Chasing the Boogeyman

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I may be a wee bit jaded after reading so many murder stories, and horror (much like humor) can be subjective. This brilliant work of metafiction crafts a not-so-true crime story that feels ripe for a Netflix series….

We believe every word, every interaction, even though Chizmar warns us at the start of the book that elements are fictionalised. Richard Chizmar narrates the novel, with himself as the central male protagonist, using real people and places with a plot inspired by the Phantom Fondler. 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.Amid preparing for his wedding and embarking on a writing career, he soon finds himself thrust into a real-life horror story. 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. A place where people know their neighbor's first names, where a single tragedy can effect the whole community.

Specially designed full-colour illustrated signature page personally signed by Richard Chizmar and Ben Baldwin. This led me to believe there would be a second interview but nope, the book ends, and we never do get those answers. Black and white photographs of the crime scenes and key players are even interspersed throughout the pages. A clever, terrifying, and heartrending work of metafiction, ' Chasing the Boogeyman does what true crime so often cannot: it offers both chills and a satisfying conclusion' (Stephen King).

I’m ending my review with John Milton quote Rich Chizmar chose to add which quote fits with the entire soul of this intense, dark story: “Innocence, once lost, can never be regained. So many thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for sharing this fantastic digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts. 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. Chizmar's short fiction has appeared in dozens of publications including Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine . They represent a duality that runs through the whole novel: a night and day cycle that seems to represent the alternation between the conscious and unconscious mind.

This is a slow-paced yet suspenseful read, especially as the tension between the narrator and the killer builds. 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. Law enforcement, as well as members of the FBI, are certain that the killer is a living, breathing madman—and he’s playing games with them. The New York Times bestselling coauthor of Gwendy’s Button Box brings his signature prose to this story of small-town evil that combines the storytelling of Stephen King with the true-crime suspense of Michelle McNamara. Whilst we don’t get anything so overtly dramatic as, for example, the ending of Stephen King’s underrated masterpiece Joyland, like Dante, we do get a confrontation with pure evil, a moment where we look the Devil in the eye at the nadir—the inverse apex—of existence.As far back as I can remember, I have always associated the Boogeyman with the Shape, AKA Michael Myers, of the classic 1978 film, Halloween. the phrase one always hears when it comes to popular narrative nonfiction is that "it reads like a novel. Before arrival of Rich, three days ago, a 15 years old girl: Natasha Gallagher has been snatched from her bedroom in the middle of the night.