Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Chalk Man, by C.J. Tudor

14 reviews

seraphina2000's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Suicide, Child abuse, and Terminal illness

alisacress's review against another edition

I can’t stand to read the parts with the bad sexual abuse.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Gore, Murder, Blood, Physical abuse, and Bullying

Minor: Alcohol

beckyyreadss's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

 Thank you, Michael Joseph Penguin Publishing, for sending this book in a welcome pack in exchange for an honest review. 

In 1986, Eddie and his friends are just kids on the verge of becoming teens. They spend their days biking around their sleepy English village and looking for any excitement they can get. The chalk men are their secret code: little chalk stick figures they leave for one another as messages only they can understand. But then a mysterious chalk man leads them right to a dismembered body of a child, and nothing is ever the same. 30 years later, Eddie is fully grown and thinks he’s put his past behind him, but then he gets a letter in the mail containing a single chalk stick figure. When it runs out that his friends got the same message, they think it could be a prank – until one of them dies. That's when Eddie realizes that saving himself means finally figuring out what really happened all those years ago. 

I really enjoyed this book – it was messy and weird, but I feel like it was the writing style. It was bizarre but it worked by the end. At the beginning, my head was completely battered. I was so confused and it sort of had to go round the bend and back again but at the end I understood the plot. Eddie is a messed-up kid and really should have gone to therapy when he was younger because the actions he took as a child and an adult were weird and messed-up. Like all those children involved are messed up and desperately need therapy. It sorts of shows that everyone is always hiding something.  

If you really want to read a messed-up book that will screw with your mind, this book is for you.   

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Abortion, and Murder

Moderate: Car accident, Injury/injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, and Sexual assault

Minor: Death of parent

litalia's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Alcohol, Bullying, Dementia, Death, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Suicide, Murder, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Homophobia, and Physical abuse

Minor: Pregnancy

blouviere4's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Murder, Death, Blood, Body horror, and Injury/injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Pregnancy, Animal death, Death of parent, Dementia, Abortion, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Car accident

lydiavsbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Big Stephen King/ loosers club vibes which was cool, and unique enough plot-wise to not just feel like a rip off. I really enjoyed this, it was darker than I expected, lots of messed up characters that were fun to explore.

Also some really great (tragically current) commentary on abortion, and the very real fear of alzeimer's and memory loss.

I did want it to be a lil' spookier though, I feel like it kinda sold itself as horror/thriller and the premise could have easily allowed for some more creepy elements

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual assault, Chronic illness, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Death, Child abuse, Dementia, Murder, Pedophilia, and Suicidal thoughts

anisans's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Body horror

Moderate: Suicide and Pregnancy

Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, and Adult/minor relationship

theirgracegrace's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Rape, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Child abuse, Child death, Bullying, Blood, Death, Injury/injury detail, Murder, and Sexual assault

Minor: Abortion, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Body horror, Death of parent, Violence, Dementia, Drug use, Gaslighting, and Grief

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was weird in the best way. The ending creeped me out but after having read the entire book, I couldn’t even be that shocked. The story illuminates how no matter how good we try to be or claim to be, we all do bad things and some of us do more heinous things than others.  

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Gore, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Violence

tayahmarie's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This book effed me up. It’s a lot darker and more gruesome than I originally thought. This is actually marketed as a Thriller and that’s where it went wrong because it should be classified as Horror IMO.

However, I did enjoy the story for what it was. I thought the plot was unique, I was invested in the characters/their fate, and it was insanely gripping. Like I mentioned in previous posts, I love dual timelines and Tudor executed it well here. My interest in wanting to find out everything I could about what happened in the past and the present day was equal.

The idea of some crazed killer drawing Chalk Men symbols around your hometown (much less a crime scene) is terrifying. Tudor is phenomenal when it comes to imagery and documenting some of the most gnarly and gruesome scenes, as well as just downright CREEPY (the church scene/one of Eddie’s nightmares towards the end? WTF!) There were a few paragraphs I had to bypass because I could actually picture what was going on and wanted to jump out of my skin and throw the book across my room. It was disgusting! That’s how you know someone’s a good writer in that realm, lol. Also, I definitely recommend looking up trigger warnings prior to reading this because there are A LOT. I wish I would’ve because I was completely caught off guard.

Final Thoughts: Overall, this was good. Really good. It was very reminiscent of a Stephen King novel (as if I read more than one book of his 😅). Lastly, this story has me looking at EVERYONE suspect 👀 - it’s pretty crazy when you think about how you don’t REALLY know someone. That goes for your family, your friends, co-workers, the person you’re sitting next to on a train/plane, etc. We all keep secrets, yes, but some are more dangerous, deadly, and downright depraved than others. The quote I chose, in the beginning, is a true sentiment to this little novel, especially the ending 😶!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Gore, Body horror, Alcoholism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Blood, Animal death, and Adult/minor relationship