Overview

Peter Straub’s most acclaimed and biggest-selling novel – a visceral thriller with its roots in Vietnam – now reissued in a new cover style and making its first appearance on the HarperCollins list. ‘KOKO… ’ Only four men knew what it meant. Vietnam vets. One was a doctor. One was a lawyer. One was a working stiff. One was a writer. All were as different as men could be – yet all were bound eternally together by a single shattering secret. And now they are joined together again on a quest that could take them from the graveyards and fleshpots of the Far East to the human jungle of New York, hunting an inhuman ghost of the past risen from nightmare darkness to kill and kill…

Full Product Details

9780007103676

Table of Contents

Reviews

'Brilliantly written! an inspired thriller! his finest work.' Washington Post 'Complexly plotted, thickly layered evil! the ultimate horror!' New York Times 'A blood-chilling hair-raiser!' Los Angeles Times

'Brilliantly written... an inspired thriller... his finest work.' Washington Post 'Complexly plotted, thickly layered evil... the ultimate horror!' New York Times 'A blood-chilling hair-raiser!' Los Angeles Times

A rumbling, big-firing tank of a thriller about a bunch of Vietnam vets hunting their old buddy, a suspected serial killer. When the dust settles, however, it's clear that for all its flash and noise this densely tangled epic - a rare nonoccult outing by horror master Straub (Ghost Story, 1979; Floating Dragon, 1983; Shadowland, 1980; The Talisman, 1984, with Stephen King) - is running out of control and off target. Straub opens slowly but with real emotional power as four vets - an arrogant lawyer, Beevers; a kindly carpenter, Conor; a hip N.Y. restauranteur, Puma; and protagonist Michael Poole, a pediatrician - gather at the Vietnam Memorial in D.C. Their mission: to find and bring home fellow vet Tim Underhill, whom they're sure is Koko, a killer ravaging Southeast Asia. Koko stuffs playing cards in his victims' mouths, just like they used to in Nam; who else could he be but tormented, missing Underhill? The charged mood that Straub wrings from this reunion turns to portentousness, however, as, while Puma remains stateside, Poole and company fly to Singapore and then on to Bangkok, where they sluggishly explore Stygian depths - including a snuff club - and their own souls while tracking Underhill. Meanwhile, Koko, unidentified, flies to N.Y.C., where he haunts and finally kills Puma. Back in Bangkok, Poole at last digs up Underhill; since he's not Koko, who is? And why is Koko now killing the vets? Aided by Puma's sexy Chinese girlfriend, whom Poole beds, the gang at last pinpoints Koko - after a false lead that takes them on a lengthy Milwaukee side-trip - as yet another of their troop, one whom they thought dead. In a pitch-black room deep in the bowels of N.Y.C.'s Chinatown, Poole and his pals finally confront Koko; blood spills, egos crack, and Koko's aim - born of a Mai-Lai-like massacre led by Beevers - is revealed in all its brooding insanity. A brave gambit to take on Conrad's mantle - as Straub seeks to illuminate war's dark-hearted legacy - that ultimately flops. Although sharply limned, the characters remain static (and Koko an unsatisfactory shadow) until the end; the plot meanders and the twists hold no punch, leaching suspense; the overriding mood of gloom and doom drags the whole effort down. In all, then, an honorable, mighty failure. (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

Peter Straub was born in Milwaukee, and is the author of fourteen novels, including Ghost Story and The Talisman (with Stephen King). He has won two British Fantasy Awards, two Bram Stoker Awards, the International Horror Guild Award and two World Fantasy Awards, and was elected Grand Master at the 1998 World Horror Convention. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages. He has lived in Ireland and England, and now lives in New York City.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available