Book Review - Chasing the Boogeyman by Richard Chizmar

 

In the summer of 1988, a small Maryland town community is shaken to it's core when the mutilated bodies of several young girls begin to show up. The police believe that there is a serial killer terrorizing the quiet suburban town. Local residents believe that there is an evil presence stalking young girls and that's its not entirely human. Law enforcement, however, is certain that the killer is human and that he is playing a game with the police. The once peaceful community is on edge because the police is no closer to find the killer and more bodies keep showing up.

Richard Chizmar is a recent college graduate who returns home right around the time of the murders. As Richard tries to focus on his upcoming wedding and his budding writing career, he finds himself entwined with the murders. Inspired by real events, Richard documents his personal account of the serial killer's reign of terror in his small community.

This was my first book by, the author and I am surprised on how much I enjoyed it. At first, I was kind of annoyed by all the small personal details about Richard's life as I wanted to know all the nitty gritty of the murders. However, after reading the author's note at the end, it added whole new layer to this book. The author seamlessly blended true crime and fiction in a book that was hard to put down once the murders started happening. I thought the novel was going to have some scary elements but, a scary house was mentioned and nothing came out it. There were some parts of the story that didn't get resolved in the end. The story ended with the author waiting for the second interview with the murderer but, I wish the author could have included more details about the numbers behind the murders. I feel like the story was a bit unresolved because we didn't know the entire story behind the murders. Overall, it was an interesting read but, I could have done without some of the extra details.