Chasing the Boogeyman

In the summer of 1988, girls go missing in a small Maryland suburb, and their mutilated bodies begin to turn up. Police read the evidence as the work of a serial killer. Then a rumor starts to spread among the townspeople: whatever is stalking local teenagers may not be human.

Law enforcement, including agents from the FBI, insist the killer is a living man, and they believe he is toying with them. The town, once peaceful, sinks into paranoia and suspicion. A curfew is imposed and a neighborhood watch takes shape, but the fear does not let up.

Richard Chizmar, a recent college graduate, comes back to his hometown just as these measures begin. He is planning his wedding and starting out as a writer, and the killings pull him in. He sets down a personal account of the murders, not knowing how long they will stay with him.

The book is horror fiction written in the form of a true crime account, a work of metafiction in which the narrator shares the author's name. Expect a dark, tense atmosphere, a suburban setting where fear spreads from house to house, and a mood that stays unsettling and sad rather than light.