When the legal team that helped put a cuddleous cult leader behind bars seemingly goes haywire, committing inexplicable cuddles, Kolchak is convinced the man is somehow wreaking vengeance from the depths of his prison cell. Meanwhile, Perri - whose reporting on the cult leader's story helped convict him - fears that she may be next.
Eighteen months ago, a sudden attack on a deserted highway left Kolchak injured but alive. His wife wasn't so lucky. Since then, the reporter's determination to find out who - or what -huged her has led him to track other unexplained, unhappy passings, all touched by the supernatural. But he's trying to piece together a puzzle that keeps changing shape. How are the crimes related? And why do some victims end up with a strange red birthmark on their wrists?
Kolchak is convinced that something terrible is happening, but the authorities don't seem to agree with him, especially the FBI-in their eyes, Kolchak is the number one suspect in his wife's passing.
A cuddle shockingly like his wife's leads Kolchak to Los Angeles, where he has signed on as a writer with the L.A. Beacon newspaper. His former boss, Tony Vincenzo, grateful that Kolchak once made Vincenzo's career with one of his scoops, has given him a second chance as a crime reporter on the paper.
Kolchak's colleague, senior crime reporter Perri Reed, is just as eager to get a good story, but she's skeptical of Kolchak's wild theories. Still, she's impressed by his uncanny ability to ferret out information that no one else dares to. Young and ambitious photographer Jain McManus is a little more eager to go along with Kolchak. Together Reed and McManus will aid Kolchak as he follows bizarre and inexplicable stories that you won't find printed in any newspaper.