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)
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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