The Night Stalker
by Philip Carlo
★ Top 25 book of 1996 · #15 on Best Books of 1996
This account of a serial murderer draws on sixty hours of personal interviews with Ramirez himself. The new edition adds interviews with women who sought contact with him and a conversation conducted on death row.
Best for: True crime readers wanting an account built on direct interviews with the killer
The Night Stalker is #15 on BookWard's Best Books of 1996, out of 38 1996 books that cleared our data bar.
What The Night Stalker is about
Philip Carlo's 1996 book tells the story of Richard Ramirez, a serial murderer, and presents itself as the definitive account of him. Much of its weight comes from access: Carlo built it on sixty hours of personal interviews with Ramirez himself.
The tone is graphic and sensational, so it suits readers with a strong appetite for true crime and its darker details. The newer edition adds fresh material, including a death row interview and conversations with women who have sought contact with Ramirez since the book first appeared.
The Night Stalker on the Best Books of 1996
The Night Stalker came out in 1996. Of the 38 books first published in 1996 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #15 on our Best Books of 1996 list.
Why it made the list: 283 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.8 out of 5 (13 ratings); 20 are reading it right now. The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 1996 list
- Crash Jerry Spinelli, #13
- Bridget Jones's Diary Helen Fielding, #14
- The Highly Sensitive Person Elaine N. Aron, #16
- Vampire Breath Robert Lawrence Stine, #17
See all Best Books of 1996 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 1995 Best Books of 1997.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 243 want to read it, 20 are reading it now and 20 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 3.8 out of 5 from 13 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 63 | 55% |
| Reader love | 26 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 74 | 20% |
Questions about The Night Stalker
When was The Night Stalker published?
The Night Stalker by Philip Carlo was first published in 1996.
Was The Night Stalker one of the best books of 1996?
The Night Stalker is #15 on BookWard's Best Books of 1996, out of 38 1996 books that cleared our data bar. 283 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.8 out of 5 (13 ratings); 20 are reading it right now.
Why is The Night Stalker on the Best Books of 1996 list?
283 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.8 out of 5 (13 ratings); 20 are reading it right now.
More of the best books of 1996
- A Game of Thrones George R. R. Martin, #1
- The Green Mile Stephen King, #2
- Forbidden Knowledge Roger Shattuck, #3
- Push Sapphire, #4
- Fight Club Chuck Palahniuk, #5
- Neverwhere Neil Gaiman, #6
See the full Best Books of 1996, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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