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    Koko
    Koko
    Koko
    Audiobook22 hours

    Koko

    Written by Peter Straub

    Narrated by Patrick Lawlor

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Bestselling author Peter Straub's Koko is a gripping psychological thriller in which horror and paranoia are indistinguishable from reality.Koko. Only four men knew what it meant. Now they must stop it. They were Vietnam vets-a doctor, a lawyer, a working stiff, and a writer. Very different from each other, they are nonetheless linked by a shared history and a single shattering secret. Now, they have been reunited and are about to embark on a quest that will take from Washington, D.C., to the graveyards and fleshpots of the Far East to the human jungle of New York, hunting someone from the past who has risen from the darkness to kill and kill and kill.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateOct 4, 2011
    ISBN9781455829859
    Koko
    Author

    Peter Straub

    Born in Milwaukee, Peter Straub is the author of fifteen novels, which have been translated into more than twenty languages. He has won the British Fantasy Award, two Bram Stoker awards and two World Fantasy awards. His most recent publications are his acclaimed novel Mr X, a collection of short stories, Magic Terror, and Black House, the international bestselling novel that he co-wrote with Stephen King.

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    Reviews for Koko

    3.5/5

    320 ratings10 reviews

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    • 2/5
      I struggled through this book and to be honest it was pretty hard going. I'm not really a fan of war based fiction. Perhaps it would have been better if a 100 pages or so less.
    • 5/5
      A great long novel to cuddle up to. Good characters and the storyline is excellent. Engaging mystery.
    • 3/5
      Let me start out by saying that I'm most definitely a fan of Straub. I've read the books he wrote with Stephen King in addition to GHOST STORY, THE HELLFIRE CLUB, SHADOWLAND, and LOST BOY LOST GIRL.

      At first, KOKO didn't feel like it was going anywhere. There's a lot of searching in the plot and it felt like a similar "search" for story was happening along those 600 pages. I'm planning on reading the other two books in the trilogy, which I hope will be better paced than KOKO.

      Straub's writing is perfect, as always, and I did like the story. It's easy to "see" what's happening on the page in your mind. But it took me a really long time to get this one from my "currently reading" shelf to the "read" shelf. I just think it's too long a novel for the story it tells.
    • 3/5
      3.25 starsFour army buddies from the Vietnam War head back to Asia in the early 80s to look for a murderer, nicknamed Koko. They think Koko is someone else they knew from the war. This wasn't quite what I expected. I was a bit disappointed in that it's not horror, which I was wanting to read in October. Took me a while to realize that, but still didn't really enjoy the first 2/3 of the book (though it was o.k.). It did pick up for me a bit in the last 1/3 of the book, but not enough for me to continue what is apparently a trilogy.
    • 5/5
      Both character and plot driven, with emphasis on "character," KOKO is a riveting literary thriller, with emphasis on "literary." It is good enough for my favorites shelf.This is a long book for a couple of reasons. First, of course, is that a lot happens. Second, Peter Straub tends to ramble sometimes. Although it may be tempting to skip these paragraphs, don't. Within most of them are either clues to what happens later or mysteries that will be explained later. The rambling often demonstrates confused and crazy thought processes.I'm glad I read KOKO before I read reviews of it. It is so easy to give away what shouldn't be given away; the reader will enjoy the book so much more if she discovers events and does not anticipate them. But it's safe to say that three, then four veterans of the Vietnam War, all in the same platoon, travel the world together, looking for the person who has been killing people, mutilating them by chopping off their ears and gouging out their eyes, and, in most cases, putting a playing card in their mouths with the work "Koko" written on it. The veterans have reason to believe that Koko is another former member of their platoon.Telling you more plot than that would be telling you too much. Don't read other reviews.One of the veterans, Harry Beevers, was the lieutenant of this former platoon. Beevers is described as "the world's worst lieutenant" and has a few nicknames, including "lost boss" because he was so terrible at reading maps that he led his platoon into "killing boxes," where they were ambushed by the enemy. Some of those ramblings that I mentioned earlier are Beevers' thoughts.My understanding is that Straub was (past tense because KOKO was written in 1988, almost 30 years before I read it) showing how everyone who did combat in Vietnam (or anywhere?) has been adversely affected for the rest of their lives. Not all are murderers, but maybe they are now crazy just the same. Although, as I said, KOKO is a very good book, one of my favorites, I have two questions that Straub, as far as I remember, did not answer. That is, 1) how could the veterans who were searching for KOKO afford it when, even in 1988, airfares for tickets purchased shortly before travel were so high; and 2) why did they most often act at Beevers' beck and call even though they knew he was a bad leader?Perhaps KOKO should be read twice.
    • 5/5
      Loved this book, too...part of my life-long obsession with the Vietnam war, maybe, but also I just love Straub's writing and his characterizations. This was only the second book of his I read, and it's stayed with me, even with years intervening.
    • 4/5
      Koko is the first book in the "Blue Rose Trilogy." I wouldn't, despite the author's reputation and its winning the World Fantasy Award, call this a horror novel, more mystery/thriller--there's not much more of a hint of the supernatural to the novel. This features a smooth, skillful style and well-drawn characterizations. For quite a while I couldn't warm to those characters though, and the plot was slow to develop, but the writing engaged me enough I stuck with it, and some of the characters grew on me, as they themselves grew in the course of the story, so that about half way through I cared enough about them I knew I'd stick with the book, which had more than one unexpected twist and turn. (One major character I hated from beginning to end, but I finally realized we're pretty much supposed to.) The plot is centered on four American Vietnam War Veterans who go in search of someone in their unit they suspect might be committing a series of murders connected to events in the war over a decade ago: Michael Poole, a pediatrician; Beevers, a lawyer, who was the lieutenant of their unit; Connor, a carpenter and Puma, a restaurant owner. The search takes them to Singapore, Thailand, Milwaukee, and the author skillfully portrays each, as well as their past in combat in Vietnam. I'd definitely try more Straub--maybe Ghost Story sometime.
    • 4/5
      A good read, Keeps you guessing. Probably hard for a Vet to read.
    • 5/5
      Straub's best book, and one that forme transcends any genre. I consider it one of the top books I've read and one I would not hesitate to class as literature. The friendships at the heart of the book are realistic, human, engaging even the loyalty felt by the central characters to their murderous old friend is moving. On the surface the story is a blend of chiller and adventure but the true story lurks beneath in the interaction between the men who once aprticipated in - a massacre of civilians? a simple mistake? an act of war?Straub leaves enough unsaid to provide the reader with space to create withint the tale while giving us resolution on the points on which its most needed - a rare outcome!
    • 4/5
      This is a fascinating, dark, and convoluted novel. It's a thriller, sort of, but it's very character-driven and focuses strongly on the way Vietnam has shaped the lives of the five main characters: a doctor, a lawyer, a writer, a blue collar working stiff -- and a killer.Straub is a skillful writer; he keeps letting you think you've figured things out, and then he throws you a curveball. I spent a good portion of the last half thinking, "God, how obvious could it be?!" and feeling certain I knew who the killer was -- and then in the last 100 pages everything turned upside down.