James Clavell's blockbuster of a first novel, "King Rat,"… presents an age-old dilemma against the background of a Japanese prison camp….

[The] chief dramatic interest in "King Rat" is not so much the clash of ideals as the unremitting pressure of the Changi compound itself and its effect on the thousands of prisoners living and dying within its boundaries. Some become informers; some rise to new levels of heroism; some are reduced to dithering protoplasm. In Mr. Clavell's story, an unusual friendship arises between moral opposites: the Corporal ("King Rat") and Flight Lieut. Peter Marlowe, who are really not so far apart as their hereditary attitudes would indicate. This friendship and its repercussions—especially the hatred of the British P.O.W. provost marshall, who detests Marlowe for his upper-class origins and King for his classless adaptability—are the core of the narrative. But all personal relationships pale...