In 1986, Eddie Adams and his childhood friends use chalk stick figures as a secret code to leave messages for one another around their English village. This private language turns lethal when an unidentified chalk man leads them to the dismembered remains of a teenage girl in the woods. Thirty years later, the adult friends receive letters containing a single chalk drawing of a stick figure with its throat slit. When one member of the original group is found dead, Eddie must examine his distorted memories of the past to identify a killer who has remained hidden since their youth.
This novel is for fans of dark investigative mysteries and non-linear suspense who enjoy stories centered on the loss of childhood innocence. Readers who appreciate small-town settings and psychological tension will find a narrative that examines how secrets from the past resurface to disrupt adult lives. It provides a study of the unreliable nature of memory and the way childhood traumas solidify into permanent scars. The reader finishes the book with a cynical look at how well neighbors truly know each other and the realization that some mysteries never stay buried.
Practical, clear-cut and escapist; an easy read.
Best for readers like The Escapist Adventurer. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2018
- Language
- EN
