Koko

Peter Straub, one of the great masters of the horror genre, here writes his first thriller-and in doing so sets a new standard for suspense. Years after the end of the Vietnam War, four veterans, members of the same platoon, meet at the unveiling of the memorial in Washington. Men from different backgrounds, with very different lives, they were first joined in the brotherhood of combat, and now are drawn together by their awareness of a series of grisly murders being committed throughout Asia. The killer's signature-a regimental playing card with the name KOKO scrawled across it-carries an awesome significance for the four men: they realize, with a horrible certainty, that another member of their platoon, a friend to them all, must be the man responsible. So they agree to head for Asia, not to catch the killer, but to save him, and soon they-and the reader-are off on one of the most suspenseful adventures ever to form the narrative of a novel. No description can convey the brilliance, complexity, suprises, depth of character, or astonishing pace contained in this masterly book. Koko is not only a novel of suspense; it is a novel of psychology, and we are inexorably drawn into the hearts and souls of the four men allied in the hunt, and of the man they are pursuing. The characters are three-demensional, complicated, fascinating, alive. The ending is shocking and utterly appropiate. Koko does not stand among the top thrillers, it raises the genre to a new height. Copyright 1988 by Seafront Corporation. Published by the Penguin Group.