Chasing the Boogeyman

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Chasing the Boogeyman’s chilling atmosphere, originality and slow burning yet suspenseful storyline will certainly catapult it to best-of lists for 2021. Highly recommended if you need something fresh and real.” — Crime Fiction Lover I remember the first book in the series read so much like TRUE CRIME, that I was googling to see what was real and what was imagined! This book haunted my soul! Its unique writing style, realistic chapters reminds you of documentary scripts, unconventional conclusion are truly haunting your soul and giving you nightmares! The author cleverly adds himself as the protagonist and tells the story from his perspective. This along with the fact that he also includes actually memories from his childhood since he grew up in Edgewood blurs the line between fact and fiction even more which I thought was a brilliant way to write the story. It’s certainly extraordinary, mind blowing metafiction is written like a true crime fiction! Extremely disturbing, spin tingling, nerve bending, twisty, outrageously surprising and truly explosive!

Chasing the Boogeyman is both enthralling and chilling, making it impossible to put down as Chizmar recounts the events that occurred in Edgewood, MD. His first-person portrayal of living in this small town at the time of these heinous murders is captivating. In a tale that is a perfect combination of Criminal Minds meets Stephen King, Chizmar is so compelling that it is impossible to separate what parts of the story are real and what occurred in the author’s imagination. As a horror writer, Chizmar knows how to build suspense and create a suitably chilling atmosphere, but mostly he suffuses this story with nostalgic affection for the well-meaning young man he once was and the people who shaped him. Can a serial-killer thriller warm the heart? This one does.” — “The Reader’s Shelf,” Library Journal Absolutely riveting… Richard Chizmar’s keen ability to tell the small-town-tale, investigative insight, and captivating eye for detail, come together in this perfect storm of true crime horror." - J D Barker

It reads almost like a true-crime documentary in the form of a memoir in which the author himself is the main character. Chizmar tells the story of the summer of 1988 when his hometown made headlines after a series of gruesome murders turned the quiet life of Edgewood, Maryland, upside down. the 1990 book ended with the crime still unsolved, and this updated version provides closure: an arrest, a confession, and an interview with the killer.* Needless to say, I found the whole thing to be absolutely riveting. I got through it in two days—but only because I started late the first day and had to take a break to sleep—and I was so into the story, I ended up with insomnia.

Chizmar takes a very unique approach to this book. He sets the book in his hometown during the late 1980s, where a number of young girls are abducted and murdered. This is a fast paced novel that follows the few months where these incidents took place. It's written with Chizmar as one of the main characters in the book, a recent journalism graduate living at home for a few months before getting married and moving to another city. He and another journalist are invested in helping to figure out who committed these atrocious acts. Now, before I jump into my The Edgewood train station also experienced increased popularity because of its proximity to valuable hunting grounds for numerous species of waterfowl. Soon, gentlemen sportsmen from northeastern cities as far-ranging as New York and Boston traveled to Edgewood to take part in the hunt. General George Cadwalader, a colorful war hero and respected Philadelphia lawyer, gradually acquired large plots of property in the area, consisting of almost eight thousand acres, and invited affluent and influential friends to visit. He leased waterfront land to various hunting clubs and established more than a dozen farms on the property. Hardworking tenant farmers paid Cadwalader a healthy percentage of their seasonal crops.Although I’ve often thought about that moment over the years, I’ve never spoken or written about it until now. McNary, Dave (June 26, 2018). "Stephen King's Boogeyman Movie in the Works With A Quiet Place Writers". Variety. Archived from the original on November 1, 2021 . Retrieved November 1, 2021.

Young Rich can't leave it alone. He and his friend, Carly Allbright start investigating the case. He knows the culprit has to be near. But it is safe? Someone is calling his home and hanging up. Then, he feels like someone is following him. Lastly, he believes the murderer is seeking him out. But why? We're all chasing the boogeyman, aren't we? The boogeyman's the past, the truth, our fragile memories that knit the two together. What Richard Chizmar's done for us in Chasing the Boogeyman is give that narrative a taut dramatic line he balances on, never quite tipping one way or the other, just stepping sure-footed all the way to the end—showing us that this is a walk we can all take, if we have the nerve." — Stephen Graham Jones, New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good IndiansRichard is not involved in catching the killer in any way. Nothing happens to him that is scary or tense, and the tone is light. The final revelation of the murderer was surprising, but only because there were no clues that would have led to that conclusion. Worse yet, during an interview with the “murderer” certain things were never explained. More than one plot thread was dropped or fizzled. I wasn’t convinced by the staged (fake) photographs either. The girls looked older than teens with nothing about their appearance to indicate the 1980s. a personally signed and/or inscribed hardcover copy of CHASING THE BOOGEYMAN for each book club member

Wonderful…a knotty mystery with an elegant resolution at its heart....It feels so original, dizzy-making in its expert layering of fact and fiction....A hymn to both innocence and to growing up.” My only issue was that I felt the hopscotch grid, things left by the boogeyman at the scene and the numerology were an important part of the story, yet their significance was never explained. The synopsis states that it is "a marriage between horror fiction and true crime", but it didn't feel like horror fiction to me at all. It was definitely creepy in parts, but not scary or overly graphic. This is a book where I feel the Author's Note is a must since it helps clear up what is real in the story vs what is not. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and and the storytelling. 4 stars.

Chasing the Boogeyman

This is written entirely as a true crime novel, with pictures to boot. Chizmar’s writing is engrossing and compelling as he intersperses parts of his own past and beginnings to his writing career with the overall fictional story of a serial killer in his hometown. It’s clever and unique, fully atmospheric, and intriguing. Richard Chizmar spins dark magic with Chasing the Boogeyman. A true crime masterpiece with Chizmar himself as a key player in the grisly mystery. Highly recommended, but not for the faint of heart.”