Child's Play

The Destroyer #23

by Warren Murphy, Richard Sapir

The government's Witness Protection Program has been hitting a bit of a snag lately. Despite their brand new secret identities, certain loose-lipped mob stoolies are getting blown away by a group of gun-toting adolescents. And in an effort to save face, a big-mouth Army bigwig's been pointing the accusing finger at the wrong assassins - Remo Williams and his mentor, Sinanju master Chiun! There's a new kind of baby boom going around. And before he plays dead for a bunch of homicidal half-pints, the Destroyer is going to nip the poisonous peewee pandemonium in the bud!

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

183 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

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

[A. Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has very small spoilers.

To me, the big thing (and most underrated thing, even among people who don't like it) about these Destroyer books is the femme fatale characters. And this book has a pretty unusual one in the "Sashur" character. It's kind of a running joke in the series, but she's a stereotyped feminist, but one who immediately goes crazy over the Remo character. (Maybe that's sexist, but again, it's part of the series.)
Although, since the character is Jewish, it might've been entertaining to make her a semi-comical "J.A.P." version of a femme fatale. Which she really isn't, but never mind.
Nearly my only problem is the showdown scene at the end between Remo and Sashur. Instead of some Bond movie type "quip," he makes a very small "Crime Does Not Pay" kind of speech to her. Maybe that's part of the "coming of age" of the character that one reviewer here mentions, but some brutal joke remark by him would work a lot better.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the problems with creating two preternaturally capable assassins is that it is difficult to find challenges for them. With that in mind, Murphy and Sapir have added an interesting concept to the idea of Sinanju. Chiun and Remo cannot harm children. Now, this is a good thing from the reader’s perspective. We do not want our heroes assassinating children and we are thrilled when Chiun takes vengeance on a child killer early in the novel. But when the children are trying to kill Remo and Chiun, it adds an interesting and much appreciated complication to our heroes lives.

And that’s basically the plot of this novel plus a little satire of educational theories during the 1970s. The bad guys are using kids as their weapons and Remo and Chiun need to figure out how to survive this unusual weapon.

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

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun adventure in the Destroyer series, with Remo taking on an organization of child assassins.

[Suresh Vijendran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Different story concept.
As usual, the dialogues between Chiun and Remo are always interesting.
Coming of age of Remo (as expected by Chiun)

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has the brilliant conceit, not yet a part of conservative circles at the time, that it was government incompetance that is largely to blame for failures in the justice system, rather than spidery connections of powerful foes.

The idea of child-sociopath assassins was more silly to me before I watched Jesus Camp last weekend, in which the founder of a camp discusses the main shortcoming of Christianity as being that "it doesn't train kids to be terrorists for the Lord the way Islam does" (her idea about Muslims; not mine, obviously).

A few cute lines, and entertaining digression by Chiun about the ultimate immorality being what is done to children. Mid by early Destroyer standard, but better than what was to come later.

[Bryan457 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Government witnesses in hiding are being found and killed, no one can figure out how. Remo and Chiun are sent in to protect the next possible target, who is killed while in their care. The killers turn out to be children; Sinanju is sworn never to harm children.

A very fast-paced adventure that proves you don't have to have a super villain for it to be good. There is a lot of humorous Chiun and Remo interaction.

Favorite tidbits: Hilarious scene where Chiun puts a cabdriver's head through the little triangular vent window of his cab because he agreed with Remo that Chiun was carping. Remo gets shot.

Warning, sex and graphic gory violence.

[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. Witnesses against the Mob are turning up dead, so Remo and Chiun are sent in to protect the ones left. Recommended

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Federally protected witnesses are being assassinated by specially trained children. Remo discovers that his training from Sinanju prevents him from harming a child. The ring of child killers on the other hand will not hesitate to murder Remo.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again, many of these sort of run together but they are still enjoyable.

[John Marr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who can resist a book with a tag line that asks the question "Who would think of boobytrapping a frisbee?"

[Carl · Rating 3 out of 5]

good

[Martyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it. One of the better ones, and very funny.

[Miralinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Все-таки я больше люблю книги, в которых есть начало и конец, а не злодей, появляющийся время от времени.

[DOUGLAS J BERRY · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vicious kids.

Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir offering. Suitable for teens and adults. Remo and chiun must figure out who is training children to kill.