Koko

Koko
Peter Straub

Peter Straub’s most acclaimed and biggest-selling novel – a visceral thriller with its roots in Vietnam – now reissued in a different 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…

Koko

Peter Straub

Copyright (#ulink_b9283ec9-f597-587f-9551-41ecefbffa72)

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/)

First published in Great Britain by Viking 1988

Copyright © Seafront Corporation 1988

The Author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalgue copy of this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks

HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

Source ISBN: 9780007103676

Ebook Edition © JUNE 2010 ISBN: 9780007375516

Version: 2016-11-23

Praise (#ulink_b3a0c62d-62cb-5ef1-ada6-3ee5cf0962c6)

KOKO

‘A masterpiece…a crime novel, a suspense novel, a horror novel and a study of human relationships. Fascinating and complex.’

Houston Post

‘Gripping…The characters are realistic and complex, and the story continues to resonate in the mind long after the final page is turned.’

Publishers Weekly

‘Vastly entertaining and brilliantly written…evokes bizarre fevers and brimstone terror…Peter Straub flexes all his muscles…his style is at its peak…Koko is his finest work…with an inspired, wonderfully handled ending…judged as a thriller it deserves to be compared to the best.’

Washington Post

‘Remarkable…an unusual and wonderfully suspenseful thriller…evokes a fascinating and frightening picture of war and its aftermath.’

Boston Herald

Dedication (#u3adbd2c5-20dc-50d1-aba7-1ed05cfe7008)

For Susan Straub and For Lila J. Kalinich, M.D.

Epigraph (#u3adbd2c5-20dc-50d1-aba7-1ed05cfe7008)

I believe it is possible and even recommended to play the blues on everything.

FRANK MORGAN, alto saxophonist

Table of Contents

Cover Page (#ud85ec293-edd0-5f44-9802-bd25cf1d3b20)

Title Page (#u67db81be-21ae-5340-95e4-3beae2cfe324)

Copyright (#u08fe8b18-f444-54fa-9946-773a0f8b1f90)

Praise (#u2f1690c7-02ff-592d-8205-df3ef4d92aba)

Dedication (#u43a2ce6c-1a58-579d-8f9a-78a343e643ea)

Epigraph (#u635e66c0-b4b7-53fc-9089-3750788b0349)

PART ONE The Dedication (#uf9a4a06d-ca60-518a-a900-af566461a3a0)

1 Washington, D.C. (#u15ba07f5-a844-5a50-ab1c-da1abbbd8609)

2 Message (#ue10eb0fa-0d4e-5780-b6bc-90cacb78cf9e)

3 Reunion (#u61cc00c2-d657-5c5f-a232-65989376baa2)

4 The Answering Machine (#ub12a66d6-6e4a-5d3a-8c2f-86ec0d449209)

5 Beans Beevers at the Memorial (#ubbe0ed45-de8c-5851-8d7d-b08980e7ab0e)

PART TWO Preparations for Takeoff (#udc2a6cd7-e17e-5de0-bbf5-071c8240a935)

6 Beevers at Rest (#udec070fb-548f-5522-9b12-234f07894a9a)

7 Conor at Work (#u8549c5d4-8f36-5aca-aab8-15833900feef)