Kolchak: The Night Stalker: A Black and Evil Truth

by C.J. Henderson

The first Kolchak original novel in almost 20 years!Carl Kolchak was just your average reporter until one day he put two and two together and came up with evil. A reluctant paranormal investigator, Kolchak couldn't stop tripping over the unusual even if he wanted to. And for all of his efforts of seeking the truth, unemployment and ridicule have followed him like the plague.Someone, or something, is tearing up people into little pieces in a small town in West Virginia. It's up to Kolchak to wade through the bloody-science jigsaw puzzle, while watching his back against an unseen foe. It's a cat and mouse game, as he battles a maelstorm of terror that everyone around him gets sucked into. No one is safe, not the police, the FBI, or that very attractive new woman in his life...There is a dark and sinister truth that will be revealed to Kolchak as to why him...if he can only live long enough to put the last horrifying clues together!

Genres: Horror, Fiction

182 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 25, 2007

About the author

There is more than one author with this name

CJ Henderson is the creator of both the Jack Hagee hardboiled PI series and the Teddy London supernatural detective series. He is also the author of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Movies, several score novels, plus hundreds of short stories and thousands of non-fiction pieces. In the wonderful world of comics he has written everything from Batman and the Punisher to Archie and Cherry Poptart.

He also writes under the name Robert Morgan.

Reviews

[Joseph Spuckler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Same old Kolchak, hasn’t changed from the 1970s, but new author who does a favorable job of sticking with the lore. There are a few,easily missed “your welcomes” to those projects that were inspired by Karl.

Sadly the reader isn’t Darren McGaven (RIP), but the listener will forget the minor (and maybe positive) changes in voice. It’s almost like finding one of Karl’s cassette tapes.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Im a huge fan of Kolchak the Night Stalker. I think he's a very underrated character, whether on TV or in literature. However, I do admit the stories and/or TV shows can be hit and miss.

Thankfully this novel was more hit than miss. Kolchak gets sent to West Virginia to investigate some murders that look suspiciously like the work of a monster. Then things spiral out of control into a huge conspiracy that I won't spoil here.

I liked this one for the most part, but the conspiracy went a little too deep to be comfortable. The novel was good in that it followed the continuity of the TV show and mentioned several of the cases. But the wrap up..I dunno, it involved some retconning I didn't agree with.

Overall though, this was a good read for any fan of the Night Stalker. If you love the character as much as I do, you'll love this one.

Also, if you're a fan of the X-Files and similar shows/books, but you haven't read or watched any of the Night Stalker yet, you should at least check it out. I would recommend one of the short story collections to start out with. You may not like it, but you probably will.

[Stephen Osborne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a tough one for me. I love Kolchak, and the writing was good. I didn't mind updating Carl to modern times, with references to laptops, cell phones, The X-Files, and such. After all, loads of our favorite characters in books or movies don't age. Bond, Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe, and Spencer always stayed the same age, even though their books spanned decades. And it was nice that this story tied up a lot of nagging questions brought up by the Kolchak movies and TV series...but that was one of the problems. It was hard to envision the 70s Kolchak battling a vampire in Vegas with this modern version. My other complaint: the ebook version had many, many formatting errors, which became distracting. And then, Kolchak, in this story, DOES little. He's more an observer here, and I longed for Kolchak the monster-killer. All this makes it sound like I didn't enjoy the book, which isn't the case, but I hoped for so much better. Still, I hope it doesn't take another decade for someone to pen a Kolchak novel.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

KOLCHAK THE NIGHT STALKER was something of a precursor to TV shows like THE X-FILES and SUPERNATURAL. A BLACK & EVIL TRUTH reads like a first season episode from one of those shows, only with a sarcastic, first-person narrator.
And speaking of the narrator... Kolchak's constant stream of quips, one-liners, and snarky observations gets a little cloying after a while. Henderson is a fine writer, but he isn't funny enough to get away with laying the humor on so thick.
The mystery element is interesting, but the resolution felt like it belonged in a video game or a comic book rather than a novel. Over the top, to say the least.
As expected, A BLACK & EVIL TRUTH is an enjoyable example of forgettable, TV-inspired fluff. Kolchak fans will be pleased with it; everyone else will remain indifferent.

[Kevin L · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

Henderson nails the distinct voice of Kolchak and you can't help but picture all the bonkers happenings in this story.

That said, Kolchak does NOT benefit from coming into the 'modern' day (I believe this was published in 2007). There's an anachronistic dissonance generated by Carl being Carl while there are now cell phones, laptops, etc. present in the setting.

I have a couple gripes about the big bad too, in some ways it feels like it cheapens all Carl has gone through prior to this misadventure. Your mileage may vary, but I feel like Carl could easily wind up as a MAGA case after this book.

[Cliff Poche · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kolchak!

Classic Kolchak! As I was reading this I could hear Darren McGavins unmistakable voice as Kolchak. Good as story as our intrepid reporter,Carl Kolchak is sent out to a small town called Gore, to investigate a series of mysterious murders that have a tie in to almost every case he's covered.Thrills,suspence, and even romance abound for Kolchak. If you lived the classic cult tv series, I think you'll enjoy this. Think of it as Kolchak retiring in the 90's in tv mini-series!

[Arthur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up at the NY comic con back in '08 - finally read it(secretly believing it couldn't measure up to the original work by Jeff Rice) and found it surprisingly "Kolchak" - adds some new elements to his mythos, and a good-paced read.
Decided to communicate with CJ Henderson, as he was a pretty nice guy, but sadly found he'd passed away. Procrastination has no rewards.

[William Cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good book, well written, easy to picture Darin McGavin saying the lines and narrating the book.
calls back to the 2 tv movies as well as the TV Series, answers a few questions and raises some more.
Will be looking for more Kolchack books - once I can figure out from the Moonstone page which ones are PROSE novels and not comic book collections / Graphic Novels.

[Richard Mellon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kolchak novel

This is a good one and it's got plenty of bite ... ever so often you want a little more in length than short story BUT you still want our bumbling hero that we love at his best or worst or luckiest ... this one has it all ...

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb characterisation of Kolchak!! I can't give enough praise. And I love that we get more of Vincenzo, too.

Makes a fan's heart happy. Faithful representations of the characters, which is hard to accomplish. A quick, but fun read, I loved all the callbacks to old episodes.

[Sue Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on the TV series

The other two books in the series were all written by Jeff Rice the who wrote the book that they created the series from. The new author writes in the same style of the series. When the introduction of each victim. I enjoyed the book.

[Christopher H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very GOOD!

This was very enjoyable to read; all the way through I could picture Kolchak actually do everything as if on television.
GOOD JOB!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carl Kolchak, down-on-his-luck reporter and reluctant paranormal investigator, is back and updated for the 21st century. Five years after his encounter with vampire Janos Skorzeny in Las Vegas catapulted him into a life of investigating the supernatural, Kolchak finds himself in California, yet again working alongside his editor Tony Vincenzo, this time at a Hollywood newspaper. But when Vincenzo sends Kolchak to West Virginia to investigate a rash of mysterious murders, the so-called Night Stalker finds himself up against one of the most horrible foes he's ever encountered and discovers the truth behind his constant fight with the unknown.

This was a good outing for Kolchak: The Night Stalker, of whom I am a huge fan. My only real issues, and let me say up front that I read this on Kindle, are the fact that there are lots of typos, at least in the e-book version. But those weren't hard to get around. The other problem I had was that Kolchak just seemed to be along for the ride. There was no monster slaying like he did in the 1970s TV series. He just didn't get his hands dirty in this one. And I liked the fact that we're given a reason why it was always Kolchak who tangled with the supernatural.

That said, it was still a fun read and it was good to see Kolchak back in action and with a bit of personality this time. The man does love his Scotch. I truly hope this is the first of a new series and not just a shot in the dark. Please, Mr. Henderson. Give us more Kolchak.

[Nelio Gomes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A string of gruesome murders has intrepid reporter Kolchak dispatched to the scene. Once there, everybody’s favourite curmudgeon journalist sets about covering what he hopes (and prays) is just a run-of-the-mill small town innocent being mysteriously butchered… While puzzling over multiple slayings, Kolchak has time to reflect on his lot in life, his constant run-ins with the paranormal, and his rejection by the main stream fifth estate. C.J. Henderson has sure done a fine job of capturing the voice of Carl Kolchak, although sometimes the constant whingeing became a little drawn out. But references to Carl’s ongoing encounters with the paranormal certainly played a significant role in the novel, and were also a great way to reflect on many previous televised adventures!

[Richard Radgoski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first completed book by CJ Henderson. I know him through a local PA convention called MEPACON which is held 2x per year in the Clarks-Summit/Scranton area. CJ has done a great job capturing the ambiance I remember from the TV series. Here, Carl is updated to the present day but this seems seamless and appropriate. I really felt the Carl I knew speaking to me off the pages. I enjoyed the mystery as well, but if I have one complaint, the solution seemed a bit rushed. I think that it was written as if it were a TV show - and from that point it worked. But it's a novel, and I would have liked a bit more 'monster'. I look forward to reading the next book on my shelf by CJ about Mr. Kolchak.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

C.J. Henderson nails it with Kolchak The Night Stalker: A Black & Evil Truth! His version of Kolchak reads true. He truly captures the spirit and tone of the old "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" series. Henderson reproduces the language and cadence of Kolchak so perfectly, you cannot help but hear Darren McGavin's voice in your head. And, what a fun, creepy, and, dare I say, epic scale mystery Henderson has whipped up for our intrepid reporter. What a fun read. (We will miss you, Mr. Henderson.)

[Michael Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A stylish page-turner and honorable continuation of the Kolchak mantle, although I would have prefered to keep him in the 70's. It's hard to imagine him using cell phones, lap tops and the internet, and oddly enough each chapter is headed by an old-fashioned typewriter at the top of the page. It even re-dates his original adventure as five years before this adventure, clearly well into the 20th century, but it works.

[Jack Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story but one star off for editing


I don't know if it's conversion to E-format or poor editing, but when I notice things like wrong words, poor punctuation and the like I know it's pretty bad. Takes me out of the story and it just seems lazy on somebody's part.

Still, good to see CK out and about.

[Adam Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A deeper look at a complex character.

Thoroughly enjoyed this tale of one of the greatest monster hunters of them all, one Carl Kolchak.

Going deeper into Carl than the excellent short story collections could I felt like I got to see a new side of an old friend.

[Jason Minor · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are a Kolchak fan, you'll find something to enjoy in this book. Some parts are fun. However, the main thing I took from the this book is what to avoid when telling a story.