Honestly, it wasn’t as good as I expected. I really enjoyed Gwendy’s Button Box and the sequel so I had high hopes for this, but I was disappointed. The characters seemed so fake, the twist wasn’t much of one and it all ended so abruptly. Just glad it was a quick read and I didn’t waste a lot of time on it. ( )

The story itself is good! A woman shows up on the doorbell recording of a family's home, a woman who appears to be in danger! But who is she, and where did she come from? Fingers get pointed at neighbors, by neighbors, and everyone seems to think that everyone else has something to hide. It had the feel of a modern day version of "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" from the old Twilight Zone series. At least that's how I felt.

It's a good enough read, but what bothered me was the physical "book" itself. See, like a lot of books I've seen lately, this one is small, begins the story on page 11, has huge margins, and blank pages between chapters. It has 151 numbered pages, but I'd bet this is half of that in real terms. So a list price of $35 seems absurd. This really is a short story, not a book, not a novella, and to pay more than $5 seems crazy. I'm really glad I was able to get it through our library! Again, it is an enjoyable, short read - but I really would have been bummed if I had purchased it. ( )

The Girl On The Porch
by Richard Chizmar
2019
Subterranean Press
4.5 /5.0

On October 4th, at 3:30 a.m. a resident of Hanover. Pennsylvania was awakened by the doorbell being repeatedly rung. When they finally get to the door, no one is there. Surveillance video shows a dishelved women with a shackle hanging from her wrist. No one recognizes her. Even when the story is aired on TV, no one seems to know who she is....when mysterious footprints appear in the garden, and other people start having the same late night doorbell experiences, everyone feels on edge...
Who is this women?? How did she get here?? Where did she go??
Very creepy and well written, this is short and fantastic suspense.
The library edition was gorgeous...gold embossed leaves on the inside cover pages, and a numbered and signed edition. Beautiful. ( )

I kept fluctuating between giving The Girl on the Porch three stars or five. It ends so abruptly and has so many unanswered questions. I was reading it on the Kindle when I finished around Midnight, and at first I thought the book had not downloaded completely. I tapped the right side five times and then tried going back, then forward, to see if it would advance. Finally, I brought up the progress bar and saw that it was at 99%.

I was annoyed for about 20 minutes before finally going to sleep. It was while I was stewing that I thought I would give The Girl on the Porch three stars.

Waking up the next morning I knew I would be giving it five stars. Life is not neat. Questions go unanswered all the time. Richard Chizmar may be a genius.

Chizmar welcomes you into a typical neighborhood, one that could easily be where you are currently living, or have in the past. With the news and social media letting everyone know just how many twisted and sick people there are in the world, neighbors instantly start suspecting each other of keeping the woman trapped in a basement or a shed in their yard. Not like twenty years ago when you couldn’t even imagine your neighbors doing something so horrendous.

Small secrets start getting exposed between married couples and best friends. Those secrets start getting passed over the fence in casual conversation. The knower of the secret wants confirmation that they really have nothing to fear. But the fear and distrust keeps growing. Until so many past discretions are out that anyone could be the kidnapper. Then the body is found. And the murderer becomes even more unraveled.

Shortly after this, the book comes to an end. Although the story is wrapped up, there are still so many questions. The biggest one being, Why?

But this is where Chizmar, in my mind, joins the legendary writers of horror. King, Straub, Jackson, Shelley, Barker, Ketchum, Lovecraft, and Poe do not often write happy endings. They leave you with questions. And those questions fester in your brain making the normal seem sinister.

I will be reading more books by Richard Chizmar, and I hope you do too. ( )