Have you ever read a book so thoroughly unsure of what it was supposed to be that you had to go back and read the synopsis to see how it was being marketed and to whom? According to the publisher’s description, The Girl on the Porch is a thriller, and a harrowing one at that, “A rollercoaster ride of compelling twists and turns,” they claim. Thank God for marketing writers, because I would not have picked up on any of that from the text itself.

The Girl on the Porch is a thriller without any thrills. As far as a rollercoaster…well, picture a rollercoaster low to the ground, maybe about half an inch high, without any bends or turns or loop-de-loops, and instead of racing along you’re stuck in a creaky old car that barely nudges itself along the track. There’s no acceleration, no sense of excitement or adventure, but sweet fiddling Jesus Christ are you ever glad when it’s over, even if all your left with is the demand for your time and money back, eager to go find an actual, honest to goodness real goddamn ride!

I guess you can kinda sorta tell this book is meant to be a thriller, and marketed toward what the publisher must think is still the big trend in thrillers, since its title belongs to the burgeoning and overused formula of The Girl / With Something / Who Did Something / In-On-Or There Abouts Somewhere. This book’s initial premise is one of promise, and according to Richard Chizmar is based on a true story of a home security camera’s late-night recording of a woman in chains appearing on the porch. It’s a frightening event to be sure, one that’s ripe with all kinds of storytelling possibility. Unfortunately, the author here proceeds to drains this premise of any potential, excitement, or mystery. Chizmar takes this great idea and then frames it in the most plodding and boring way possible.

Is this book a thriller or a mystery or a real-life horror? No. Sadly, The Girl on the Porch is little more than a mundane suburban melodrama about neighborly worries and baking cookies out of guilt. It could have been a truly compelling mystery if seen through the eyes of the detectives that operate here on the periphery. It could have been an engaging thriller if the central character, Kenny, seemed even the least bit interested in trying to figure out who’s following him or leaving footprints in his wife’s garden. Instead, he’s more eager to mow his lawn. Yes, dear readers, Kenny is such a boring-ass, milquetoast protagonist that his greatest joy in life is doing yard work. Next to watching football, it’s maybe his greatest passion.

There’s a mystery man stalking this small suburban neighborhood in the wake of this unknown woman briefly appearing on Kenny’s doorstep before disappearing into the night again. Imagine how interesting that aspect of the story could be, and then nix all that from your mind entirely because instead you’re going to read about poker games, yoga classes, high school football practice, and Kenny’s favorite reading chair when he’s not cutting the grass for the bulk of this slim novella’s hundred-some pages.

Chizmar had a really neat concept here and then deliberately decided to tell it in the most mundane, antiseptic, and dullest ways possible. There’s no sense of engagement in the material here, and certainly no reason to even try connect with it. There’s no growth and certainly no arc or journey for any of the cast, and the characters are forgettable paper-thin cardboard cutouts who do next to nothing for the entire story. We do get a few very, very, very, very, very brief glimmers of interest, though, such as a too short but legitimately scary moment around the half-way mark that ultimately, like the rest of this book, ends in cliched disappointment. It’s such a small moment of potential, but ends up being little more than a cock tease in a narrative that suffers from a serious case of erectile dysfunction. This is a story that never once rises to the occasion and instead is content to be a sad, limp, shriveled up disappointment.

What’s worse is that I actually like Chizmar quite a bit. His collaboration with Stephen King for Gwendy’s Button Box was stellar, and his chapters for Serial Box’s Silverwood: The Door, Season 1 were standout entries. I’ve dug most of the short stories I’ve read from him in various anthologies. Even when I found some of his lesser works, like Widow’s Point, to be overly familiar and formulaic, I still found certain things to appreciate and had a good time reading them. Not so with The Girl on the Porch. I found myself on the verge of quitting this book several times, I was so fed up with its go nowhere, do nothing attitude, but mustered through since it’s such a short read. Then, several times I became actively angry at this book for wasting so much of my time with its utterly passive pointlessness.

If The Girl on the Porch is meant to be a thriller, then it’s the most lackluster and impotent one I’ve ever read. If it’s supposed to be a mystery, then it’s one in which not a single one of our central characters seems even the least bit interested in solving. For an author as good as Chizmar, it’s painful to see him slumming it here, and so meekly too. I had high hopes for this one, but, sad to say, this is easily the most disappointing book I’ve read this year.

Well, hmm.

That was not exactly what I was expecting.

While not terrible, I'm afraid I don't see much of a point to this one, either. to

This is the second Chizmar novella I've read this summer and neither has done much for me. This one in no way is horror, except in the human sense of horror, so I hope it won't be marketed as such for fans of Cemetery Dance and the Chizmar name.

A couple of moderately creepy moments, offset by the overuse throughout of similies. I have my doubts most middle-aged married men are prone to thinking in similies. For example, Kenny, the main character, muses:

The crisp autumn air felt good on his face, like a wake-up kiss on a lazy Sunday morning. Stars blanketed the night sky above. Hundreds of them like sparkling diamonds strewn across velvet.

Maybe I'm wrong, but other than a generalized feeling of contentment, I think most high school football coaches would just take out the trash without so much prose in their heads. Then again, he's supposed to be the English teacher as well, so what do I know?

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Actual Rating: 2.5 stars
Format: digital ARC
Source: Netgalley
Current ebook price: $4.99
Opinion of Price: Meh
My Cost: $0.00

2 Stars ⭐️⭐️

That’s it? I’m all about reading a novella every once in a great while, but that’s all we get?

The Girl on the Porch sounded SO good when read the synopsis. I mean, this could’ve been waaaay better. Perhaps if it were a full length book? I don’t know, but literally nothing happened.

The beginning started off pretty strong, but it just fizzled from there. I kept reading and waiting for something big to happen. I wanted something big to happen! No twists, no rollercoaster ride. Even the reveal was meh - and so rushed.

Maybe a full length novel from this author would be more my style.

Thank you to NetGalley, Subterranean Press and Richard Chizmar for the advanced copy in exchange for my review.

The premise, description and blurb about this book had me hooked.... I mean, think about it! A strange woman shows up on your doorstep in suburbia with a shackle around one wrist!?!? Oh! The intrigue! Who wouldn't start giving serious thought to all your neighbors and how well you know, or think you know, them? Unfortunately this book in actuality didn't quite deliver. The premise was great, the psychological aspect had my head spinning with possibilities, but there really wasn't much else. It was a really quick read and I think the author could have done a lot to flesh this out some more. It felt more reminiscent of early Stephen King short stories rather than a full-blown novel. I will absolutely be watching for what else this author does though because it's in there, it just hasn't fully blossomed yet.

Many thanks to Subterranean Press and #NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

Creepy beginning, dark thriller and lingering questions at that end. I personally recommend reading this novella with the light on in the beginning. I was listening for noises while I read, lol. There is animal abuse, which we know happens in real life, as does rape, torture and murder. Is it going on in your neighborhood, under your nose and your not aware? That is what the book did to me, especially when it comes out who did it. No reason given which was disappointing, but then does anyone really have a reason for the mayhem the commit? I look at all my neighbors twice now! Thank you for for arc Richard Chizmar, Subterranean Press and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own and were unsolicited.

What a great beginning this novella had!

Imagine reviewing your outside front door camera footage (not uncommon in the age of the Ring and the Nest) the morning after hearing your next-door neighbor's dog barking in the middle of the night and seeing an almost naked woman with a shackle hanging from her wrist banging on your door trying to get someone to help her. This is exactly what happened to Sarah and Kenny Tucker.

After the shock, the couple calls the police. Of course, the police immediately wants to know if Kenny knows the woman. Kenny denies it. Soon the news gets ahold of the story and the video goes viral. Everyone wants to know who this woman is and where is she. For the police, anyone in the neighborhood is a suspect including Kenny.

Like I said earlier, great beginning. The novella has a fast-paced and suspenseful narrative. It was hard to pinpoint who had taken this woman. Despite Sarah and Kenny having a good marriage, Sarah couldn't be sure Kenny didn't have something to do with her appearance and for that matter, her disappearance.

The Girl on the Porch was intriguing with good characters but the end failed to woo me. It was disappointing. It was choppy and incongruent with the rest of the book. Everything happened so fast. I felt like there could've been a whole chapter cluing us in and leading us into that ending. Otherwise, it made no sense. Quite a shame because it had a great promise.

Cliffhanger: No

3/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by Subterranean Press via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A traumatic and sad novella exposing the ugly underside of content and prosperous affluent suburban life. In a quiet Pennsylvania community, a lone woman seeks help, but the residents don't see nor hear in time. Soon, it's too late, and too late for some of the innocent to remain unscathed. "The evil that men do" is sometimes unintentional, occasionally by impulse, and other times, cultivated, yearned for, and developed to implacability. Beware: who holds the deepest, darkest, secrets?

I really wanted to love this novella, but that didn’t happen here. I like the concept of the story, however, I think if THE GIRL ON THE PORTCH was written as a full length novel with more character depth and added suspense, I would have enjoyed it more. That’s just my personal opinion, other readers may feel differently.

This novella is like your typical who-done-it (which I love!), with a cast of characters to point the finger at. The reader is given a few scenes to speculate who the antagonist might be, and keeps you guessing until the very end, which I like.

Thank you Net Galley and Subterranean Press for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Girl on the Porch is the latest novella from Richard Chizmar. The cover is what caught my attention, and it was Stephen King’s praise that sold me on this one. It’s described as being a dark and twisted thriller that’ll leave you afraid and distrusting of your neighbors.
The Girl on the Porch follows a small neighborhood rocked by a sudden change. A woman in cuffs was caught on camera – desperately trying to get the attention (and presumably help) of anybody within the houses on this street. Only, that never happened.
What follows is eerie and disturbing. It’s a tale of trying to discover who you can and can’t trust. I’m not entirely sure that it lived up to all of the hype it received though. Oddly enough, I think I would have liked it more had I not heard so much about it. Funny how that works sometimes, isn’t it?

Warnings: The description should give you a good idea of what to be concerned about here. But just in case, in this novella there are descriptions (both brief and longer) of kidnapping, torture, rape, and murder.
The Girl on the Porch was a fascinating and dark read. It was also a quick read, but since this is a novella I’m not terribly surprised by that fact. And it certainly was twisted. But the description left me expecting more twists and turns than what I got. So for a moment I’m going to ignore the description and the praise, and just look at the novella itself.
This novella was quick and more or less to the point. It followed on family in particular, and showed how something so drastic could change their lives. It’s unfathomable to think of your neighbors doing something so horrible. But it’s even worse to consider when most of your neighbors are close friends.
I love that Chizmar made the news almost an enemy in this novella. The reporters are the ones who kept digging and digging, and even the ones who put pieces of the puzzle together – and then revealed all of that information to the general public. They did exactly what you’d expect to see in real life – but this novella showed you the impact it has on those directly involved. It was fascinating.
I will say that when the final reveal came I was a little nonplussed. I felt like there was less buildup than I was expecting. Perhaps if it had been a full novel that would have been different? I know that some of the building up that had been hinting at another character’s guilt was just to throw us off the trail…but I would have liked to see more a conclusion from that side of things as well.
On the whole I did enjoy this novella. I think it was perfect for what it was, especially given how quickly I read it. I wouldn’t have minded seeing this story stretched out into something longer – I think it really had a lot of potential here.
Back to the praise for this novella. I was expecting twists and turns left and right. But I didn’t really get that. It left me confused at times, the dissonance between the two. I even went back and reread some of the novella, looking to see if I missed something. I don’t think I did. I’ll be curious to see how others felt about this novella versus the description.

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 discreations 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.

#The Girl on the Porch#netGalley

I thoroughly enjoyed this suspenseful, creepy novella, The Girl on the Porch, reading it in one sitting!
Set in a peaceful suburban neighborhood, filled with friendly neighbors, the story will quickly change your mind about this tranquil scene!

Kenny and Sarah Tucker are shocked to discover,via their home security camera, a young woman on their porch in the middle of the night. Not only does the woman seem terrified, but she is half naked and shackled! After reporting this to the police and sharing their terrifying video, the news quickly spreads over the neighborhood. The Tucker's are questioned extensively and all the other neighbors are subjected to intense questions. The story quickly becomes a media sensation.

The Tucker's and their teenage daughter, Natalie, are thrust into this media nightmare and are confronted by a feeding frenzy of reporters. But still no one has located or even knows the identity of this mysterious woman. As the days go by, suspicion falls on the Tucker's' friends and neighbors. To Kenny and Sarah, everyone to look guilty of something nefarious.

The suspense builds until there is a shocking reveal at the end of the book. This reveal was both unexpected and over too quickly. I found myself wanting more!! As others have suggested, I feel that this story could easily have been expanded to a spooky full length novel. But having stated this, I highly recommend this novella, The Girl on the Porch, to all who love a truly creepy, fast paced mystery!!

Thanks to the author, Richard Chizmar, to the publishers and to NetGalley for my advanced digital copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Going with 2.5 stars with The Girl on the Porch!

I knew this was a novella going into getting an ARC for this book. I don't have issues with novellas and have enjoyed many over the years. I think the book failed in the end that it lowered my overall rating and suspense.

The Girl on the Porch starts off with someone ringing the doorbell late at night at Sarah and Kenny Tucker’s house. They hear the doorbell ringing late and just assume it’s a teenage prank. By the time they get up and go check the front door, the person has left.

The next morning Sarah decides to check their home security system and they notice a young woman with shackles hanging from one of her wrist. She keeps glancing over her shoulder and then runs away in the dark.

So, yeah, great and creepy concept but it didn’t really deliver for me. Honestly, it wasn’t because of the characters or how it affects the neighborhood. It had a type of The 'Burbs feel to it and I loved that! By the way, if you have never seen this movie then you are missing out!!

It failed for me at the end. I was wanting so much more! I really think that if Richard Chizmar could have wrapped up the The Girl on The Porch in a completely different way and scenario, I would have rated this so much higher.

Chizmar has got the skill of writing creepy and interesting plots though. I’m looking forward to trying out more of his books!

Like many readers of this novella, I wanted more, more, more!

That being said, this is a pretty insidious little book.

In The Girl on the Porch, Chizmar invokes shades of one of my favorite Twilight Zone Episodes. I won’t tell you which one because it would be way too spoilery. But it’s iconic and this book definitely reminded me of it!

The story is built on the idea that we don’t really trust each other all that much. Tiny little actions and side remarks build a ton of tension here.

In fact, the tension was so strong that the reveal was a tiny bit of a letdown. I wanted more. I wanted a mass release of those tensions and suspicions. The ending was realistic, while I wanted drama.

I do put this down to my personal taste. I’m admittedly more of an epic person than a novella person.

But I enjoyed this one, marveled at Chizmar’s skill in building a very devious story, and would read him again in a heartbeat.

*ARC via Net Galley

The Girl on the Porch draws you from the first paragraph and keeps you engaged until the final sentence.

ARC FROM NET GALLEY

4 stars because Chizmar can write but he just can;t do it in 150 pages or so. This is a big story shortened to a blurb.

I thought this was a pretty good read. Kept me interested, easy to read, and the storyline was different enough from the other suspense thrillers out there.

The Girl on the Porch by Richard Chizmar
ISBN 978-1-59606-915-2

The Girl on the Porch is a chilling psychological thriller, full of beautiful prose and thought provoking quotes that evoke wonderful imagery. It's a fascinating look into the way suspicion and fear can paint even the most mundane events as sinister scenes. Chizmar excellently illustrates how easily, and quickly, we're willing to turn on each other when there's proof someone in the neighborhood has done something unimaginable. Kenny, Sarah, and the gaggle of neighbors and friends that round out the cast are characters we not only relate to but see in the faces of our own friends and neighbors. While a bit shallow and, in most cases, one dimensional, the characters are still fleshed out enough to put ourselves in their shoes and feel their fear as the week progresses and our killer continues to slip through the grasps of the authorities. Chizmar crafts an intricate plot with just as many false leads as there are suspects and we're left guessing who the true culprit is up until the very moment they're revealed. Even then it seems almost false. It's an eerie reminder that those we believe we're close to we may never truly know. The biggest drawbacks The Girl on the Porch currently faces are some editing and formatting issues that I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt on and assume they are from transferring a file type or some similar error. However, they are still present and did slightly affect the ability to read the novel, but I doubt they will still be present at release. Overall, The Girl on the Porch by Richard Chizmar is a great, quick read that I would recommend to friends and thriller fans.

The Girl on the Porch is a novella set in an idyllic and peaceful suburban subdivision. Early one morning, Kenny and Sarah's neighbors are woken up by someone frantically ringing their doorbell. Upon answering, no one is there. The neighbors text Sarah to see if they can see who it is, as their doorbell has a security camera in it. That is when they discover the person, a barefoot woman wearing only a long shirt and panties with a shackle on one wrist also rang their broken doorbell.

Kenny and Sarah notify the police who release the footage to the press in hopes of identifying the now dubbed girl on the porch. As the police investigate, Kenny, Sarah, and the neighbors all become suspicious and mistrust each other.

The tale shows how somethkng like this can upset a neighborhood and how people react to each other, be it with suspicion or accusations. The writing is wonderful as far as atmosphere goes. The secondary characters are not really developed like I would have hoped. I can't say why without giving too much of the story away.

There are plenty of red herrings, but no clues that lead us to guess who the guilty parties are until its revealed at the end. I still think this is a great quick read and I would recommend it. I just wish it would have been a little bit longer to get more backstory on the secondary characters and events that led to the girl arriving on Kenny and Sarah's porch.

Thank you to NetGalley, Richard Chizmar, and Subterranean Press for gifting me an e-copy of this novella in exchange for an honest review.

Zero stars for a poorly written novel, ridiculous plot, and characters that make two year olds look sophisticated. One of the worst books I have ever had the misfortune to read. A waste of time and money.

To my chagrin, I only discovered Richard Chizmar in his writing work with Stephen King. I’m glad I did.

The Girl on the Porch is a showcase of Chizmar’s ability to paint a suspenseful atmosphere. His direct language and imagination make for quite a read.

I’m ready to see more from this author.