Ali Karim was a Board Member of Bouchercon [The World Crime & Mystery Convention] and co-chaired programming for Bouchercon Raleigh, North Carolina in 2015. He is Assistant Editor of Shots eZine, British correspondent for The Rap Sheet and writes and reviews for many US magazines & Ezines.
Occasionally a dark thriller comes along that reinforces the sheer joy of reading. This elegant debut is one such book; one that I found hypnotic and totally immersive. Set in England, and relayed over two distinct time periods, the 1980s and current day - it is written with such an assured voice that one would find it hard to believe it to be a debut.
What starts as the hunt for a murderer who dismembered a young girl in a woodland, scattering her limbs and torso under the fallen leaves (but stealing the head) soon transforms itself into a bitter-sweet ‘coming of age’ - as well as a ‘coming to terms’ of age tale.
This tale of a group of teenagers in 1986 is relayed by twelve year old ‘Eddie Munster’, a nickname that competes with others such as ‘Metal Mickey’, ‘Fat Gav’, ‘Hoppo’ and of course the mysterious ‘Waltzer Girl’. We visit the group in 2016, as now adults, they try and come to terms with the events that tainted their adolescence.
With subplots involving an Abortion Clinic, a mysterious new teacher named Halloran, an Albino who is suffused with tragedy, as well as fear; a Reverend who is as divisive as he is evangelical within the community; the horrors of aging - all striated with the knowledge that the people we interact with, may not be who they present themselves as – but most of all, it clings to the theme of how we manage “loss”.
Though there are clear nods to Stephen King, as well as Michael Marshall (Smith), though CJ Tudor has her own distinctive voice; though the invisible hands of the Editor are evident in the tautness of the narrative. There are acute observations about life and reality throughout the book that make one pause and reflect upon our own humanity and at times, lack of it. There is insight as it entertains as the best fiction often holds a mirror to our own reality; even the eponymous chalk figures that give the book its motif, act as a metaphor for the interactions that pepper the lives of the characters.
The unreliable narrator is joined by the unreliable protagonists as the tale traverses 1986, and as those events ripple into 2016, a sense of dread suffuses the proceedings.
The Chalk Man is a very fast read, with vivid characterisations that are as chilling as they are insightful. The closing sections contain a series of climactic revelations that make one sigh when the book is closed, for it makes the reader think deeply, emerging from the hypnotic trance that this debut writer has crafted.
Believe the hype. Look out for The Chalk Man before he finds you.
