Like Fingernails Scraping A Chalk Board!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                               And that is NOT a compliment, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                               The thing about Christopher J. Yates, is that I loved his second novel, "Grist Mill Road," which I read in early 2018.  It came to my attention, via a review in "he New York Times,"and I loved its twisted tale.  Check out January 2018 on here, if you want to read, or reread, what I wrote.

                                                 At that time, I did not know it was his second novel.  Recently, someone mentioned "Black Chalk" to me, that it was by the same author, and had actually been written first.

                                                    I picked it up, with great anticipation.  All this talk about a "great psychological thriller," and a "shocking twist," peaked my interest.  But it all turned out to be a ballyhooed fizzle.

                                                     Unless you hit it big, like Paula Hawkins, with "The Girl On The Train," or the mysterious "The Woman In The Window" by A. J. Finn (who now turns out to have been Dan Mallory) there is an inherent problem at work in this genre.

                                                       Every working author wanting to reach the heights of the aforementioned desperately wants to try and rewrite one of two books--either "The Secret History," by Donna Tartt, or "Gone Girl," by Gillian Flynn.  Why bother?, I say, because these books have been written and will endure, and while I admired "Gone Girl," in my opinion "Sharp Objects" topped it.  It will be a long time before fiction has as fascinating a figure as Amma Crellin!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                           Yates tries to redo Tartt.  There is a private school, standing in for Oxford, a clique of kids who come from poor families, and are there on scholarship, who first form a bond over this, then get into this weird Dare And Consequences game, where the stakes get higher, and higher, and relationships begin to disintegrate.

                                                             Doesn't it sound all too familiar, dolls?

                                                              And, of course, someone gets killed!

                                                              As for the surprise twist, it did not come as any big deal to me. When finally revealed, my reaction was "Ho hum!"

                                                                Why did I feel the need to go down this path again?  Because in the right hands, the journey can be fascinating.  But not here.  Added to which Yates' book goes back and forth in time, with no real clues, until one is in the midst of the text, and his structure is in student outline form, the way so many of us were taught, years ago.  It does not work well for the story.

                                                                     I will say this for Yates.  He is kinda cute, girls; he looks something like Jason Danieley.  So, if there is a third book, I might actually give it a try.

                                                                       But, Christopher, dear, if you strike out, I am done!!!!!!!!!!!!