THRILLERS
THE CHALK MAN by C. J. Tudor
(Michael Joseph £12.99) FivE 12-year-old school friends are the principal characters in this striking debut. The prose is punk, the pace fast and the plot sinewy.
A dreadful accident at a fairground in 1986 leaves one young woman terribly scarred, which is when Tudor’s male narrator, Eddie, first meets the Chalk Man. He suggests the group of friends leave secret messages for one another with stick figures drawn in different-coloured chalks.
This works, to start with — until one of Eddie’s enemies works out their plan and the messages lead them to the body of a young girl.
That was 30 years ago. Now, Eddie is a 42-year-old teacher when he gets a letter with only a piece of chalk and a drawing of a stick figure. There are shades of Stephen King when the reality bends into the sinister, and a deliciously creepy finale.
SHADOW MAN by Alan Drew
(Corvus £12.99) THiS thriller from an English professor at an American university announces a remarkable new talent. Drew’s hero is former LAPD detective Ben Wade, who has moved out to the suburbs of Orange County in search of a quieter life and to try to save his faltering marriage.
Neither works. His marriage collapses, hurting his only child, daughter Emma.
He then realises that his little town of Rancho Santa Elena may just have a serial killer in its midst — someone who preys on women on their own.
The attacker is all the more difficult to track as the victims appear to be chosen at random. With the help of forensic scientist Natasha Betencourt, Wade struggles to unravel the mystery, but he does so with a clarity and wisdom reminiscent of Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch — and there is no higher praise.
DUMP by Bob Marshall-Andrews (Whitefox £8.99)
THiS is the fourth novel from the former Labour MP and QC — and by far his most ambitious. it starts from his fascination with the behaviour of African chimpanzees, but rapidly turns into an allegory about the U.S. presidential election and the complacency that put Donald Trump in the White House.
Oxford professor Arthur Welbourne returns to Serole Lodge on the edge of Lake Tanganyika, famous for its study of local chimpanzees, only to discover that chimps have been brutally murdered.
The local guides believe they could be the victims of Dump, a psychotic and murderous ape who was once believed to be dead, but who may have returned to usurp the role of alpha male in the troupe.
Dump is fomenting a rebellion, but the guests at the lodge ignore the warnings . . .
Though not quite Jonathan Swift, this is a splendid satire on the modern political world.