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The Destroyer #36
Power Play
Wesley Pruiss is a misunderstood and misled publishing entrepreneur. The dirtier his little magazine gets, the more money he makes. There seems to be no limit to the dirt of the money. His full-color monthly, called Gross, soon spawns a chain of raunchy nightclubs ("Grossouts") and now a spectacular motion picture was being planned. Disgusting. UnAmerican, even. Enter Remo and Chiun. Not to destroy, but the protect! Disgusting, but very American. Who'd want to kill a dirty publisher? Why worry about the rottenest, most depraved publication in history? Because of the oil industry and their concern over the growth of solar energy, obviously. Oil makes the world go'round. It'd be perverse to think otherwise. . . . as you'll quickly learn in this thirty-sixth volume in the violent chronicle of the Destroyer, the invincible shatterer of worlds from Sinanju.
Warren Murphy wrote this book by himself; Richard Sapir's name is on it as co-creator of the series.
Warren Murphy wrote this book by himself; Richard Sapir's name is on it as co-creator of the series.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
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About the author
Warren Murphy
294 books124 followersWarren Murphy was an American author, most famous as the co-creator of The Destroyer series, the basis for the film Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins. He worked as a reporter and editor and after service during the Korean War, he drifted into politics.
Murphy also wrote the screenplay for Lethal Weapon 2. He is the author of the Trace and Digger series. With Molly Cochran, he completed two books of a planned trilogy revolving around the character The Grandmaster, The Grandmaster (1984) and High Priest (1989). Murphy also shares writing credits with Cochran on The Forever King and several novels under the name Dev Stryker. The first Grandmaster book earned Murphy and Cochran a 1985 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original, and Murphy's Pigs Get Fat took the same honor the following year.
His solo novels include Jericho Day, The Red Moon, The Ceiling of Hell, The Sure Thing and Honor Among Thieves. Over his career, Murphy sold over 60 million books.
He started his own publishing house, Ballybunion, to have a vehicle to start The Destroyer spin-off books. Ballybunion has reprinted The Assassin's Handbook, as well as the original works Assassin's Handbook 2, The Movie That Never Was (a screenplay he and Richard Sapir wrote for a Destroyer movie that was never optioned), The Way of the Assassin (the wisdom of Chiun), and New Blood, a collection of short stories written by fans of the series.
He served on the board of the Mystery Writers of America, and was a member of the Private Eye Writers of America, the International Association of Crime Writers, the American Crime Writers League and the Screenwriters Guild.
Murphy also wrote the screenplay for Lethal Weapon 2. He is the author of the Trace and Digger series. With Molly Cochran, he completed two books of a planned trilogy revolving around the character The Grandmaster, The Grandmaster (1984) and High Priest (1989). Murphy also shares writing credits with Cochran on The Forever King and several novels under the name Dev Stryker. The first Grandmaster book earned Murphy and Cochran a 1985 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original, and Murphy's Pigs Get Fat took the same honor the following year.
His solo novels include Jericho Day, The Red Moon, The Ceiling of Hell, The Sure Thing and Honor Among Thieves. Over his career, Murphy sold over 60 million books.
He started his own publishing house, Ballybunion, to have a vehicle to start The Destroyer spin-off books. Ballybunion has reprinted The Assassin's Handbook, as well as the original works Assassin's Handbook 2, The Movie That Never Was (a screenplay he and Richard Sapir wrote for a Destroyer movie that was never optioned), The Way of the Assassin (the wisdom of Chiun), and New Blood, a collection of short stories written by fans of the series.
He served on the board of the Mystery Writers of America, and was a member of the Private Eye Writers of America, the International Association of Crime Writers, the American Crime Writers League and the Screenwriters Guild.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 12, 2016
Entry #36 in the 70's exploitative series with Remo Williams and mentor Chiun protecting a publisher who may hold the energy answer with his renewable source plans.
April 21, 2021
Remo and Chiun get the task of protecting Wesley Pruiss, publisher of the aptly named pornographic magazine, Gross. Pruiss has been crippled by a knife wielding assassin shortly after announcing that he was investing his fortune in figuring out how to power a town completely by solar energy. (He actually “bought” the town so that he could make extremely raunchy movies without trouble from the authorities.) For some reason, Harold Smith, the Director of CURE believes that Pruiss will come through on the solar energy and sends Remo and Chiun to keep him alive.
This is not the sort of mission Remo excels at. What usually happens is that Remo meets the bad guy early in the book, likes the bad guy, and totally doesn’t understand that the bad guy is moving against him until very late in the novel. Chiun, for his part, usually figures everything out very quickly and just doesn’t tell Remo what’s really going on.
To make this book more interesting than most, Murphy and Sapir introduce a group of renegade descendants of Sinanju villagers. (Sinanju is the impoverished North Korean fishing town that Chiun calls home.) These descendants betrayed one of Chiun’s ancestors after he had taught them how to wield a knife effectively and he exiled them. Interestingly enough, the knife-wielding assassin in this book does not believe the myths of the Masters of Sinanju and is in for a big surprise when he runs into Remo.
Over all, this is a fun novel despite its weaknesses. The elements that make this series so enjoyable—the legends, the relationship between Remo and Chiun, Chiun’s peculiar way of viewing the world, and the action—are all here.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
This is not the sort of mission Remo excels at. What usually happens is that Remo meets the bad guy early in the book, likes the bad guy, and totally doesn’t understand that the bad guy is moving against him until very late in the novel. Chiun, for his part, usually figures everything out very quickly and just doesn’t tell Remo what’s really going on.
To make this book more interesting than most, Murphy and Sapir introduce a group of renegade descendants of Sinanju villagers. (Sinanju is the impoverished North Korean fishing town that Chiun calls home.) These descendants betrayed one of Chiun’s ancestors after he had taught them how to wield a knife effectively and he exiled them. Interestingly enough, the knife-wielding assassin in this book does not believe the myths of the Masters of Sinanju and is in for a big surprise when he runs into Remo.
Over all, this is a fun novel despite its weaknesses. The elements that make this series so enjoyable—the legends, the relationship between Remo and Chiun, Chiun’s peculiar way of viewing the world, and the action—are all here.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
October 28, 2025
Contrary to what another reviewer wrote, the satire on Larry Flynt is actually somewhat light and sympathetic. Perhaps they only know Flynt from the watered down Milos Forman movie and not the sleazebag reality. This was probably the best phase for the series as volumes from this era read more like satiric mysteries with fantasy and sci-fi elements than men's adventure. A fun coffee break read, as intended.
May 5, 2018
Rating probably 3.5
Another entertaining early-ish novel in the series that introduces another sinanju inspired group of assassins to go up against Remo and chiun.
Not much Smith and no ruby - which I do not mind at all as they detract from the interplay between R and C
Another entertaining early-ish novel in the series that introduces another sinanju inspired group of assassins to go up against Remo and chiun.
Not much Smith and no ruby - which I do not mind at all as they detract from the interplay between R and C
January 24, 2024
#36 in the Destroyer series. Remo & Chiun are hired as bodyguards for a porn publisher. Much chaos ensues.
September 2, 2022
Off-putting enough in its "parody" of Larry Flynt that I've discontinued my straight-line read-thru of the series and have kicked back to an earlier section.
Ironically for a book about how awful Flynt is, the misogyny is off the charts, plus the bad guy is a dud, going down with barely a whimper after an awful lot of buildup.
Ironically for a book about how awful Flynt is, the misogyny is off the charts, plus the bad guy is a dud, going down with barely a whimper after an awful lot of buildup.
August 10, 2010
A dirty magazine publisher (possibly based on Larry Flint) decides to go to work on solar energy which makes certain oil companies mad enough to kill. Remo and Chiun have to protect him from assassins, including a line of assassins that was taught their skills by a past Sinanju master.
In spite of the overused, “protect someone” plot that Warren Murphy did not seem to know how to deviate from when he was writing these by himself, I enjoyed the story immensely, and I always like the books where Sinanju history is part of the story.
Favorite tidbits: In chapter 2 there are two kids sitting on a rooftop, waiting for the drugs they just took to kick in (The drugs are fake; they got sold some powdered sugar or fake LSD). They see Remo do some amazing Sinanju, and think they are having a great drug trip.
Warning, sex and graphic gory violence.
In spite of the overused, “protect someone” plot that Warren Murphy did not seem to know how to deviate from when he was writing these by himself, I enjoyed the story immensely, and I always like the books where Sinanju history is part of the story.
Favorite tidbits: In chapter 2 there are two kids sitting on a rooftop, waiting for the drugs they just took to kick in (The drugs are fake; they got sold some powdered sugar or fake LSD). They see Remo do some amazing Sinanju, and think they are having a great drug trip.
Warning, sex and graphic gory violence.
February 12, 2016
One of the big men's adventure series from the 70's than ran an impressive 145 books. The series while an adventure/action story is also full of satire toward much of the mainstream fads and icons of the time. An interesting main character and the sarcastic mentor makes this a funny action/adventure read. The team must protect a porn king that is trying to turn over a new leaf. Recommended
July 27, 2010
The usual.
March 7, 2024
Another good one
racing through these like the plague
or Usain Bolt on speed
or a hungry cheetah
or.....
like em.
racing through these like the plague
or Usain Bolt on speed
or a hungry cheetah
or.....
like em.
October 31, 2012
A quick, fun read. Always enjoy the exchanges between Chiun and Remo.
October 5, 2013
Very enjoyable
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews