Chasing the Boogeyman

"There was the bad; the unimaginably, indescribably bad, hovering above all those wonderful memories like an angry, slate-gray thunderstorm sky." In the summer of 1988, the mutilated bodies of several missing girls begin to turn up in a small Maryland town. The grisly evidence leads police to the terrifying assumption that a serial killer is on the loose in the quiet subrurb, and soon a rumor begins to spread that the evil stalking local teens is not entirely human. But law enforcement and members of the FBI are certain the the killer is a living, breathing madman--and that he's playing games with them. For a once peaceful community trapped in the depths of paranoia and suspicion, it feels like a nightmare that will never end. Recent college graduate Richard Chizmar returns to his hometown just as a curfew is enacted and a neighborhood watch group is formed. In the midst of preparing for his edding and embarking on a writing career, he soon finds himself thrust into a real-life horror story. Inspired by the terrifying events, Chizmar writes a personal account of the serial killer's reign of terror, unaware that his time back home will continue to haunt him for years to come. A clever, terrifying, and heartrending work of metafiction, Chasing the Boogeyman is the ultimate marriage between psychological horror and true crime. Chizmar's writing--combining the storytelling of Stephen King with the relentless suspense of Michelle McNamara--is on full display in this truly unique novel that will linger in your memory long after you turn the final page. --

Richard Chizmar is the author of New York Times bestselling novels Chasing the Boogeyman, Becoming the Boogeyman, Memorials, and Widow’s Point: The Complete Haunting (cowritten with son, W.H. Chizmar), and coauthor (with Stephen King) of the New York Times bestselling novella Gwendy’s Button Box, the novel Gwendy’s Final Task, and the solo novella Gwendy’s Magic Feather. His short fiction has appeared in dozens of publications, most recently, the bestselling anthology, The End of The World as We Know It: New Stories of Stephen King’s The Stand. He is the founder and publisher of the specialty press publisher of horror and dark suspense, Cemetery Dance. He has won two World Fantasy awards, four International Horror Guild awards, and the HWA’s Board of Trustees award. Chizmar’s work has been translated into more than fifteen languages throughout the world, and he has appeared at numerous conferences as a writing instructor, speaker, panelist, and guest of honor. Follow him on X, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky: @RichardChizmar, or visit his website at RichardChizmar.com.