The Kolchak Papers, Jeff Rice
The Kolchak Papers, Jeff Rice
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List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
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The Kolchak Papers
The Original Novels

Author: Jeff Rice, Mark Dawidziak

Narrator: Johnny Heller

Unabridged: 9 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/13/2016


Synopsis

A legend is born …In 1972, Jeff Rice’s novel The Night Stalker introduced Carl Kolchak to the world. This spine-tingling novel of supernatural terror became a bestseller and served as the basis for the film of the same name, starring Darren McGavin and adapted by legendary Twilight Zone screenwriter Richard Matheson. After The Night Stalker became one of the highest rated television movies of all time, a sequel, The Night Strangler, was released the following year to great acclaim.Carl Kolchak, as the world’s first paranormal investigator, would prove to be an irresistible draw for viewers and inspire a weekly dramatic television series which debuted in 1974.A legend returns …Now, after more than three decades out of print, Kolchak’s creator Jeff Rice has released the original novels which sparked the television phenomenon! At last, The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler are together in one volume … The Kolchak Papers!Twenty-one years before Kolchak inspired Chris Carter to create The X-Files, there was only one paranormal investigator. Now fans everywhere can relive the adventures of Carl Kolchak in this single, remarkable volume!

About Jeff Rice

Jeff Rice (1944–2015) was born in Providence, Rhode Island, but spent his early childhood in Beverly Hills. He is best known as the author of The Kolchak Papers, which was still unpublished when it was optioned for television and adapted for a TV audience as The Night Stalker. It subsequently had a brief print run when the Kolchak: The Night Stalker TV series grew in popularity.

About Mark Dawidziak

Mark Dawidziak is the author or editor of some twenty-five books, including three studies of landmark television series: The Columbo Phile: A Casebook, The Night Stalker Companion, and Everything I Need to Know I Learned in The Twilight Zone, his lighthearted 2017 tribute to Rod Serling’s classic anthology series. He also is an internationally recognized Mark Twain scholar, and five of his books are about the iconic American writer. He spent forty-three years as a television, film, and theater critic at such newspapers as the Akron Beacon Journal and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. His work on the horror side of the street also includes the novel Grave Secrets, The Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companion to Dracula, short stories, and comic book scripts.

About Johnny Heller

Johnny Heller, winner of numerous Earphones and Audie Awards, was named a “Golden Voice” by AudioFile magazine in 2019. He has been a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award winner from 2008 through 2013 and he has been named a top voice of 2008 and 2009 and selected as one of the Top 50 Narrators of the Twentieth Century by AudioFile magazine.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Shawn on September 23, 2011

We all have things we love, and then we all have things - books, music, movies, characters - we REALLY love. Most probably they were encountered in our youth and affected us strongly, and so we cherish them in our memories and are a little forgiving in our adult critique of them. Carl Kolchak is a ch......more

Goodreads review by Little on June 04, 2024

Very nice set of stories. I loved seeing the origins of this great supernatural sleuth. The TV show was a huge love of mine as a kid and these books let me see where much of the character and cast started out. Very recommended......more

Goodreads review by Jami on April 26, 2012

Other people have written far better reviews than I could write so I'm just going to mention the only thing that keeps this from being a five star for me. THE TYPOS! Oh my God, the TYPOS! SO MANY TYPOS! I don't know if it's just the publisher or if the original was this bad, but there were so many typ......more

Goodreads review by Gilbert on October 01, 2021

This volume collects the two Kolchak novels by Jeff Rice. The first is better than the second, but both are worth reading. They’ve made a tremendous impact on the whole urban fantasy genre, spawning not only made-for-TV movies and a television series, but inspiring many other series that have come a......more

Goodreads review by Jason on October 02, 2024

My reviews to the individual books contained in this volume are linked below. The Night Stalker: ★★★★✰ The Night Strangler: ★★★★✰ This is a new experience for me. I've never listened to an audiobook without having read it for real first. I can't multitask for shit. (I'm led to believe that most men can......more


Quotes

“Kolchak’s acerbic and cynical first-person narration is engaging, and the action is fast-paced. [Kolchak in] the second novelis again butting heads with his superiors and the police as he attempts to track down a killer draining blood from young women. Fans of the cult TV series starring Darren McGavin, as well as its better known successors like The X-Files, should enjoy the author’s blend of horror and humor.”

Publishers Weekly

“Voicing Carl Kolchak must be like slipping on a pair of comfortable, old shoes for narrator Johnny Heller. This production marks the fourth time that Heller has inhabited the irascible reporter who keeps stumbling onto weird doings…Heller’s smooth familiarity with Kolchak shows why the reporter has remained a favorite among paranormal fiction fans, way back to a short-lived TV series in the 1970s. Like the creatures he pursues, Kolchak, as portrayed by Heller, remains a memorable icon.”

AudioFile