Allan Smulling

John Walker, an average family man is shot in the head during a mass shooting at a mall. While in a six-month long coma he dreams of a different life in which his family was killed in the incident, and he survived.

Upon waking, John has trouble determining which ‘life’ is more real and works with a therapist to become more grounded. The problem is John has already lost and grieved for his family during those six months. To him, they’ve already died. What motivates him now is revenge.

I found this to be a very fast and disturbingly entertaining story with a Philip K. Dick vibe. I particularly enjoyed the epistolary type of storytelling using the therapist’s patient notes as the story unfolds. The writing is tight and would make an excellent comic/movie. The story packs a satisfying punch in very few pages.

A disheveled woman in shackles is filmed on a ring camara in the middle of the night desperately trying to get the family’s attention within. After trying for a few moments, the woman gives up and flees out of the camera’s field of view.

What follows is the telling of how a family and neighborhood deal with an investigation into the incident. Suspicions and rumors begin to circulate. Longtime friends start questioning each other’s characters. “Could I be living next to a killer who has captives in their basement?” intrude the thoughts of the characters.

This is my first Richard Chizmar story, and I went into it blind not knowing if it was going to be a thriller, horror/slasher tale, or murder mystery. I can confidently report that yes, it is all the above. The story has the twists of a thriller, the suspense and dread indicative of a horror story, and a murder is solved by the end of the tale.

With all of that going for it, the story just left me flat. I think that it probably accurately portrays how it must feel to be peripherally involved in a murder investigation. One has limited knowledge of how the investigation is going, with the only indication being how the police are questioning the witnesses / suspects and what you’re hearing on the news and in the community. The pacing was good and kept me turning pages.

My problem with the story is the big reveal. Stop here if you don’t want the story spoiled…

I enjoy a mystery – particularly when there’s enough clues to lead you to a probable solution. Throw in a good twist with an explanation and you’ve won me over. This doesn’t happen with The Girl on the Porch. The reader is placed into the first-person perspective of the killer on a few occasions, but there aren’t really any clues in these scenes, and when the killer is revealed, you’re left asking WHO is that?? The author has been so clever that they completely obfuscate by omission who the killer is until the last 10 or so pages. Ultimately, the main character, like the reader, is left baffled with the conclusion.