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Review
‘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
Product Description
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…
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Horror Comes In Many Forms,
This review is from: Koko (Paperback)
In the late 1980's, there came a point in the careers of Stephen King and Peter Straub where they tired of the narrow halls and suffocating rooms of writing supernatural novels. The House of Horror had been thoroughly explored, from kitchen to bedroom, basement to cobwebbed attic, and to write anymore on the subject would surely lead to repetition.The answer was to write thrillers. A whole new avenue of unexplored dwelling places of the dark. But where as King failed in his attempts at writing thrillers, such as "Needful Things" and "Gerald's Game" where he let his stories slip into the comfort and parody of what he knows best, so in the end they were neither one nor the other, Straub was able to excel in this genre. In "Koko" he wrote about the lives of four people, all Vietnam veterans, who are being tracked down by a serial killer that was once their comrade-in-arms. Friends that had to talk about the untellable, think the unthinkable, in order to understand what was being done to them, and who it was that was doing it. The horror still comes, but in human form. It comes in the disguise of the weakness and cruelty of Man, of the past heavy with guilt and the atrocities that are lying there waiting to be rediscovered. And yet it manages to be romantic and nostalgic. You feel loss for those that have gone, whether they deserve it or not. And you feel you have learned more about those terrible times of America's worst mistake. You feel this because the writer has directed you to feel. He points to a suspect of who the serial killer might be, and you believe it, every single time. It is the true mark of a great writer that he holds that power over the reader. The worlds Peter Straub creates are as believable as our own realities, and while we are in his grip who are we to doubt him?
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Poignant, Beautifully Written Masterpiece!,
By
This review is from: Koko (Hardcover)
Peter Straub has raised himself, in my estimation, from good genre writer to author of excellent fiction with his novel "Koko." This is no light, scary beach read. "Koko" is a complex tale of a group of men who travel to hell and return with demons. It is a psychological suspense thriller that took my breath away. Straub's "Vietnam book" is far different from any other I have read. He didn't have to look far to discover evil monsters with which to terrify his readers. He was able to find them within the minds of his characters, men who served together in Vietnam. At the same time he was able to build a tremendous sense of sympathy towards his characters - those who fought for their country and returned far different men than they started out to be. I am of an age where I can recall the boys, my fellow high school grads, who went off to the Far East. This novel triggered the feelings of sorrow and loss I felt for those who never returned...and for those who did. Years after the end of the Vietnam War, four members of the same platoon meet in Washington, D.C., for the unveiling of the Vietnam War Memorial. Four men from totally different backgrounds, who chose different paths in life, Dr. Michael Pool, pediatrician; Harry "Beans" Beevers, the "Lost Boss, the world's worst lieutenant" - a lawyer; Tina Pumo, Pumo the Puma, whom Underhill had called Lady Pumo - a NYC restaurateur; and wild little Conor Linklater, a skilled carpenter." These men are supposedly the only survivors of their platoon. They all bonded, once, in the brotherhood of combat. They closed rank throughout the traumatic period when members of their group were accused of committing My Lai-level atrocities in a little village called Ia Thuc. Now they will re-forge their ties to look for another platoon member - one whom they thought long dead - a probable murderer. A series of brutal, seemingly random slayings have been committed in the Far East. The victims were all foreigners - American, British, French. A calling card was left behind at each crime scene, leading the vets to believe that the killer was one of their own - an ex-soldier known as Koko. The four travel together, once again, to Singapore and then Bangkok in search of a an elusive and wily ghost from the past. Their pursuit becomes, in a sense, a last mission, an opportunity for closure. And it is also a time-out from their daily lives - a chance to evaluate and contemplate change. For their own purposes they are determined to catch-up with Koko before the police do. I was riveted to the page with "Koko." Peter Straub has created some of the most phenomenal, realistic, and fully realized characters I have met on the written page. They are indeed a complex bunch of folk, especially the killer. The narrative is richly textured - beautifully written. At time I would pause and read descriptions over again, just for the pleasure of doing so and visualizing the scene in my mind's eye. And the story resonates long after the novel is completed. It is a tale of Vietnam and of lost innocence - themes which are not at all contradictory. Highly recommended!
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Inside a maniacs head,
By
This review is from: Koko (Hardcover)
A Christmas present, I didn't know what to expect when I started reading it. It soon had me interested, though, with it's
different strands of the plot. Five men, Nam veterans, lead their ordinary lives as well as they can, being marked by their horrible war experiences, today one would use the term "Post Traumatic stress Disorder", making them difficult persons to be around. They have serious problems dealing with their past, the nightmares and visions. There are flashbacks of killings of women and children,mutilated bodies,and collecting trophies. There are mad ramblings of a seriously disturbed mind, incoherent talk and memories, belonging to one of these men, but to whom? Who keeps killing prominent people and collecting their eras as trophies? The killer is to be found among them and the book gets more and more exciting by the page. This is a tough read, but for any with a taste for Straub it's a must. It's also recommendable as a good crime novel.
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