Book Review: The Lost World (Kolchak, The Night Stalker) by CJ Henderson

The Lost World (Kolchak, The Night Stalker) by CJ Henderson

Mass Market Paperback, 130 pages

Published 2012 by Moonstone Entertainment, Inc.

I'll keep this short as this was a short book. I have mixed history with the late CJ Henderson who I think is a great short story author, whose novels have not worked as well for me. I am however a big fan of the Kolchak TV series which sadly only lasted one season. Ahead of it's time TV didn't do long narrative at the time, so the silliness of Kolchak running into a new monster every week doomed the series. What they should have done was a series of TV movies yearly like the first two Matheson films. Enough of that back to the book.

Well enter moonstone books who are doing pulp paperbacks and comics that include everyone's favorite monster hunter and newspaper man Carl Kolchak. I think this novel is only for diehard fans of the character like me. So the next step for enjoying this book is to not think to deeply about it, for example think of it as a lost episode not a novel. A novel suggests a bigger more epic scope. That said this story probably far exceeds the budget ABC would have thrown at a episode.

I like that this was not a paint by the numbers Kolchak story taking him to south america and putting him in between rival drug gangs. Don't worry there is a supernatural twist and plenty of weird mystery involved. This is quick read, I read it over three sittings on my morning commute. Henderson captures the feeling of the TV show, and writes in first person like the original Jeff Rice novel. Directly in Kolchak always suppressed account.