Poetic Insights

Genre Horror/ Suspense

Pages 342

Publisher Penguin

Release Date January eleventh 2018

Average Rating  4.3 / 5 🌟 

There are a number of incidents in this book and, like dust, the narrative settles around them. Not one of the characters are innocent, and has had a part in the narrative, and in the consequences of their actions. I was gripped twice by this book, the rest I meandered through. It’s psychological more than a thriller.

The Chalkman is set in the past, and present. The past follows the friendship group of twelve year olds. I did like that this was almost like Stephen King’s Stand by Me. The kids use nicknames for each other, and simple dialogue that’s effective. The present day narrative of our protagonist felt by the by, and as if I was reading The Regrets of an Old Man. The writing is clinical. It became a murder mystery towards the finish, I expected Morse to show up.

There is also a sexual incident in this book, which I definitely could have done with a trigger warning on.

The Chalkman I could have put down and not been too invested in picking it back up again. There’s too much in the pot. Who was murdered, where’s the head, what do the Chalk Men have to do with anything (very little, as it turns out). etc.

A decent debut.

Never assume. Question everything. Always look beyond the obvious.