The Chalk Man Book response
"The Chalk Man is a dream novel, a book of nightmares: haunted and haunting, shot through with shadow and light – a story to quicken the pulse and freeze the blood." (A.J. Finn) Thrilling as it might sound, my reaction to this book was not as positive as I expected.
The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor is the story of a group of twelve-year-old kids, including Eddie, discovering a new way of transferring messages secretly to one another by drawing stick figures outside their houses, which only they can understand; then suddenly, a body has been found with some mysterious stick figures. From this point, nothing seemed to be as peaceful as it used to be.
One aspect of the book that I find novel is the intertwining of the chapters between the past (1986) and the present (2016), which creates originality and a sense of engrossment for readers. Because the plot is usually interrupted by two alternate timelines, the author manages to enthrall the readers with numerous plot twists, frightening incidents, or character confessions at the end of each chapter. Turning to the next chapter, readers are taken back to the other timeline, and their curiosity is ignored. In spite of an increase in reader engagement into the story, this can be annoying and irritating at times. Another aspect of The Chalk Man that intrigues me is that, despite being a detective novel, it also focuses on matters of life, friendship, and family. There are several life quotes that interest me, one of which is, "For who are we if not the sum of our experiences, the things that we gather and collect in life? Once you strip those away, we become just a mass of flesh, bone, and blood vessels."
In spite of positive reviews, I find The Chalk Man to have a dull plot. The author successfully creates a sense of excitement and arouses the readers' curiosity at the start. Then, the author led readers to so many plot twists that, in the end, was not enough for a thriller. I expected something creepier, scarier, and more dreadful, but all I got was a letdown. What interests me is how the author organized and delivered the story; it makes the story itself seem more interesting than it is. Furthermore, some details in the book are not clarified and do not make sense. For instance, who murdered Mickey? Who drew those stick figures in the church and cut the Reverend's back? And one more detail that perplexes me: why did the protagonist decide to steal Elisa's head, when he was twelve years old, and keep it under the floorboards in his house for over 30 years? Then he even pretended not to find the body and drew some stick figures pointing to it. Why didn't he call the cops right away? C.J. Tudor does not provide any specific answers to the questions raised above, she just leaves it there, lets the protagonist make his own guesses and does not explain anything. What a vexing plot!
To sum up, The Chalk Man left me with nothing but a major dissapointment. The author succeeded in stirring the readers’ excitement by laying a very solid foundation for the book but failed in maintaining the thrill until the end, which, in my view, is an anticlimax.
