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The Chalk Man

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The Chalk Man

By: C J Tudor
Narrated by: Andrew Scott, Asa Butterfield
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About this listen

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Chalk Man by C. J. Tudor, read by Andrew Scott and Asa Butterfield.

None of us ever agreed on the exact beginning.

Was it when we started drawing the chalk figures, or when they started to appear on their own?

Was it the terrible accident?

Or when they found the first body?

©2017 C. J. Tudor (P)2017 Penguin Audio Coming of Age Crime Crime Fiction Crime Thrillers Fiction Genre Fiction Horror Mystery Psychological Small Town & Rural Supernatural Suspense Thriller & Suspense Scary Paranormal Thriller

Critic Reviews

"[I] haven't had a sleepless night due to a book for a long time. The Chalk Man changed that. Many congrats C. J. Tudor." (Fiona Barton, best-selling author of The Widow)
"It's been a while since I've read such an impressive debut." (James Oswald, author of the Inspector McLean series)

"Tense, skillful storytelling." (Ali Land, best-selling author of Good Me Bad Me)

"If you like my stuff, you'll like this." (Stephen King)
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The story was intriguing and fast paced, captures your attention perfectly. Unfortunately having checked other reviews I had to scroll way too far down to see complaints of the narration of older Ed. Asa did so well but Andrew Scott trails off under his breath, mumbling a lot through the story and then jumping back into an abrupt normal volume- not before having turned up the volume to hear or rewind to catch what was said. I expect it was to emphasise Ed’s self-reflection and bumbling inner monologues but it was difficult and annoying to hear him, even in the silence of the car. The contrast of accents was too jarring to follow easily. The surprises along the way of the story keep you compelled and leaves you itching to uncover the truth.

Good story. Awful mumbling narration

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C J Tudor has written a brilliant book with breadcrumbs leading you into exciting reveal after exciting reveal.
Narration was impeccable. What a performance. Very immersive. Highly recommend.

Truely Brilliant

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Listing to this story gave me the creeps at times but I couldn’t stop listening. Brilliant

Chills

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What an unusual group of characters and a unique tale. I really enjoyed this book and found the narration emotive and expressive of the characters portrayed. I found myself wanting to see how each character turned out and did not stop listening until the end. Great book. I’ll read more of her books.

Eerie and interesting

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I found the book very confusing as I feel there were too many characters in it for me to follow. Having an Irish person narrate for this English character was really confusing and it took me a while to realise there was Young Ed and alder Ed. The older Ed mumbled and it was at times difficult to work out exactly what he was saying.

I don’t get it….

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The big man, Mr Stephen King himself, tweeted out high praise for The Chalk Man and it's easy to see why it would appeal to him. Whether inspired by, or purely coincidental C.J. Tudor's debut title feels quite a bit like an early King novel and, to me at least, thats not a bad thing.

The story twists and weaves and you'll have a hard time seeing whats coming next. Characters are well fleshed out and likable, at least for the most part. Eddie himself, particularly in his later years is a fantastic protagonist and is brought to life beautifully by the narrator.

All in all, i highly recommend this title.

A fine debut and a clever thriller.

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Loved the book. Kept us guessing til almost the end. Would highly recommend as an easy thriller. If you like M. Night Shyamalan type stories you’ll like this. Clever twists through out right to the end. Based in the UK in an era I grew up in provoked some fond memories.

One of the characters performances was really annoying though as his voice would drop out almost as he almost whispered under his breath. A lot of rewind and volume up volume down going on. Same character did however do great voices for other characters.

Great book

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Amazing book. The author was very quiet at times which when driving was really hard to hear and his words were slurred. If you have a quiet place this is a great listen but not good for a driving read. Amazing story however!!

Awesome book! But quiet.

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the mystery got me straight away. the characters are quirky yet relatable; at times frightening too. such a journey. can't wait to listen to more by this author.

intrigued me from the outset

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I'm glad I did not put too much reliance on previous remarks about the narration, although the quietness of his voice in parts is too quiet for comfort, it held the correct inflection for the story. Another good author for my collection.

A good story

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