This is a true story, and a very serious one, even though it’s composed of many details that will seem ludicrous and impossible. Most of those details are irrefutable, though. And while I worked hard to verify the rest, doing so occasionally proved futile. I’d like to try and explain why.

This is a story about hippopotamuses, as advertised, but it’s also a story about two very complicated and exceptional men. These men were spies. They were also bitter enemies. Each wanted to kill the other and fully expected to feel really good about himself afterward. Eccentric circumstances—circumstances having to do with hippopotamuses—would join these men together as allies and even dear friends. But then, eventually, they’d be driven into opposition again.

Wait. Now click the link. Turn on the little sound icon in the upper right hand corner. And continue.

If this is the future of books, I'm so down. The illustrations are awesome. The soundtrack is a delightful novelty that makes me unreasonably happy. And holy fuck this thing is seriously the length of a book and I have a lot of work to finish.