The Chalk Man

With a creepy cover and an endorsement from Stephen King, this novel immediately grabbed my attention.

I’d say this was a psychological thriller with a crime element and a dose of horror and that mix really drew me into this book and kept me trapped within its pages. Together with the nostalgic 80s thread, this read is down as one of my all-time favourites.

The seemingly innocent chalk stick figures the kids leave for each other like a secret game only they can decode, begin to appear on their own with a more sinister message. A bone-chilling read!

In 1986, four friends follow chalk pictures of a hanged man to a dismembered body; in 2016 they start getting pictures again… I love this book because of its brilliantly curated tension, ramping up through the book. The two timelines work because they are distinct, the past full of cultural references and even behaviours that are different from 2016. We see through Eddie’s point of view, from a twelve-year-old fascinated and repelled by a dead girl, to a forty-something teacher. Each friend has grown in a different direction, and it’s difficult to maintain the friendship, so much so that one… show more.