Chasing The Boogeyman was written by Richard Chizmar and published by Gallery Books in 2021. You can purchase it on Amazon/Kindle and you can visit the author on Facebook and Amazon.
The story begins in the summer of 1988, in the author's small, cozy and mostly peaceful hometown of Edgewood, Maryland. The horror all begins with the discovery of a fifteen year old girl who is found dead, sitting propped up in the woods. The teen has been strangled, she's been bitten on her breast and one of her ears was severed and is missing. The same fate soon awaits several other teenage girls and recent college graduate and aspiring writer Richard Chizmar becomes caught up in the horror after returning home to Edgewood. Richard is so horrifyingly captured and intrigued by these grisly events that he decides to write a personal account of these serial killings. Years pass and Richard is still unable to shake off the monstrous events that gripped his hometown. In the process of weaving this wonderful and dreadful tale, the author takes us back to our childhood where he describes times and pleasures that we all have in common. Some of the pleasures were admittingly mischievous ones such as "throwing crab apples or dirt clods or snow balls at passing traffic." Chizmar confesses that he and his younger pals were fond of playing pranks on others but he was not so different from other children his age: "I often set up magic shows in the breezeway, charging attendees ten cents a head, and makeshift carnivals in the side yard, using old, discarded toys and comic books as game prizes—all in an attempt to pry loose change from the younger kids’ pockets." Similarly, Chizmar has lured us into entering this frightening story. The author uses words and expertly paints pictures of nostalgic times and places that we can all relate to in our own lives; filled with baseball cards, chocolate chip cookies, board games, sleepovers and all of the other innocent childhood memories of our beloved hometowns. But, he also reminds us of the evil that can lurk out there- and it's real; make no mistake about that. Chasing The Boogeyman reads like a typically good crime story but it's the ending that sent me on a rollercoaster ride of shock and disbelief- even more so than the mutilated teenage girls described earlier in the book? Yes. This book is unforgettable. A must read!
I give Chasing The Boogeyman 5 out of 5 stars.
Richard Chizmar is a scheduled guest on The Writers Lounge Blog Talk Radio Show #101 on October 25, 2021
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