The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor

Cover Art Courtesy of Goodreads

I've been so into thrillers lately that I had to snag this as my December Book of the Month pick. Just the title and cover alone made this book have the creep factor that I'm always looking for. The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor follows Eddie and his friends, both in 1986 and in 2016. As children, the group of friends witnesses a gruesome act that could only be pinned on "The Chalk Man." Now, years later, the group gets a mysterious message, a note and a piece of chalk each, and one of them turns up dead. Is The Chalk Man back and trying to tell them something? Are they in danger? Or were they wrong about everything all along? Now they must figure it out, or another one of them could end up dead.

This book is told in a format alternating from present day to flashbacks by the main character Eddie. One interesting thing about this book is that you think all along that who the murderer is is obvious, until the end that is. The flashbacks were easy to understand, and I liked all the characters, but I still unfortunately had some issues with this book.

First, it really wasn't that THRILLING for a thriller. Normally I can't put these types of books down, but this one just didn't grab me like that. Also, there is an unnecessary dog death in this story, and things like this always turn me off of a book, no matter how good it may be. It was also confusing when it came to who is related to who and why people are suddenly reappearing in Eddie's life. Who the murderer was was not as exciting as I had hoped, although the last few pages blew me away!

I feel bad for not loving this book, really I do, especially since others on Goodreads are just raving about it. But when it comes down to it I think there are much better thrillers out there. Luckily it wasn't too long, so even though I wasn't obsessed with the story I was able to get through it fairly quickly. I think this might be a good read for someone just getting into thrillers who isn't sure about the genre yet, as it is definitely on the milder side in my opinion. You win some, you lose some I guess, so hopefully my next read will hit it out of the park!

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars