Walking Wounded

The Destroyer #74

by Warren Murphy (Series Creator), Richard Sapir (Series Creator), Will Murray

IT DIDN'T TAKE TWO TO RAMBO — It didn't matter to Remo that his mentor Chiun told him he was acting like a child to want to go back to Vietnam on a mission of rescue and revenge. — It didn't matter to Remo that his superior Smith ordered him to abandon a plan that could upset the delicate balance of world peace. — Remo was out of his skull with remembered rage, and out of control of anyone who wanted to stop him from trying to spring a wartime buddy from a jungle hell. And the Destroyer plunged back into the past to fight a one-man war against an old enemy that would not die but could still kill without mercy and vanish like a ghoulish ghost....

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 4, 1988

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

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Walking Wounded, Murphy takes us back to Remo’s life before he met Chiun and embraced the arts of Sinanju by writing a powerful story about Vietnam soldiers missing in action. The novel begins with a Vietnamese political dissident escaping from a secret prison camp with evidence of Americans still held prisoner there more than ten years after the war ended. He’s killed before fully communicating his story, but Remo recognizes the name of one of the men whom the escapee claims is still a prisoner. It was his friend, Sergeant Youngblood. Remo decides to find out the truth against Chiun and Smith’s orders, but his efforts are complicated when upon his arrival in Vietnam he suffers a prolonged flashback and becomes convinced that he is still in the Vietnam War. He has no memory of Chiun, Smith, CURE, or Sinanju.

As Remo searches for his friend, we start to learn why he was a legend in the war. This is Remo without the benefits of his Sinanju training, but he is still an amazing man—reminding us why Smith chose him to become the enforcement arm of CURE. Chiun, meanwhile, is trying to keep Remo alive while he waits for his memory to return. It’s a good story with an unfortunately predictable ending.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating 4

Really enjoyed this entry in the series.
Relatively straightforward and simple storyline, nice to see some more background to Remo before CURE . The interactions between the main characters was as usual entertaining .
The ending itself was predictable but that didn’t detract from the story though at least for me.

Compared to non genre novels this would be a 3 or 3.5 at best, but as an entry in the series it is definitely better than average hence 4

[Michael W. Gray Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended

This was a amusing story about the day remo went back to Vietnam and forgot his training and had to fight old enemies

[Jeff J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

#74 in the Destroyer series. Remo = Rambo. Much chaos ensues.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

While on a mission, Remo suffers a head wound and now thinks he is back in the army, fighting the Vietnam war. The problem is his mission was taking place in Vietnam and Remo now has the ability to refight the war all by himself and win.

While the various political factions try to figure out what the heck is going on and howto resolve it without starting a brand new Vietnam war, Chuin has to track down his student and knock some sense back into him.

Fun read, with just the right balance of humor and action.

[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. When he learns that an old friend from the Vietnam War, lost in battle, is found to be alive and still held captive by the Vietnamese Communists, nothing can keep Remo from going back to that Southeast Asia country to free him. Recommended