving about it. I'm classifying it as a book suffering from what I now deem "Overhyped Effect or OE for short" (See also my reviews on Final Girls and Little Heaven). In fact. my rating is teetering closer to 2.5 than 3 but since Goodreads refuses to allow us those opinions, I'll round up.

"The Chalk Man" is told in dual timelines of 1986 and 2016 which is actually one of the aspects about the book I really loved. Eddie is the MC and narrator and he lives in a small town with his group of friends - Nicky (the only female), Metal Mickey, Hoppo and Fat Gav. They are spending their summer as most 12 year olds would attending local fairs and looking for dead bodies in the woods, but quickly their summer becomes consumed the "The Chalk Man." Sound familiar? I couldn't get "IT" out of my head, except these kids are unlikable. All of them. And Eddie was possibly the creepiest of them all because people didn't seem to think he was a creep.

Flash forward to 2016 and the gang all receive a mysterious letter with a chalk man and they start to realize the summer of 1986 was not what they originally thought. Suddenly one of Eddie's friends ends up dead and Eddie starts to a new investigation into the murder of 1986. But will what he finds really surprise him?

I did like a few things about this book. I think it's a fairly strong debut. I mean, it must be, because tons of other people are raving about it. And I found it an easy enough read and didn't mind picking it up. Overall it was entertaining enough. Yet when I can't connect to any of the characters, I tend to find a book less enjoyable and that is probably why I was so disappointed with "The Chalk Man." I mean, come on, give me ONE character to root for.

Oh I forgot, there was one, Murphy, the dog. And SPOILER ALERT/TRIGGER WARNING - Murphy dies. Another strike for "The Chalk Man."

Please don't let my review alter your opinion on picking up this book. Lots of bloggers who I admire and trust have loved it. It just wasn't a book for me and the Murphy situation was the icing on the cake. I will keep an eye open for any future works by Tudor because there is quite an imagination there and I am curious about where she might lead us down the road.

I received a copy from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

RATING: 3 PAWS

CHALLENGES:  Cloak & Dagger 2018