Chasing the Boogeyman

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I was intrigued by the premise - a thriller novel set as a true crime investigation - and execution, but by the end I was skim reading to finish. J. Tudor, New York Times bestselling author) writing is on full display in this truly unique novel that will haunt you long after you turn the final page. It’s worth noting that many contemporaries of Dante actually believed he had been to Hell: the vividness of his descriptions, as well as the force of his personality, suggested an authentic mystical experience.

He left missing dog sign, pennies, pumpkins as he took lives of Kacey Robinson, Madeline Wilcox, Cassidy Burch. During that time, four teenage girls with whom Chizmar has some connection (“They were friends of friends, siblings of friends, or in some cases, children of friends”) are murdered. I wanted to jump onto Google and learn more about the killings, the characters, the victims, the suspects, the subsequent trial, and its results. Unfortunately for me this read more as a memoir rather than a serial killer story or a true crime re-telling which was very disappointing to this reader.A solid true crime facsimile, mixing background detail with action, suspense, and a compelling pace.

His short fiction has appeared in dozens of publications, including Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and The Year’s 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. The author makes you believe everything he is saying happened way back when he was a young man fresh out of college. 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.

He has adapted the works of many bestselling authors including Stephen King, Peter Straub, and Bentley Little. He has won two World Fantasy awards, four International Horror Guild awards, and the HWA's Board of Trustee's award. As a fan of true crime it was very hard to believe that this is a work of fiction throughout the whole read. but it also borrows from the structural conceit of found footage horror movies, incorporating photographs and interviews with key figures involved in the case, suffusing the story with authenticity.

It is a harrowing journey into the circles of a modern Hell, leading to a confrontation with darkness. It really felt like a true crime novel with its pictures and interviews intervened with really life facts from the author himself. The result is strikingly original, a story that will thrill fans of intimately investigated nonfiction like Michelle McNamara's I’ll Be Gone in the Dark and self-aware, psychological suspense like Oyinkan Braithwaite's My Sister, the Serial Killer.This quote immediately popped into my head when reading a few of the scenes with the boogeyman, and I could not help but think that Chizmar drew upon Michael Myers as a sort of muse or inspiration when trying to flesh out his character of the boogeyman. So, yes, for those inclined to pick this book up with the notion that it is a true crime tale, take note that this is not that book and this is, indeed, a work of fiction. One also senses a Tolkien-esque philosophy behind the narrative: that evil is ultimately a form of nothingness, an absence rather than a presence, where meaning, love, and understanding are void. This is one of the those books where the story is just as important as the format, and both worked together to create that perfect narrative. Takes me back to my younger years in many ways: I was totally obsessed with true crime when in middle/high school and this book was set during those years.