Meredith (Trying to catch up!)'s Reviews > Chasing the Boogeyman

"I was there. I was witness. And, somehow, the monster's story became my own."

Chasing the Boogeyman is an intelligent novel about a serial killer terrifying a small town in Maryland in the 1980s.

What makes this novel standout is the format; this is not your average suspense/horror novel as it is written in the style of a true-crime 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. Chizmar's personal relationship with the town and some of the victims adds another layer, as his first-person account blurs the line between reality and fiction. The inclusion of photographs of Edgewood and the victims added to this dichotomy.

It takes a while for the events to kick off. Chizmar spends time at the beginning of the novel providing a detailed history of Edgewood. This helps the reader develop an intimacy with the small town. When the murders began, I felt a jarring shift as the picture of serenity quickly shifts to terror.

This is a slow-paced yet suspenseful read, especially as the tension between the narrator and the killer builds. Even though I knew I was reading fiction, I couldn't shake the feeling that the events were not real, which made this an intriguing reading experience.

Chasing the Boogeyman is as much about unraveling the mystery behind the killer as it is about the fictional Chizmar finding himself. Props to Chizmar, as this is a tightly plotted, unique read that took me on an intense reading journey.