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After haunting readers with the two fictional autobiographies in his Boogeyman series (starting with 2021’s Chasing the Boogeyman), author Richard Chizmar takes himself out of the story for the follow-up, Memorials—focusing instead on a group of friends and their terrifying road trip through the backwoods.
The story follows three college students as they set out on a week-long trip in the spring of 1983 to film a documentary. They plan to travel through small towns and down country roads to find roadside memorials and tell their stories—but as they travel deeper into the mountains of Pennsylvania, what first seemed like a fun-filled road trip takes a dark turn. People are suspicious of them—and they experience strange things that can’t just be coincidental. And they begin to wonder if they’ve accidentally uncovered something dark and sinister.
Each of the three students has experienced great tragedy—and spending the week traveling together and talking to people about their own grief seems like a good way to help each other heal from the pain in their past. All three are likable characters in their own way—with different ways of working through their grief—and if this were a different kind of story, maybe they’d find what they need to aid in their recovery. But it doesn’t take long for the excitement of the trip to wear off. From flat tires and the stares of townspeople to the feeling that they’re being followed, it all gets increasingly eerie. They try to brush it off, but when they begin to notice a strange symbol at most of the memorials, they wonder what it all could mean—and the more of these symbols they find, the more is feels as though, whatever it is, it isn’t good.
This nearly 500-page story starts out as a slow-burning thriller—the kind that will keep you guessing. It could all turn out to be just a strange coincidence…or maybe there’s something criminal going on in these small mountain towns…or it could be something much darker. But the suspense keeps building into something dark and terrifying—and that darkness grows until it all comes together in a shockingly explosive and nightmarish end.
As it follows these likable young characters on a bittersweet journey that turns unexpectedly horrifying, Memorials is a long and winding adventure that takes age-old legends and some of your worst fears and mixes them together into something that will haunt your dreams.
Listen to the review on Shelf Discovery:
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