Attractive and eccentric, she brings some much needed colour to Eddie’s life. His lodger, Chloe, is much younger than him. He lives in his childhood home with a lodger. Then, the reader skips forward thirty years. The town is located very close to the forest. The setting: Anderbury, a small Hampshire town with cobbled streets, shady parks, and a ‘semi-famous’ cathedral.

AND, most importantly, that summer the four boys find a dismembered body in the woods. Halloran, the new teacher, comes to his aid.

That summer Eddie also suffers a traumatic event in the playground where he was at the mercy of the local bully. Whilst there, there is a tragic accident with the ‘Waltzer’ that leaves a beautiful young girl disfigured and makes a huge impact on Eddie’s life. That same summer the gang goes to a local fair. This gift begins the gangs practice of leaving coded messages for each other. One of his gifts was a bucket of colored chalks. That summer Fat Gav had a birthday party. The kids call him “The Chalk Man” because of his white hair and colouring. Halloran, and he has the distinction of being an albino. The summer that the gang were twelve-years old was a pivotal one for them all. Perhaps a pen or some other insignificant thing that they won’t miss. He doesn’t do it to ‘steal’ valuable things, he just collects. He collects all manner of things, and sometimes the things are in other people’s houses, and they don’t know he has been there. For one thing, we know he is a collector. Eddie is the son of a doctor (who works at an abortion clinic) and a stay-at-home, writer father (who his friends call a hippie).Įddies group of friends include Fat Gav ( Gavin, the son of the local publican), Hoppo ( David Hopkins, the son of a single mother who cleans for a living), Metal Mickey ( Mickey Cooper, so named for his mouth full of braces – a boy who was creative, usually with the truth), and Nicky (Nicola Martin, the daughter of the local vicar – who seemed to have more bruises than rough play would account for).įrom the beginning, the reader realizes that Eddie is ‘different’. The novel is told from the point of view of one of the boys, Eddie Addams. Misfits all, they reminded me a bit of the group on the television show “Stranger things”. The characters: We meet a rag-tag group of twelve year-olds. Sentences like: “…my laughter lines lost their sense of humour some time ago.” When you find yourself highlighting a lot, and reading aloud to your (uninterested) husband, then for me the writing struck a chord. I enjoyed the characters, the setting, the story, and, most of all, the writing. Well folks, I’m one of those that LOVED it. The title leads you to believe it is a ‘serial killer’ novel (it is NOT), and my fellow book bloggers seemed to either love it or… it left them apathetic.

The chalk man