Black Chalk, the debut novel
of Christopher J. Yates (and a gift from my brother this past Christmas) is a
curious little thriller that defies expectations, being something a little and
otherworldly despite a rather basic premise that is anything but new. It is
clearly standing on the shoulders of a book like Donna Tartt’s The Secret
History, acting as a kind of second rate version of that book with potboiler
elements (that is not an insult), but reading it, I found myself thinking of
other authors Yates seemed to echo, some of which caught me by surprise. The
narration, filled with a desperation and fear that is trying to be quelled by
unreliability and a need to change the past reminded me of Paul Auster’s darker
works, it’s quiet menace that got under my skin reminded me of Peter Straub
(not so much Stephen King, whose referenced on the front cover) and its surprisingly
experimental structure couldn’t help but make me think of House of Leaves by
Mark Z. Danielewski. Much like Donna Tartt’s novel, a lower middle class kid
interjects himself, by accident, into an affluent academic world that hides
hidden motives and dark desires. That boy is Chad and the school is Oxford
University. He meets Joylen, and together with four other friends, they become
enmeshed in a game where the consequences escalate from cheeky, to the humiliating
and finally to deadly, all the while, a paranoid, drug addled voice from
fourteen years in the future prepares himself to finish what he started. This
is a very interesting book, filled with intrigue that I underestimated, and
even with the head-scratching and rather disappointing ending, this book didn’t
feel like a waste of time. Yates seems like a smart writer, who is putting his
talents to good use with such an entertaining novel, and I look forward to what
he puts out next.
Rating: 4/5
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