Chasing the Boogeyman

Product Information

I loved the uniqueness of this book and the idea of bringing together fiction and non-fiction into the same book.

Told from the first-person point of view of fictional Richard Chizmar, the reader gets to intimately get to know Edgewood, the serene neighborhood setting, and its residents. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. I highly truly extremely recommend you to read this freaking fantastic gem if you are addicted to true crime nonfictions, podcasts, perfectly written thriller books! Chizmar’s work has been translated into more than fifteen languages throughout the world, and he has appeared at numerous conferences as a writing instructor, guest speaker, panelist, and guest of honor. Chasing the Boogeyman does what true crime so often cannot: it offers both chills and a satisfying conclusion.

Naked tree branches reached out as you walked past, skeletal fingers hungering for your touch, and packs of fallen leaves crunched beneath your wandering feet, their boundless brethren skittering past you in the chill autumn breeze like miniature ghosts haunting the landscape.

As the FBI track down leads, Richard and his journalist friend, Carly, work to find their own discoveries, but Richard needs to be careful. I was impressed by Chizmar's writing, and he was able to paint a vivid image in my mind of his town in my mind.His short fiction has appeared in dozens of publications, including Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and The Year’s 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories. Be prepared for the hairs on the back of your neck to be standing at attention as you devour every rich page. If you are not a fan of true crime, you might not find the “telling” of the story as exciting as we did. It really felt like a true crime novel with its pictures and interviews intervened with really life facts from the author himself.

As with a real true crime book, there are some unanswered questions in the end, and although it gives authenticity to the story, it was frustrating to me.

Chasing the Boogeyman is a fictional account of the brutal killings that took place in the author's hometown of Edgewood during the late 1980s.

Though the solution is somewhat obvious, getting to it takes the reader on a smart, entertaining ride. Chizmar knows how to describe everything from the sentimental to the disturbamental (yeah I made that word up. This space for the reader’s imagination to go wild is perhaps the greatest strength of the novel; Chizmar shows incredible restraint and control in “holding back” from the desire to give us all the answers or to spell out the whys and hows. 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.Matt Wesolowski's Six Stories series is similar in execution but done in a much better and sustained way. I see a lot of other reviewers saying this is a 5 star idea and a 2 star plot and I’d have to agree. But, alas, it was all a product of the author's mind, so when I finished the book, there was nothing else to seek out, nor was there anything else left to discuss. For a once peaceful community trapped in the depths of paranoia and suspicion, it feels like a nightmare that will never end. Described as part memoir, part fiction that reads like TRUE CRIME, it is so believable that I kept thinking I misread something!