Chasing the Boogeyman

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The sky overhead was layered with rich shades of orange and yellow and purple and red and a host of swirling colors too beautiful to be named. Matt Wesolowski's Six Stories series is similar in execution but done in a much better and sustained way. Included in the book was pictures of the victims and places where the crimes occurred, adding a layer of truthfulness to the story. Richard teams up with Carly, a fellow journalist, to try and solve the case, and is given details of the case from a detective (if I didn’t already know it was fiction, this would have been my first clue).

Chasing the Boogeyman is an unflinching look at a real-life monster and the ordinary heroes obsessed with stopping him. whose identity probably would have surprised me if, when i was only about three chapters in, i hadn't stuffed my goddamned mail into the book in the foyer on my way up to my apartment, inadvertently bookmarking the page where the killer's photo appeared and, upon retrieving my stupid bills, my fast eyes tractor-beamed to the caption and ruined it for me.I was fascinated by the premise of this novel – with Richard Chizmar as the narrator and central character of the story. He mixes his own fond memories of his childhood and his home town with the made up story about a serial killer hunting young girls. 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.

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. Although important the whole basis of this book is the places, the background, the events and the overall effect of those events. There are also pictures of the victims, locations throughout the town, and the police investigation added throughout the book which give it an even more realistic feel.

When tragedy in the form of murder comes to town, it reverberates through the residents, and takes away their sought-after sense of peace and safety.

Chasing the Boogeyman is a fictional account of the brutal killings that took place in the author's hometown of Edgewood during the late 1980s.

He moves back to his childhood home with his parents in the small town of Edgewood after finishing college. Sprinkled throughout, as with most true crime books, are photographs of the different players and locations. The synopsis states that it is "a marriage between horror fiction and true crime", but it didn't feel like horror fiction to me at all. Again, this felt like a memoir, and even though he was totally obsessed with the murders they still seemed to take a back seat to his reminiscing about his youth. The New York Times bestselling coauthor of Gwendy’s Button Box brings his signature prose to this story of small-town evil that combines the storytelling of Stephen King with the true-crime suspense of Michelle McNamara.