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The Destroyer #51
Shock Value
It's a news wrinkle in murder: A haberdashery clerk suddenly leaves his home in Ohio, flies to Italy, and kills a Red terrorist. Everyone figures the guy's just coming apart at the seams - until it happens again . . . and again . . . A pattern's emerging, and the international powers are getting hot under the collar. Remo and Chiun are investigating before the U.S. is caught with its pants down. But then Harold W. Smith vanishes, along with the best brains in the world, and all at once CURE's less than a memory . . . Remo and Chiun follow the thread of evidence to a tropical island and a man with a message - a man with trouble up his sleeve. And, they find it's just a matter of time before he takes the entire world to the cleaner's . . .
138 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1983
15 people are currently reading
77 people want to read
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 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 12, 2021
Remo and Chiun are back to acting like The Destroyer again. An unknown foe who can program people to commit assassinations for him gets his hands on Harold Smith to force him to put his computer skills to use for the bad guys. Smith manages to leave Remo and Chiun one small clue and they use it to go after Smith to rescue him. The bad guys try to stop them and fail—badly. The high point of the novel comes in a nice scene toward the end in which Remo gets an insight into how truly capable his Sinanju-trained body is. Overall, this is standard Destroyer fair, but a truly big step up from the last few books.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
July 11, 2017
His name was Remo, and he was on fire.
Shock Value is a fairly standard sci-fi entry into the Destroyer series, with a typical Bond-Villain bad guy at the source of a global campaign of domination and destruction that only the House of Sinanju and CURE can defeat. The diabolical master plan of the enigmatic Abraxas comes at them sideways this time, as CURE director Harold Smith is abducted by a mysterious organization to use his computer expertise to help take over the world. As Remo and Chuin attempt to follow Smith's trail to the tropical island fortress - we're talking big-time Bond vibes here - Smith finds himself surrounded by brainwashed followers sipping pink drugged daiquiris during world domination boardroom meetings.
This Destroyer adventure is a straight-up action/drama affair, with a minimum of silliness to keep things moving as events ramp up to an emotional race-against-time showdown in the villain's lair. The narrative is somewhat top-heavy, as this is another instance where the main villain's identity isn't fully revealed until the last forty or so pages of the book. Since the story plays everything extremely close to the vest for the first three-quarter's of the book, the visual reveal of the deformed crime boss (essentially a mutilated torso strapped to a chair) occurs roughly thirty pages away from the end, closely preceded by an eight-page info-dump by the Abraxas' betrayed sidekick shortly before succumbing to Remo's advances. The scar-faced Circe (rapidly) becomes one of Remo's tragic romantic involvements, which helps elevate the intensity of the somewhat hokey climax.
A common reoccurring theme in the Destroyer universe, television plays a major role in the plans of the diabolical Abraxas, who uses subliminal messaging inserted in international broadcasts to brainwash the population into subservience. Combined with Chuin's fascination with cheesy soap operas and foreign weather forecasters, the series does not share a positive view of television as a whole. Considering the debacle that was the pilot for a Destroyer TV show, it's easy to understand why.
Shock Value is a fairly standard sci-fi entry into the Destroyer series, with a typical Bond-Villain bad guy at the source of a global campaign of domination and destruction that only the House of Sinanju and CURE can defeat. The diabolical master plan of the enigmatic Abraxas comes at them sideways this time, as CURE director Harold Smith is abducted by a mysterious organization to use his computer expertise to help take over the world. As Remo and Chuin attempt to follow Smith's trail to the tropical island fortress - we're talking big-time Bond vibes here - Smith finds himself surrounded by brainwashed followers sipping pink drugged daiquiris during world domination boardroom meetings.
This Destroyer adventure is a straight-up action/drama affair, with a minimum of silliness to keep things moving as events ramp up to an emotional race-against-time showdown in the villain's lair. The narrative is somewhat top-heavy, as this is another instance where the main villain's identity isn't fully revealed until the last forty or so pages of the book. Since the story plays everything extremely close to the vest for the first three-quarter's of the book, the visual reveal of the deformed crime boss (essentially a mutilated torso strapped to a chair) occurs roughly thirty pages away from the end, closely preceded by an eight-page info-dump by the Abraxas' betrayed sidekick shortly before succumbing to Remo's advances. The scar-faced Circe (rapidly) becomes one of Remo's tragic romantic involvements, which helps elevate the intensity of the somewhat hokey climax.
A common reoccurring theme in the Destroyer universe, television plays a major role in the plans of the diabolical Abraxas, who uses subliminal messaging inserted in international broadcasts to brainwash the population into subservience. Combined with Chuin's fascination with cheesy soap operas and foreign weather forecasters, the series does not share a positive view of television as a whole. Considering the debacle that was the pilot for a Destroyer TV show, it's easy to understand why.
September 6, 2025
A great example of how absolute power corrupts absolutely. Remo and Chiun are tasked with finding a maniac jerk-wad who can, through mass hypnosis, control the minds of his elect to kill anyone he deems a threat.
On a tropical island, Remo meets a young woman who is the somewhat concubine/prisoner of the maniac. Remo uses gentle persuasion to convince her that she can escape the life she has been encumbered with to help him defeat the maniac. The foil in this episode is likely one of the most powerful enemies that Remo and Chiun have faced, Nuihc still being the worst.
The maniac's mansion, full of deadly traps and secrets, provides the setting for the ultimate showdown of good versus evil. Smith becomes a prisoner, both physically and mentally, on the island. Chiun provides an obligatory whip-a$$ to dozens of mind-controlled sycophants while Remo ends up with mere seconds to save the whole world from becoming completely entranced by mass hypnosis. This was probably the most serious and saddest story of all the Destroyer episodes I've read so far.
3/5
On a tropical island, Remo meets a young woman who is the somewhat concubine/prisoner of the maniac. Remo uses gentle persuasion to convince her that she can escape the life she has been encumbered with to help him defeat the maniac. The foil in this episode is likely one of the most powerful enemies that Remo and Chiun have faced, Nuihc still being the worst.
The maniac's mansion, full of deadly traps and secrets, provides the setting for the ultimate showdown of good versus evil. Smith becomes a prisoner, both physically and mentally, on the island. Chiun provides an obligatory whip-a$$ to dozens of mind-controlled sycophants while Remo ends up with mere seconds to save the whole world from becoming completely entranced by mass hypnosis. This was probably the most serious and saddest story of all the Destroyer episodes I've read so far.
3/5
July 3, 2017
A fun little Remo&Chiun story where the authors have learned about subliminal messages in TV broadcasts. But instead of making people buy the newest and fanciest soap or cola, the bad guy here are turning innocent citizens into assassins. Remo and Chiun get to spend time together and the story flows nicely - and Remo's skills in Sinanju get a real test in the final showdown.
November 8, 2020
Rating 3
A good read that I thought was better than the previous one. A nice straightforward story that involves Smith getting kidnapped again by the big bad and rescued by Remo & Chiun.
Not complicated or particularly memorable but an entertaining entry in the series.
A good read that I thought was better than the previous one. A nice straightforward story that involves Smith getting kidnapped again by the big bad and rescued by Remo & Chiun.
Not complicated or particularly memorable but an entertaining entry in the series.
April 6, 2020
Evil genius brainwashes people through subliminal messages on their televisions in a bid to take over the world. Solid entry in the series enhanced by a more-poignant-than-usual ending.
August 20, 2020
#51 in the Destroyer series. Remo & Chiun uncover a plot to provoke a worldwide socialist revolution. Much chaos ensues.
February 13, 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. CURE must investigate why normal Americans are killing terrorists. Recommended
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews