"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. -- From dust jacket.

Foreword /by James Renner -- Introduction: "What kind of monster does that?" -- The town -- The first girl -- Kacey -- Suspicion mounts -- July -- The house of mannequins -- Maddy -- The boogeyman -- October country -- Aftermath -- Memorials -- Shotgun summer -- Questions -- April 2, 1989 -- Afterword: September 2019.