King Rat

380 pp. "King Rat is a 1962 novel by James Clavell. Set during World War II, Clavell's literary debut describes the struggle for survival of British, Australian and American prisoners of war in a Japanese camp in Singapore - a description informed by Clavell's own three-year experience as a prisoner in the notorious Changi Prison camp. One of the major characters, Peter Marlowe, is based upon Clavell's younger self. Despite its fearsome reputation, Changi was historically among the better-run Japanese camps, with only 850 deaths among the 87,000 prisoners who passed through. King Rat was the first book published of Clavell's sweeping series, the Asian Saga, and the fourth chronologically. Several main characters from King Rat also appear in Noble House."