Black Chalk

by Albert Alla

In the Oxfordshire countryside, a student walks into a classroom and starts shooting. Nate Dillingham, friends with shooter and victims alike, is the sole survivor and only witness. Easily led and eager to please, his recollections weave around others’ hopes until he loses track of what really happened that day. After eight evasive years on the road, he comes back to Oxford, meets Leona, and plunges into a world of candour and desire. But Nate’s defences are deteriorating and Leona shares too much of his past…

An unsettling tale of passion and guilt, Black Chalk is an edgy journey into twenty-first century morality.

Genres: Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published May 6, 2013

About the author

Born in the South of France, Albert Alla moved back and forth between St-Tropez and Nice until, at the age of thirteen, his family emigrated to Australia. Swapping Dumas for Dickens, he moved around Australia studying engineering and playing cricket, before going off to Oxford to study economics. He now splits his time between the island of New Caledonia and Sydney, Australia.

Reviews

[Hayley North · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have just finished reading this book on Kindle--I'm secretly delighted that it isn't out in hard copy yet which means I'm one of the first to have read it. And trust me, many will. This book has it all: the intense and cold descriptions of Cormac Mccarthy's The Road, the introspectiveness of Orwell's Nineteen-Eighty-Four and the page-turner effect of any of Dan Brown's finest thrillers.

The opening lines thrust the reader directly into the mind of Nate Dillingham, as he sits in a room surrounded by all his childhood possessions, eight years after the day that changed his life, preparing to put his story to paper. Half a page later, we are taken back to February 2000 and into the mind of a teenage schoolboy. Given the foreshadowing Alla provides us, the next few pages are chilling and stressful. It is hard not to want to reach out and warn the blissfully ignorant students of their fate as they amble across the courtyard, chat amongst themselves and file into their classroom. But this novel is not about shock and awe, and does not share Hollywood's penchant for cashing in on tragedies that have become unfortunately common. This is clear from the brevity of the scene that describes the carnage.

The book is narrated in the first person and the reader relies on Nate's narrow and repressed memory, that of a teenager who lacks the context and experience to interpret what he is seeing. The book is thus a journey into the psychology of the sole survivor and witness of horror--as he recovers, moves on and is then drawn back. This is a refreshing and needed sequel to the Columbines and Newtowns of our time and seeks to answer the most important questions of all: but what happens next? What happens after front-page news becomes page-three news and a new crisis or tragedy captures our attention? What happens to the people whose lives have been turned upside down? To find the answer, we read Nate Dillingham's story.

Alla writes poetically and without pastiche to open a door into his the mind of his protagonist, a mind tortured by guilt and medicated with apathy. As is to be expected, the experience of stepping into this mind is disorientating and claustrophobic. But very early on, it is a story we know we have to hear and can not bear to turn away from; a ride well worth taking, for the vehicle is literary fiction at its very best.

[Annette M Guerriero Nishimoto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Today's review is on Black Chalk by Albert Alla

Black Chalk was a very difficult book to read. It wasn't because of poor editing or poor character development. It wasn't even because of a bad storyline. In fact, it's because the storyline was so strong and so amazing that made it difficult.

Instead of reading like a fictional book, Black Chalk reads more like a Memoir. The way Alla expresses the emotional trauma that his protagonist experiences is spot on. Like he was the one that went through it. Being a child therapist myself, I could hear, feel, and see what was happening, and what was to come. But even with all of that, I still wasn't prepared for the ending. Black Chalk is just that real.

Nate Dillingham walks into his high school physics class and a few minutes later he's the sole survivor of a school shooting. His friend Eric Knight chains the door, stands at the front of the classroom, and begins shooting. Everyone in the room, including Nate's best friend Jeffrey Baker, is killed. Even Eric Knight himself.

Recouping in the hospital from his own bullet wound, Nate is "protected" from the outside world by his mother. She keeps the media away, she keeps the TV off, and she keeps the detectives away for as long as she can. That's all fine with Nate. He's having a hard enough time reconciling the events of that terrible day to deal with.

Living with the guilt of being “the one that lived” becomes more than Nate can handle so he does what most people would do. On his 18th birthday he leaves home, running away from the problem entirely. But time away doesn't make what happened go away.

Eight years after heading out on his own Nate returns to Oxford and even finds love. But when he learns that the woman he loves is actually Jeffrey's little sister Leona, all that pain and suffering comes back full force.

What really happened on that day? Even Nate doesn't really know. He blocked it out all those years ago. It's only after he opens up to Leona that he begins to see the truth. But the truth may be just too much for her.

If you had only one book to read, make it Black Chalk. It's an amazing ride. With this being Alla's first novel, I'm certain he is on the road to great success.

5 of 5 stars
Available at Amazon

[Liz Barnsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you kindly to the author and Garnet for the copy of this book for review.



In the Oxfordshire countryside, a student walks into a classroom and starts shooting. Nate Dillingham, friends with shooter and victims alike, is the sole survivor and only witness. Easily led and eager to please, his recollections weave around others’ hopes until he loses track of what really happened that day.



Right. So imagine. One seemingly normal day at school, a friend of yours enters the classroom and starts shooting students, other friends of yours….Imagine that you are the sole survivor and the only one who can tell the tale…Then imagine trying to live a life…any life in the aftermath of that event.

This is the position Nate Dillingham finds himself in during the course of this amazing and heartfelt survivors tale..told entirely from his point of view we start with the shooting and move ever onwards..hospital, recovery, endless interviews…then what? Well that is the question…

Its hard to put into words what I feel about this one…it got me right at the heart and is unlikely to let go for a while. Beautiful writing and a setting I know so well that I was able to walk some of the paths with Nate, this book literally “had me at hello”.

Its a difficult subject – taking us into the heart of the matter, who has not been glued to the tv screen as something of this nature unfolds – this takes us beyond the soundbite one step removed comfort zone and puts us where its important, into the lives of those affected.

As Nate struggles to understand what went on that day, as the true nature of the events that overtook him become lost in what others are desperate to believe, you will become further and further immersed into this truly brilliant, unequivocably stunning and often heart wrenching drama.

As I write this review I am still unsure how I feel about the ending…certainly I am still feeling the story as a whole…and I think this is a book that will bear reading more than once…in fact probably should be.

The Truth Shall Set You Free. Will it not?

Happy Reading Folks!

[Michelle Corasanti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alla's first book is a truly superb offering; if he gets the recogniton that he deserves, I'm sure he'll be a household name in no time at all.
Our protagonist, Nate, is the sole survivor of a classroom gun massacre. He's no longer the boy he was, and Alla skillfully takes us through the labyrinthine corridors of his mind.
Thrilling, Dark, Deep and Delightful, and so much more!

[Marleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received my copy from the publisher through Nudge.

“Each memory came innocent and left tainted. And once tainted, memories grew persistent. Their stench remained and coloured other thoughts, so that, like an infection, I was soon left with nothing but tainted memories.”

Nate Dillingham is 17 years old when his life disintegrates. Nate is a nice young man. He is doing well in school and getting ready for college. He is also the sort of guy who gets on with everybody he meets. So when Eric Knight enters his school, Nate befriends him even though it is clear that Eric has issues and none of Nate’s other friends like or trust the new boy. But that is the sort of man Nate is; he likes people, sees the best in them and wants everybody around him to be friends.

One day Eric arrives late for his physics class. He walks in, locks the doors with chains and produces two shotguns. A short time later there are bodies everywhere. The teacher and the students, including Eric are dead or dying. The only one to come out of the classroom to tell the tale is Nate, although he too has been shot.

By the time Nate is discharged from hospital he’s been pronounced a national hero by the British press and public for having stopped Eric from taking his killing spree beyond that one classroom. The only person convinced there is more to the events of that day than the story Nate has been willing to share is the police officer in charge of the case. But Nate isn’t sharing whatever has been left unspoken and with the case officially closed, there’s nothing the investigator can do.

The day Nate turns eighteen he leaves his parent’s house and England to go working and travelling in places where his name means nothing; where people have no idea who he is and what he has done. When he returns to England after eight years he’s grown up, far more experienced and at least on the surface reconciled with his past. Meeting Leona and falling in love with her seems to be the best thing that could have happened to Nate. But the past isn’t finished with Nate yet and Leona is too closely connected to what happened in the past and everything he lost.

This is an amazing and thought-provoking book. The story, as told by Nate after he returned to England, is rather deceptive. Most of his story is narrated as if by a distant observer; emotions are alluded to but never really explored. Nate decided years ago to try and leave the past behind and not think about it too deeply, never mind talk about it. But ignoring the ramifications of the past means that you have to live your present always on edge; forever evading anything that might open up the Pandora’s box filled with memories.

It’s a strange experience to be reading a book about an apparently very sympathetic character who so deeply detests himself and the things he did and didn’t do. It is wonderful when you read a book where the only thing you want to do is reach out and hug the main character, tell him he wasn’t and isn’t responsible. It is heartbreaking when you can see how easily things might have ended differently if only… It is eye-opening when you realise that “if only” are among the cruellest words known to men.

I would so like to discuss this book with others who have read it. More specifically I would like to talk about what might happen after the book finishes, because for me it is only too easy to imagine that it might all happen again; different players but similar outcome. And of course I can’t say more about that here without resorting to spoilers…

This than is an amazing book that should, if there is any justice, be discovered, read and discussed by thousands of readers. Well written, deceptively easy to read and almost impossible to put down this is a story that will shock you, make you think, and stay with you for a long time after you’ve read the last page.

[Wendy Janes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nate Dillingham is the only survivor of a mass shooting at a school where he’d been friends with both the perpetrator and his victims. After Nate’s physical recovery is complete, he leaves his parents and brother in their Oxfordshire home, and spends eight years on the road, escaping from his memories. On his return, he meets Leona, a beautiful girl who unwittingly breaks down his defences.

In this psychological exploration of a young man trying to come to terms with a traumatic experience, Nate immediately commands our attention and our sympathy; our level of attention is unwavering, but our levels of sympathy may ebb and flow. As his story unfolds there is a sense of being at his mercy while he carefully chooses what to reveal and when to reveal it, and we begin to question how reliable he is as a narrator.

The author skilfully shows us how the impact of the initial tragedy has ripples that travel through and beyond Nate, his family and other families down through the years. The perfectly paced and clever plotting uncovers layers, twists and revelations that shock and disturb.

The depiction of complex family dynamics is fascinating, and most moving is his mother’s desperate need to make things right, and the tensions this engenders in their relationship. There are elements of a lyrical love story in the description of the early days of Nate’s idealistic relationship with Leona, but all too soon this warps into something far more sinister with undertones of an edgy thriller.

What a wonderfully disturbing, intelligent and well-written book.

I’d like to thank Garnet Publishing for sending me a review copy of this book.

[Jayne Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is intelligent writing – fiercely so. The prose is bold and intense, and clearly the work of a sizeable brain. It had the feeling of something written perhaps only 50% on the physical plane, the rest more spiritual and harder to pin down.

There are three distinct phases to the story. The first is a school shooting and its immediate aftermath as the narrator ends up as its only survivor. The second part involves him travelling, putting distance between himself and the traumatic events. The final phase sees him return to his home and the memories of what happened.

If anything, I think the writing was too intelligent for me – I often felt in danger of losing the thread, particularly in the final stages where the unreliable narrator becomes more and more unstable. I didn’t feel as if I had a firm enough grip on the characters’ aims and goals. The first section was the best as far as I was concerned, the whole thing getting off to a well paced, punchy start. The second definitely had its moments – the bit where his French girlfriend says he sounds like a Belgian dairy farmer continues to tickle me. What a great line.

I will remember this book chiefly for the quality of its writing – a first novel that had the confidence of a fourth or fifth.

[Paddy O'callaghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read the first couple of paragraphs, I was sucked in to the protagonists world, and I remained there for the rest of the next 2 days. I did little else but read it during that time; even in the brief interims, i was still with Nate Dillingham.

The first person POV style made it like having a story told to me by an incredibly intelligentm and eloquent raconteur.

Of the books that I read in the past decade or so, this is second only to the great Michelle Cohen Corasanti's The Almond Tree, and being second to her most magnificent magnus opus is certainly a achievement.

I shall be following Alla's word forever more.

[Lorraine Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book free through goodreads first reads.
This is a psychological thriller covering the subject of a school shooting and the aftermath.
A very difficult subjuct to cover but the story had me hooked from the beginning. An excellent read.

[Anita Lock · Rating 5 out of 5]

On February 10, 2000 Nathan Dillingham witnessed the murder of his high school classmates. The media reported that Nate, the wounded sole survivor of this horrific school shooting in Oxford, England, was a hero for killing the assailant. Yet eight years later, Nathan is ready to share the details of what happened on that fateful day, and it is not as anyone expects.

In his debut novel, Alla gives readers a first-person account about a person's struggle with an incident that not only affects our youth, but is also a frequent headline in the news. Equally unfortunate is the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which accompanies all harrowing situations. No doubt, Nathan is a victim of PTSD -- once full of future aspirations, but now too emotionally overwhelmed to complete high school. However, after recouperating in a hospital and then returning home four months later just in time to celebrate his eighteenth birthday, he feels that the best way to address his reoccurring nightmares is to leave England. Thus, he embarks on a journey that takes him to places and adventures he never imagined in his wildest dreams, not to mention partaking in a plethora of sexual encounters along the way.

It takes a surprise visit by his father and letters from his mother regarding the emotional and chemical instability of his brother to bring him back to his home town. After being away for eight years, Nathan states that it brings "the ghosts of the shooting to the fore of my consciousness." Nonetheless, moving on with life, he decides to follow his mother's lead by enrolling in a university program that would bring closure to his high school education and naturally segue into college studies. Once enrolled, it is clear that living at home is not compatible with his years of independence. Finding a suitable apartment, his mother provides Nathan with everything, including well-loved items from his bedroom, to create a cozy environment. The only thing that's missing is a girl.

Indeed, he finds the missing component to his apartment when he meets Leona. The electricity between them is high. He has never met anyone as thoughtful and caring as her. She seems to fill the cavernous and dark voids that have remained empty for way too long. And though their relationship quickly progresses into deep intimacy, Nathan is caught off guard when he realizes who Leona is. In spite of this, he confides in her the truth about the school shooting. His transparency takes their relationship to a different dimension, one that will engage readers to the very end.

Totally fiction, but amazing nonetheless, Black Chalk is a story filled with heart-wrenching themes and unresolved conflict, all interwoven with romance. Kudos and a five-star rating goes to Alla for creating a great story that I also envision becoming a great hit on the big screen someday. I rate his book 5 out of 5 stars. (Originally [posted on Online Book Club.)
Anita Lock, Freelance Book Reviewer

[Nichole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review: Black Chalk by Albert Alla For the first half of the novel, Nate avoids his emotions on the tragic school shooting where he was the only survivor. With no other witnesses to corroborate his story, Nate is considered a hero by the media and the town. But unable to face his own demons, Nate disappears for eight long years. Much to his surprise, a lot has changed when he finally returns home.In the second half, Nate begins to slowly allow himself to remember the incident. He has trouble sleeping because of his nightmares and a new love interest has him wanting to be as honest as possible. But is it a good idea?Nate’s flashbacks of his friends and of the shooter give the reader a better insight about what happened, but at times it felt as if Alla was simply going through the motions of writing the story. As an author, Alla tells the reader how to feel and what they are seeing rather than describing it for them to form their own thoughts and feelings.While the first couple of chapters didn’t immediately engage me, Alla’s writing seems to warm up toward the middle of the book. Despite this, I felt that Alla’s dialogue often came off stiff or exaggerated and not very believable at times. For me, Nate’s narration is what held the book together and Alla helps the reader view the world through Nate’s eyes, no matter how confusing his world might get.The only real suspense I felt came during the final chapter. Nate’s paranoia spirals out of control and I kept wondering what would happen in the end. I flip-flopped between thinking that Nate had finally lost it and wondering if he was right in thinking the way he did.While Albert Alla aims to write an emotionally charged novel, it falls a little flat and a little far from the mark.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black Chalk is an exciting, engrossing and most of all, intense work of psychological fiction that I personally am inclined to recommend highly.

Special Attributes of This Work Other Readers May Find Appealing Too

Firstly, secondly, and lastly, it's worth noting that author Albert Alla pulls no punches -- and certainly spares no delicate sensibilities -- as he quarries the depths of his protagonist's tormented psyche. And make no mistake, the character at the center of this novel is one tormented figure. If you don't want to allow such darkness into your own psychology for a period of time while reading a novel regardless of the artistic payoff, please let me warn you away from this reading experience.

If, however, you believe that accompaniment, as a reader, on such an exploration of guilt, pain, self-pity, etc. and the memories of experiences that give rise to such emotions can be productive aesthetically, personally, or both -- I encourage you to read this book.

A formal critical note: I would award the novel five stars, but I find Alla's literary techniques do not quite measure up to the sophistication of the psychological content he explores here. That said, Black Chalk definitely includes experimental techniques to depict experiences and states of mind; some are quite successful. This isn't a writer who plays it safe for a moment; I just see some room for further refinement. I look forward to reading more of his work.

I was lucky enough to receive a free copy of this book from Goodreads. I took longer than I would otherwise to read it due to holiday season interruptions. This is actually a quick read!

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book for free from a Goodreads First Reads giveaway. Like most books I read I avoided reading any other reviews before reading it myself.

I started and stopped Black Chalk several times. I had such trouble in the beginning I wasn't sure if it was the story I was having trouble with or something else. I have concluded that it had nothing to do with the story but with the way I reacted to the personalities jumping off the page. Alla has done such a fantastic job developing his characters that I could see the resemblance to people who have been a part of my own life and I clashed with the same personalities I would clash with in life.

This is the story of Nate Dillingham, a young man who survived a school shooting and how it influenced the rest of his life and those around him. The intensity of the shooting, the aftermath in the weeks that followed and how the Oxfordshire community dealt with the grief will take you through a range of emotions. Right up to the end I wasn't sure if the story of the shooting was what had actually happened, the picture painted by the adults around Mate (particularly his mother), or the misshapen memory brought by guilt.

I look forward to seeing more novels from Albert Alla.

[Denise DeSio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nate's claim to fame is being the only one left alive after a mass shooting at school. He doesn't want the notoriety because he is full of guilt and tortured by his connection with the killer. It affects everything he is and does for years until he finally finds love with sister of his best friend, Jeffery, also a deceased victim of the shooting. Most of the book explores the psychological effects of the tragedy on Nate. As he becomes more and more obsessed with what really happened at the school that day, he is compelled to reveal more and more of his inner thoughts.

The book is a fine psychological study of a boy growing into manhood with a monkey on his back.

[Jacqueline]

I stopped reading this about 40 pages in. It was hard for me to keep up with at times. It sounded like a good book but going into this after reading 'The Fault In Our Stars' was not the best idea. I needed an easy read to not put me in a reading slump but this one is heavy (With the topic being a school shooting) and I just couldn't get into it. I am going to try reading it again soon. but for now I'm just going to leave it and read something else to get me out of the slump I'm in.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pleased to receive a signed copy of this book from a goodreads giveway. Black Chalk is an interesting & thought provoking read about a school class room shooting and the aftermath for the sole survivor Nate. Even though some of the chapters were long, I felt encouraged to read on. The structure really suited the story line, returning to the past and back to the present. A well written book and I'm looking forward to reading more from Albert Alla.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a wonderful read. Sad and intriguing it kept me reading and wondering. Only thing I didn't like was how it ended it was rather confusing but other then that. I truly recommend this book for anyone that enjoys sad yet heartfelt stories.

See my full review here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9eRa...

[Sue G · Rating 3 out of 5]

I seem to be in the minority here, but I really didn't enjoy this. The story centred around Nate as the sole survivor of a school shooting. I found his emotional response unrealistic, often contradictory and the ending left me frustrated. Perhaps I'm too used to more straightforward writing and pace in crime fiction but I also found the prose quite dense and difficult to follow.

[barbara ann petoskey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Thriller To Deliver

Truly a psychological thriller that will have you juggling your calendar where you can, to clear time for reading Black Chalk. Told from the sole survivors point of view, you learn and form your own ideas,through his mommy dearest, other family, and a dear girlfriend. I can say no more. The end will leave you breathless. In a good way?

[Shayla]

Marking this as finish-sometime-in-the-distant-future. It was interesting for a while and even though the writing isn't difficult to read, it just sort of feels like a really long and heavy book, like I shouldn't have so much left to read (I think I'm over halfway through).

[Julianne Niespodziany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! A great read! Though this is non-fiction it makes me wonder what the people (victims and there families) of the real world school tragedies go through emotionally.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely not a young adult read.

[Sgt Roman Hunter · Rating 1 out of 5]

ALLA,,, REALLY ???

[Maddy Gravette · Rating 1 out of 5]

could not finish it which is really hard for me to do. chapters were unnecessarily long, it rambled and in some cases did not make sense. I liked the plot just not the writing.

[Kweigle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a really good story. I didn't even notice the writing, Which I'm not sure that is a good thing, but at least it didn't get the way.

[Caitlin (Bend the Bookshelf)]

Read | April 2014