Koko
First edition cover
AuthorPeter Straub
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SeriesBlue Rose Trilogy
GenreMystery, thriller, horror
PublisherDutton
Publication date
1988
Media typePrint
Pages562 (hardcover)
ISBN0-525-24660-6
OCLC17618882
813/.54 19
LC ClassPS3569.T6914 K6 1988
Preceded byNone 
Followed byMystery 

Koko is a horror-mystery novel by American writer Peter Straub, first published in the United States in 1988 by EP Dutton, and in Great Britain by Viking. It was the winner of the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel[1] in 1989.

Plot summary

In the early 1980s, a series of ritualistic murders take place in Southeast Asia in which the victims have their eyes and ears removed, and are each found with a playing card placed in their mouth bearing the word "KOKO". During a reunion of veterans at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C., four survivors of a doomed platoon—Michael Poole (a grief-stricken pediatrician), Tina Pumo (owner of a Vietnamese restaurant), Conor Linklater (an itinerant construction worker) and Harry Beevers (an opportunistic lawyer)—gather to discuss the killings. Because the word "Koko" holds special significance to their old platoon, and because the killings recall the events in books he has written, the men believe that the killer is Tim Underhill, another member of their platoon who disappeared years earlier. Beevers convinces the men to help him track down Underhill.

While Pumo remains in New York City, Beevers, Poole, and Linklater travel to Asia in search of Underhill. Michael, Conor, and Harry fail to find Underhill in Singapore, but are given several leads which send Michael and Conor to Bangkok and Harry to Taipei. While wandering around a residential area of Bangkok, Michael comes across Underhill at a small neighborhood fair and realizes that he is too stable and good-natured to be the killer. Underhill agrees to return to the U.S. to help in the pursuit. He, Michael and Conor reunite with Harry in San Francisco before returning to New York together. Meanwhile, the killer travels to the U.S. himself and murders Tina in his apartment. Tina's girlfriend, Maggie Lah, comes across the scene and narrowly escapes the killer's clutches.

Michael, Conor, Beevers, Underhill, and Maggie deduce that the killer is Victor Spitalny, a member of the platoon who vanished in Bangkok following the death of another soldier, Manny Dengler, after the war. Michael, Underhill and Maggie travel to Milwaukee and speak to Spitalny's parents. Learning that he and Dengler went to school together, they speak to several of their old classmates. Michael learns from one of them that Dengler was physically and sexually abused by his parents. From this, Michael realizes that Dengler assumed Spitalny's identity after murdering him and is the killer they are chasing. When the group returns to New York, Underhill is arrested thanks to an anonymous tip to police by Beevers, who wants to capture the killer alone and take all the credit for himself. He is let go when Michael shares his findings with the arresting officer.

The group tracks Beevers and Dengler to Chinatown, but split up when they realize the police are trailing them. Michael, Conor, and Underhill find Beevers, who has been captured and bound by Dengler. Dengler smashes a lightbulb, throwing the group into darkness as the police begin to negotiate for their release. Dengler stabs Michael and Underhill, and takes Underhill's jacket so that he can easily pass for Underhill himself in the dim light. After Michael alerts the police that he is not Underhill, Dengler murders one of the officers and escapes. He flees to Honduras and is never heard from again. Underhill narrates the end of the story, and imagines Dengler's first few days in Honduras and the constant anxiety that would come with them.

Creation

After the success of Ghost Story, Straub struggled to generate a plot that would prove just as financially successful without being derivative of that work.[2] He settled on the idea of Koko's murderous Vietnam veteran, and then wrote and re-wrote, ultimately completing the project after four years.[2] Straub has described Koko as being "emotionally richer" than any of his prior works.[1] He says that while writing it, he tried to mimic the "transparent" and "antiseptic" style of two stories from his collection Houses Without Doors: "Blue Rose" and "The Juniper Tree".[1]

Koko shares characters with several of Straub's other works. The character of Timothy Underhill, for example, subsequently reappeared in the novels The Throat, Lost Boy, Lost Girl, and In the Night Room, and he was mentioned in Mystery.[3] A short prequel to Koko, the short story "The Ghost Village", was also published in Straub's 2000 collection Magic Terror.[4] The town of Milburn, which was the primary setting of Ghost Story, is briefly featured in Koko. The character of Harry Beevers also appears as a teenager and central character in Straub's novella, Blue Rose.

References

  1. 1 2 3 McCarty, Michael. "Man of Mystery Peter Straub reaches into his pocket and pulls out a novel, Sci Fi Weekly, published May 13, 2002, accessed April 29, 2008.
  2. 1 2 Guinn, Jeff. "Horrors - Peter Straub can't escape scary image", The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, published August 20, 2000, accessed April 29, 2008.
  3. ↑ Berry, Michael. "A battered pair takes on child abuse and murder", The San Francisco Chronicle, published November 7, 2004, accessed April 29, 2008.
  4. ↑ Berry, Michael. "Distinctive Voices in Fantastic Fiction", The San Francisco Chronicle, published October 22, 2000, accessed April 29, 2008.
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