Chasing the Boogeyman

Product Information

My expectations were high and maybe I’ve watched and read enough true crime for this to fail for me, but there are plenty of readers who loved it, so please do read other reviews. Chizmar's short fiction has appeared in dozens of publications including Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine .

There are some moments of unease that caused a slight shiver, but I didn’t find it genuinely terrifying like some of the reviews I’ve seen (I’ve also found that I usually don’t agree with Stephen King’s quoted blurbs). 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. If the goal of fiction is to immerse the reader into a tale so bold and true as to feel authentic, then surely this must be the perfect tale.

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. Chizmar’s “dazzling work of fresh imagination and psychological insight” (Caroline Kepnes, New York Times bestselling author of You) is on full display in this truly unique novel that will haunt you long after you turn the final page. This final “interview” is harrowing reading, brilliantly written, and clearly inspired by the likes of Bundy and Gein. Authentic-looking photos at the end of each chapter of such people as victims, police personnel, and ordinary residents of Edgewood reinforce the true crime conceit.

at the time, he was a 22-year-old recently-graduated journalism major living back home with his parents waiting for his fiancée to finish her degree before embarking upon their espousèd life together. The police and FBI will tell you to not believe the rumor that the killer is in fact a human who is playing games with them.

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. Chasing the Boogeyman messed with my head a little, but definitely in a good way, I knew this was a work of metafiction, but it really reads more like true crime.