Chained Reaction

The Destroyer #34

by Warren Murphy

Black is not only beautiful, it's Ruby Gonzalez...the wild CIA lady with a sure cure for what ails Remo and Chiun. Remo Williams just can't seem to forget he was once a Newark cop. But when you're the Destroyer you do need a little humility. Yellow, the worth of gold, the texture of parchment, the color of the sun source itself...and, in the inscrutable, insufferable, Chiun, a veritable galaxy of wisdom and power. And fun at a riot.

It will be all over when Southern idiots with whips and chains, and Northern madmen with money attempt to reduce business costs by raising slavery to new levels of efficiency. The Destroyer, with a little help from his two friends, proves that billions of dollars and armies of thugs just aren't enough. Then bucks and Ruby will do...

ABOUT THE SERIES:
Sentenced to death for a crime he didn’t commit, ex-cop Remo Williams is rescued from the electric chair and recruited by a secret government organization as an assassin, targeting criminals who are beyond the law. Remo’s trainer is a curmudgeonly old Korean named Chiun, whose mastery of the terrifyingly powerful martial art of Sinanju makes him the deadliest man alive.

The winning combination of action, humor, and mysticism has made the Destroyer one of the best-selling series of all time. With more than 150 books and over 50 million copies sold worldwide, the Destroyer has been praised by the LA Times as “flights of hilarious satire,” and gave birth to the mythology of the brash young Westerner taught by an ancient, inscrutable master.

Genres: Thriller, Pulp, Fiction, Martial Arts, Action, Adventure

178 pages, Kindle Edition

About the author

Warren 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.

Reviews

[Bryan457 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A racist organization is trying to bring back slavery. They begin kidnapping and enslaving black men, and one of the missing is Ruby's brother. She turns to CURE and Remo for help.

I like this one, even though the plot is racially charged. The interaction between Remo, Ruby and Chiun is hilarious. Smitty gets directly involved in the action.

Favorite tidbits: Chiun offers Ruby 3000 gold pieces to have a son by Remo. Chiun learns to use a CB radio. He tries to convince all the truckers to be quiet for an hour so he can recite a “short” Ung poem.

Warning, sex and graphic gory violence.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ruby Gonzalez appears again but she’s not enough to rescue this very weak Destroyer novel. A descendant of southern slave holders has decided to re-enslave African Americans—at least until he runs into Remo, Chiun, and Ruby. The only really good thing about this novel is Smith’s interaction with Ruby in which he correctly deduces that she has figured out what CURE is. He wants Remo and Chiun to kill her and they refuse. Chiun, in fact, has decided that Ruby would make an excellent mother for Remo’s children (Remo has not been consulted) and thus the next generation of the House of Sinanju. Unfortunately, the small bits of fun this circumstance brings about were not enough to save the novel.

If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

#34 in the Destroyer series. A businessman plots labor reform by restoring slavery. Much chaos ensues.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

As one can imagine, this episode, about an enemy looking to bring slavery back, puts the series is in sticky territory. On the one hand, there's a bit of an edge to the satire in which it is posited that a) a lot of Americans would vote to bring slavery back and b) corporations would love to have that happen, both of which are pretty self-evidently true as of 2022. On the other, there's an awful lot of bad guy talk, not explicitly disavowed, about making the (black) victims more productive. So that's extremely ick.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 CURE agents fight racism. Recommended

[Marko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Third good Remo novel in a row - this time battling with racial issues once again, but perhaps approaching the subject matter better than they have thus far. Also the new smart protagonist (being black, female and Spanish speaking) helps balance the race issues.

[Carl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yay, happy times returned with nostalgia
found some destroyer books so gonna
plough through them like a junkie in a
drug store!
Rereading my my fave series!
Booyah!!