Holy smokes. Another crazy ride that is just in time for spooky season. Three college students go on a roadtrip to make a documentary about roadside memorials. On their journey, they begin to feel as though they’re being followed and things start to get creepy.

If you enjoy horror stories that involve the supernatural and you never, ever want to walk into the woods ever again in your life, then this is the story for you!! You will question who to trust. It’s a truly crazy story.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Gallery Books, and the author for allowing me to read an ARC of this book.

I am a HUGE Richard Chizmar fan, and am always excited when a new book of his comes out. The premise of this one, Memorials, had me very intrigued and interested, and I couldn’t wait to read it!

Memorials follows 3 college students — Billy, Melody & Troy — as they travel the backroads of small towns looking for roadside memorials to capture the stories for for a school project. While their intentions are good and pure, the photos and videos they capture and the interviews they do with friends and family of the deceased seems to stir up a lot of trouble. Their innocent school project takes a dark turn to the occult and becomes a deadly game of survival. Having grown up in a small town myself, the author does a great job of setting the “small town” vibes and atmosphere.

Whew, this book was GOOD! There was a nice slow burn build-up, with increasing tension and a looming sense of dread and danger. One of my biggest fears is getting lost in the forest at night, and parts of this book seriously gave me the creeps. I will definitely be recommending this book to my Mystery/Thriller/Horror book club for October!

I am also excited that the author is coming to a Austin for a book signing later this month, and have my book ordered and tickets ready to go! If you like occult thrillers and/or small town horror, I highly recommend this book (and Chizmar’s other work as well). You definitely won’t be disappointed!

I absolutely loved this book! First, the setting in Appalachia was perfect for a folk horror book! Set in the 80s? Yes, please! Three college students on a road trip to do a class project as they notice memorial signs on their journey. When the memorial signs start to get more numerous, weird things begin to happen. This was the perfect spooky season read and now I need to read Richard Chizmar's other works like, Chasing the Boogeyman. I was first introduced to Chizmar through Stephen King by way of the Gwendy books. Memorials is an absolute must read for folk horror fans.

1983: Three students from a small college embark on a week-long road trip to film a documentary on roadside memorials for their American Studies class. But as they venture deeper into the Appalachian backwoods, the atmosphere begins to darken. They notice more and more of the memorials feature a strange, unsettling symbol hinting at a sinister secret. Paranoia sets in when it appears they are being followed. Their vehicle is tampered with overnight and some of the locals appear to be anything but welcoming.

We've all seen them at some point, on the side of the road, pinned to trees, or hanging from fences. Faces of strangers that met their untimely end on that very spot.
I always found them to be so very sad. To mark the spot someone you loved breathed their last seemed... ghoulish.
Why would you want the last memory to be a spot of pain and fear?
But I also understand the need for these memorials. Sometimes the place they pay to rest just feels wrong. They never lived there or smiled and laughed there. They had no connection with the place they were laid to rest unlike the spot they lost their life. Maybe the moment before it all went wrong they were laughing, singing, or thinking of someone they loved. That would be a good memory to have wouldn't it?
Memorials tries to explain these roadside dedications and then adds a spooky, haunting use they were never intended for.

This book has a bit of a slow start, but the uneasy, creepy feeling starts to grab hold and you just can't stop until you know if our heroes have a happy ending or not.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to @netgalley and Gallery Books for the opportunity to read this eArc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

I hope Richard Chizmar won’t be insulted when I say my immediate thought when I started reading this one was that this was a spin on The Blair Witch Project. After all the story revolves around some college students making a documentary, their’s focused on roadside memorials. (Sure not about haunted woods, but the rural locales still give a similar feeling.) For one of them this project holds a very personal means as his parents died in a roadside accident. With his unique style if Chizmar had just written a straight up story about the trio making their documentary I would have still found it fascinating. But of course there is way more to it than that. Set in the early 80’s (yes, that is in fact a time I can still remember fairly well, lol), Chizmar does a wonderful job of capturing the feel of that time, and he totally brings these three characters to life. As for the story, Chizmar does an incredible job setting the atmosphere, slowly ratcheting up the unease, increasing the tension/paranoia. This is an excellent pick up for anyone looking to get into the spirit of the season. I’d like to thank Gallery Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an eARC of Memorials.

Well done. I connected with the characters and loved their tale. It was an emotional ride with gut wrenching twists. Thank you Mr Chizmar for your hard work.

As much as I loved Chizmar’s Boogeyman series, this book fell flat for me. The characters were too cheesy to be believable, and the book was about 50 pages too long. Conceptually, great idea behind the story. And Chizmar can write a descriptive paragraph like nobody’s business. But I think Chizmar should stick with middle-aged characters as his protagonists.

My thanks to Gallery Books, Richard Chizmar and Netgalley.
Short review.
Loved it.
Up until the end.
Sadly, Chizmar is still at a loss of how to end a book.
Doesn't matter if he can't, we are the losers when he ends anything.
Mr. Chizmar sometimes writes decent stories. What Chizmar doesn't do is good stories. Think otherwise? Where would he be without the Stephen King stories? You know....the ones that King decided was crap and instead gave to Chizmar? The suck up!
No recommendations. Its Chizmar! VOID.

I first became familiar with Chizmar when I read his book CHASING THE BOOGEYMAN and I really liked it. I thought the premise of this new one sounded so good and creepy. It takes place in the 80’s which I loved because back then there was no cell phones or social media. So you just weren't connected like you are now. A group of college friends decide to do a documentary about roadside memorials for a project. They travel in their van through the Appalachian backroads stopping at various Memorials. Then strange things start to happen. They notice things appearing at each memorial. And these Memorials aren't even connected to each other in any way. They feel like they are being watched. This was really intense in parts and although it took me awhile to get into it, it was super creepy and dark. It's very well written and the characters were well done too. You'll really not know who to trust. A great read for spooky season for sure.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I first heard of Richard Chizmar when he partnered with Stephen King on a book. I wasn't sure what to expect in this one, but it turned out surprisingly good. I enjoyed the storyline and characters and way that everything was weaved together. It kept me hooked after the first few pages!

Thank you Gallery Books for the gifted digital ARC!

4.5 stars rounded up.

Somehow this was my first time reading a book by Richard Chizmar and what the heck was I waiting for? It is *so* good. I thought the concept was incredibly intriguing and Chizmar definitely delivered. We have roadside memorials sprinkled throughout the city I live in and I've never really stopped to think about the stories behind the accidents. Such an awesome premise for a book and I think this would be amazing to see adapted into a limited series.

There was a pretty big twist at the end that not only was unexpected but really well done. This is a great read for scary season. I will definitely be looking into Chizmar's backlist ASAP.

Memorials will be published October 22!

If you’re looking for a total slow burn with creep factor but culminates in horror insanity; this one is for you. It was definitely a really slow burn with a huge payoff at the end and as someone who doesn’t read much horror I still enjoyed it and was sufficiently terrified.

Billy, Melody, and Troy are friends attending York College and together they have chosen to make a documentary on Roadside Memorials as their final project for their American Studies class taught by Professor Tyree. One of the roadside memorials they visit is dedicated to Billy’s late mother and father. With a camper van filled with equipment they set off, nervous and excited, oblivious to the sheer terror that awaits them. I absolutely fell in love with these three characters and found the story to be very interesting, suspenseful, extremely intense at times, and long. I thank Gallery Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

3.5 stars but rounding up to a 4. This was such a spooky fun read with a unique concept. We follow three college friends on a road trip through the Appalachian back roads to document roadside memorial sites for a school project. Weird things quickly start happening and as they continue on the trip, their paranoia grows until they don't know who they can trust. It took me about 30% to really become invested in this story but once I was, I needed to know what happened. I grew to love these three and really rooted for them. I loved the conversations that were had throughout regarding life and death, the afterlife, racism, religion, and grief.
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

What a dark and creepy book this was, perfect for spooky season. Be warned though, it is very long. It took me a little to get into this story and 5 days to read which is a long time for me. Once I got into the story I was hooked and wondering what direction it would take us. It did not disappoint.

I loved the 1980s setting, no social media, no internet, no mobile phones. Research was done at the library, you had to use the home phone or a phone box to call people. It was a different time and I loved the step back.

This is a story of 3 college kids who embark on a road trip to visit roadside memorials and film them for a documentary for their American studies class. All. 3 of them have lost someone close to them and they bond over their grief. They learn more about each other as the days go on, and really they learn a lot about themselves. None of them will be the same after this trip. As their journey through the back roads continues, they start to feel they are. Being watched, and notice strange symbols appearing at the sites.

It is eerie and very much a book that will give you nightmares. It is very well,written and has characters that you will have strong feelings about one way or another.

Thank you to Gallery Books for my early copy of this book to read. Out on October 22, it would be the perfect Halloween read.

There was a lot to enjoy about this book. The writing is engaging, from the very beginning. I thought the plot was really interesting, traveling to roadside memorials to talk to those still grieving and to just bring attention to the lives that were lost and the significance of the roadside memorials.

The eerie, creepy aspects that slowly come in and take over were intriguing. But I def got the ick from the author a couple of times in his explanation of things and people. That aside, the ways in which the plot of this book got under my skin!! It was incredibly entertaining.

My final gripe: Billy and Naomi’s characters. I really struggled with our protagonist, Billy. He just seemed to be creating problems for himself and his friends. I couldn’t find that I wanted to root for him. Naomi was the same.

This has an explosive ending that I thought was done well. All in all, I was expecting a little more than I got from this one, but it was still enjoyable.

Richard Chizmar outdid himself with this one! I blew thru this book in 2 days and loved every moment spent with Billy, Troy, and Melody.

Memorials is my favorite type of horror: slow build with well developed characters who I feel deeply invested in and an insidious story that quietly establishes a sense of unease and dread while leaving me unbalanced and not knowing exactly what unknown thing I'm dreading.

The story has a strong sense of nostalgia, which I loved. It felt like a glimpse back into that shadowy area between adolescence and adulthood when our friendships were a defining part of our lives, and we were still growing into who we'd one day be. While I was caught up with the early 1980s road trip with friends vibes, the author was sprinkling spooky breadcrumbs and putting things in place for later. The horror crept up on me, and the story showed its teeth when I least expected it.

Richard Chizmar has moved up to a new level of storytelling with Memorials. The story is compelling from the beginning, and the atmosphere is slow burn horror at its finest. Memorials is an eerie journey down country roads into a time and place full of folklore, ancient practices, endless possibilities, and unforgettable friendships.

• Most of this book reads like a young adult novel with juvenile and school age dialogue between the characters
• Expectations were raised by the enjoyment of the Boogeyman books, and this book was a huge disappointment
• 480 pages was was too long, and the story dragged through the first half and picked up a tad after, but could have easily been cut short by 100 pages and been more effective
• Story bogged down with recurring descriptions of the main character's hometown
• The confusing climax seemed disconnected and shallow with 13 chapters of backstory dumped on the reader without been woven into the storyline
• Overall a big disappointment of a book that was highly anticipated

One of my favorite authors! This book did not disappoint. I couldn’t put it down. I can not wait to see what he releases next!

This book is one of my favorite books of the year. I could not put it down. Its exactly what i was craving. Thank you netgalley,