4.03 AVERAGE

mostlyreadinghorror's profile picture

mostlyreadinghorror's review

4.0



This second installment was just as creepy as its predecessor Chasing the Boogeyman. There was one scene in particular that made my skin crawl,

“he cocked his head from one side to the other, real slow like, the way a dog will do when it’s deciding whether to attack or turn tail and run, and then he started making a kind of snorting sound”.

IYKYK

This was fast paced and entertaining. I did struggle a bit to get into the story in the beginning, as a huge fan of the original I just couldn’t see where this was going, and I was nervous that we were grasping at straws. But once I got my bearings I was hooked. I am so down with continuing with this series. I cannot get enough of Chizmars semi fictional universe. Similar to the original what I really love about this crime thriller is that there is a great balance of police procedural and fleshed out characters plot that is great for readers who don’t necessarily enjoy crime thrillers heavy with police procedural jargon.

I also felt like this was a bit more violent than Chasing the Boogeyman. If you can’t already tell I enjoyed this book and would give it my highest recommendation! Well done Mr. Chizmar.

tarah_'s review

5.0
adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

ejsutton's review

4.0

it was harder to get into the flow of this book compared to the first but once you’re in it’s so good! i’m excited for the story to continue but i was secretly hoping this was the conclusion.
adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
ssullivan1001's profile picture

ssullivan1001's review

5.0

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for allowing me to read this book in advance. This book is the sequel to "Chasing the Boogeyman", which was fantastic. I will have to go back and re-read the first one but dare I say it, I think this book is better. I love how the writer incorporates himself into this book as the main character. He has a knack for weaving the storyline so that it keeps you guessing, and it pulls you in. There were a couple of chapter beginnings where I had to flip back because I thought I'd missed something, but I learned quickly to just keep reading because he will explain and you will soon understand. Overall a very creative and fantastic story!
tessla's profile picture

tessla's review

4.75
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
torchyblane's profile picture

torchyblane's review

2.75
adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
queenbookbuff's profile picture

queenbookbuff's review

3.0

I read Chasing the Boogeyman and it enjoyed it. I thought writing it like a true crime novel was clever and I can see how it was easy for some folks to think it was a true story. I was looking forward to Becoming the Boogeyman. I can say that I didn’t enjoy it as much. First, as a person who is elliptic, his characterization of his friend with seizures was just plain disgusting. Is complete misinformation and the continued myth you can swallow your tongue was disappointing.
I found parts disjointed and the ending was abrupt. Richard Chizmar and how he dealt with the cops was so unbelievable I had hard time not rolling my eyes. His behavior was arrogant and obsessive, and I had a hard time feeling in sympathy.

I did like his relationship with his long time friends. It was one of the best parts of the story. It kept me reading and I feel it is worth the read BUT check it out at the library because I don’t think it is worth the buy.

jmills's review

4.25
adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
_onemorechapter_'s profile picture

_onemorechapter_'s review

3.0
emotional funny informative mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

𝑻.𝑾: Murder, Sexual Assault, Torture, Kidnapping, and Violence

𝐓𝐢𝐩: Do not read the first book and this one back-to-back as it is not the smartest idea. Have a gap of at least a month or two to enjoy the second book properly!
 
💭 I love Chasing the Boogeyman but I cannot say this about the sequel. I don’t know what it was, whether it was the way it was written this time around or just the fact that I had hyped myself up for it to be as good as the first book, but I found myself bored and struggling to get through this even though Becoming the Boogeyman is a follow-up with the same format as the first.
In this fictional "true crime" story Chizmar delivers a suspenseful, even more personal tale full of action, twists and turns. A series of gruesome killings straight out of The Boogeyman's playbook is happening, and the Chizmar family and friends are right in the middle of it all. The tale is told with a mix of current event reporting, interview transcripts, photos and recollections. 

Chizmar's a great storyteller. I like his attention to detail with every victim. They all have depth to them and I feel bad knowing what's going to happen. I'm definitely an outlier on this but I think this could have been edited more to make it shorter. There were a lot of tangents and side stories that didn't add much to the main story. With that being said, too often I feel the author veer off the path to tell every story and I was waiting... and waiting to find the killer.
After that long journey of getting through this book, the ending was underwhelming and it didn't quite make sense to me. I also didn't get what it had to do with "becoming the boogeyman"🤦🏻‍
The majority of this book just dragged. It just did not have the magic or the grip of the first one. I had to actually sit down and force myself to read, that is a rare thing for me. 
Nothing was really explained fully and this whole book was just a set-up for a third Boogeyman book and after reading this I am not at all excited about it or even waiting for its release. I am like please take your time a year or two I am not in a hurry to read it.

The net effect, however, (for me) was a novel that frequently felt all over the place and which was easy to put down but harder to pick up again. It took me more than 14 days to finish reading this book. Ugh.
Even though I didn't love the sequel as much as I did the first, I still enjoyed Chizmar's creativity and humor.

𝐏.𝐒 Chizmar name-drops King so often in this book that it gives off creepy fanboy vibes😅 Does anyone else feel this too??

𝐏.𝐒.𝐒 I'd never read a book by Richard Chizmar until a month or so ago. I've now read two! 

🔸𝑴𝒚 𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈: ⭐⭐⭐
🔸𝑮𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒔 𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈: 4.22 (2529)
🔸𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒆:Crime Fiction, Thriller, and Horror Fiction
🔸𝑺𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔: The Boogeyman (Book - 2)
🔸𝑹𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏: Yes! You may enjoy it more than I did!