I like to find the original literary sources for movies that I like (see past reviews of Strangers on a Train, Rosemary’s Baby, Breakfast at Tiffany’s), so I was happy to find out that an old television show from my childhood, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, actually started life out as a book. The Kolchak Papers: The Original Novels includes the first two novels that introduced intrepid reporter Carl Kolchak, who has a flair for detecting the supernatural. They first debuted in 1970 and are now in reprint. I listened to them on audiobook, which gave them the added feel of a reporter turning in a story.
The first book, The Night Stalker, written by Jeff Rice, is set in Las Vegas, and follows Carl’s investigative reporter as he tries to determine who is murdering people (mostly women) on the Strip. Kolchak has a fine mind, but a wise mouth, so he is constantly annoying folks around him – like the police and local authorities – which doesn’t make them disposed to helping him. Like, for instance, when he suggests that they wear garlic and carry wooden stakes or crucifixes because he has surmised that the serial killer they are hunting also happens to be a 100 year-old vampire …
Rice adapted The Night Strangler, the second Kolchak novel, from a screenplay written by Richard Matheson for the Kolchak: The Night Stalker television series. Kolchak is now in Seattle (after being drummed out of Las Vegas for his “wacky” theories, even though they proved to be correct.) He isn’t the only one who has had to flee Las Vegas – his former newspaper editor Vincenzo is now in Seattle, too. This time the story to break is multiple stranglings in town, and Kolchak theorizes that the perpetrator may be chasing eternal youth. His usual detractors provide the usual obstacles, but Kolchak elbows his way into places he’s not supposed to be and manages to ferret out the truth. Not that anyone thanks him for it.
What was really fun about these novels (especially the first one) was not only the portrayal of the irascible Carl Kolchak, who was brought to life by the equally irascible Darren McGavin in the original series, but the evocation of ’70s life. Kolchak waxes poetically about his surroundings and the politics of the day and takes readers through what it takes to break a big story – from making tons of phone calls and hitting the street to follow down leads, to even putting together a small group of researchers to learn about how to kill a vampire – all of this done pre-Googling. As much as the books have a crime/noir sensibility, there is also quite a bit of humor, too.
There is apparently an entire cottage industry of Carl Kolchak novels, comic books, etc., that have gone on for much longer than these original novels and the television series, which only lasted from 1974-75. I would watch the series again, but will probably quit with any novels after reading these, the source material. Well … maybe I’ll check out one of the comic books …
