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 cj tudor