The Girl on the Porch

Set in Fallston, Md., this gripping novella from Chizmar (A Long December) opens with a disturbing scenario. When Kenny and Sarah Tucker’s next-door neighbors, Frank and Angie Upton, report that someone rang their doorbell in the middle of the night, Kenny and Sarah dismiss it as a prank. Then they check the footage on the camera installed on their own home security system, which shows a half-clothed woman desperately ringing the bell, a shackle visibly swinging from her wrist. Police detectives get on the case. Unable to identify the woman or figure out what has happened to her, the police comb the neighborhood in hopes of a lead; they question the Tuckers, the Uptons, and anyone else who might have useful information. Subsequent unsettling events, including the killing of a pet, ratchet up the tension. Unfortunately, the ending disappoints, if only because the length of the narrative doesn’t delay the climax enough to be wholly satisfying. Nonetheless, Chizmar successfully builds a nice sense of creepiness. (Aug.)

Correction: An earlier version of this review misstated the city where the novel is set.