In Chizmer’s skillful hands, the book becomes mystery, thriller, and a haunting tale of small-town life that lingers long after finishing.”

Chasing the Boogeyman perfectly captures the feeling of growing up in a small town facing an existential threat from real evil. Chizmar’s Edgewood is post-Bradbury-esque, not as idyllic as that author’s Green Town...it’s grittier and more grounded in a reality contemporary readers will recognize and respond to. Richard Chizmar has invented a new literary genre—brilliant!” —Bev Vincent, co-editor with Stephen King of Flight or Fright Immediately after graduating from college and on the verge of becoming a successful writer, Richard finds himself increasingly consumed by what is happening on the streets where he grew up. Young teenage girls are being raped, mutilated and strangled ... and there seems to be no clue as to who the serial killer might be. Together with his childhood friend and reporter, they follow police procedures from a very close angle hoping to stop the gruesome murders before another girl is hurt.I must confess I was not expecting this kind of book at all. This is a typical case of booksta-made-me-do-it, I don't deny it. I was also prompted by the fact that the author is a friend of Stephen King and the man himself recommended the book. Although I’ve often thought about that moment over the years, I’ve never spoken or written about it until now. Chasing The Boogeyman is an engaging and cleverly told suspenseful mystery, and I look forward to reading more of Chizmar’s work. Chasing the Boogeyman pulled me down deep then buried me alive. Combining gritty true crime with the darkly imagined, Chizmar offers something unique—and uniquely frightening." - Andrew Pyper 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.

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! It’s a unique and interesting premise, but it was missing the promised suspense, chills and thrills. To those who don’t enjoy horror, no worries, as this contains no horror. I didn’t think it read like true crime, but more like an early season of Stranger Things.

A typical summer day for us ran the gamut of youthful adventure. We played every outdoor sport known to man, and some others that we invented out of sheer boredom. We popped tar bubbles on the road with our toes. Cheated at Marco Polo in the Cavanaughs’ aboveground swimming pool. Fished in the nearby creeks, ponds, and rivers. Explored the endless woods, and built secret underground forts. Sometimes, our good friend Steve Sines would join us and bring along his father’s .22 semiautomatic rifle. We’d spend long afternoons hunting for crows and vultures in the woods or shooting at empty cans and bottles. Other times, we’d practice responsible gun safety by pointing at each other’s shoes and yelling, “Jump!” before pulling the trigger and blasting the dirt where our friend’s feet had stood only seconds earlier. It’s a miracle we still have all our toes. a b "The Boogeyman". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on January 30, 2023 . Retrieved August 2, 2023.

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 Chasing the Boogeyman is an intelligent novel about a serial killer terrifying a small town in Maryland in the 1980s. Chasing the Boogeyman is a dazzling work of fresh imagination and psychological insight...a rare read that brings that beyond words feeling of having slipped away into another world. The story has the most riveting unique pulse as if there is a real heart beating in there. I am in awe!" - Caroline Kepnes If the house with green shutters and the ancient weeping willow tree represented the center of my world growing up—the hub of my “wheel of life,” as I later began to think of it—then each road, big or small, leading away from that house resembled a spoke in that ever-turning wheel, every one of them fanning out in a different direction, eventually running out of space to roam, and serving to collectively define the outer boundaries of my beloved hometown. Let’s say you’re a Stephen King Constant Reader, and you’ve gone through his entire catalogue. What to do, what to do??? May I offer Richard Chizmar’s Chasing the Boogeyman for your consideration?

My thanks to the author and Gallery Books for providing me with a gifted copy to review via NetGalley. Domestic 2023 Weekend 22". BoxOfficeMojo. Archived from the original on June 6, 2023 . Retrieved June 7, 2023. Geisinger, Gabriella (October 8, 2019). "Fox movies scrapped forever after Disney's big takeover". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on February 12, 2021 . Retrieved March 13, 2022.