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Becoming the Boogeyman
3.0 (1 rating)

Becoming the Boogeyman

The “worthy and frightening sequel” (Stephen King) to the acclaimed and “unforgettable” (Harlan Coben) New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling novel Chasing the Boogeyman.

Back in the summer of 1988, a young Richard Chizmar was catapulted into the center of a living nightmare as the serial killer Joshua Gallagher—dubbed by the media as “The Boogeyman”—stalked his tranquil Maryland town. A lot has changed in the intervening years.

These days, Chizmar enjoys a certain level of celebrity and notoriety himself, being the only person that an incarcerated Josh Gallagher will speak to on or off the record. Chizmar likes to believe that he’s doing the world a public service by visiting Gallagher in prison, as there are plenty of other nameless victims out there who Gallagher might finally admit to killing and bring closure to grieving loved ones, and a dark rhythm and routine begin to take hold. But Chizmar eventually finds there’s a price to be paid for dancing with the devil, when a masked figure with all the hallmarks of Gallagher’s reign of terror from thirty years ago now leaves a horrifying calling card in front of Chizmar’s home, and it’s clear there’s a new player on the board in the ongoing game that the Boogeyman controls…

A riveting, haunting sequel to the New York Times bestselling thriller Chasing the Boogeyman, this is a tale of obsession and the adulation of evil, exploring modern society’s true crime infatuation with unflinching honesty, sparing no one from the glare of the spotlight. Will those involved walk away from the story of a lifetime in order to keep their loved ones safe? Or will they once again be drawn into a killer’s web? As the story draws to its shattering conclusion, only one person holds all the answers—and he just may be the most terrifying monster of them all.

Published: October 10, 2023

Pages: 336

ISBN: 9781668009161

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Reader Reviews

3.0

1 rating

Liz M.

Apr 26, 2026
A solid follow-up to Chasing the Boogeyman, but it didn't quite hit the same chilling magic for me. The concept-diving into our obsession with true crime and the blurred line between fascination and danger-is smart and unsettling in all the right ways. The writing still has that eerie realism that made the first book feel almost too real, but this time the pacing dragged in spots and some of the emotional impact got lost in the noise.
It's still dark, thought-provoking, and haunting
—but where Boogeyman gripped me from the first page, this one felt more like watching from a distance instead of being caught in the storm.
Worth reading for fans of the first book, just don't expect lightning to strike twice.