Summary

Book One: Preface, Chapters 1-3

King Rat is the first novel published by prolific British author and screenwriter James Clavell. Based in large part on the author’s own experiences as a prisoner of war during the final years of World War Two, the story takes place during the months leading up to the Japanese surrender in 1945 and is set in Changi Prison, an overcrowded Japanese-run POW camp located in a remote part of Singapore Island. The novel follows the lives of many of the prisoners at Changi and focuses specifically on the unlikely friendship that grows between RAF Flight Lieutenant Peter Marlowe – a character based on the author himself – and an American corporal called the King, a “businessman” who is always looking to make a deal and turn a profit and who seems to be alone in his ability...