Last Drop

The Destroyer #54

by Warren Murphy

The High and the MightyIt's enough to give a drug pusher thousands upon thousands of sober citizens are suddenly turning on and dropping out--for free--and the illicit narcotics business has ground to a halt.Under other circumstances, the pushers' plight would be cause for official celebration. But this time Washington's good and worried. And when the rock-ribbed Harold W. Smith, head of the supersecret agency CURE, knuckles under to the first buzz of his life, it's clearly time for Remo and Chiun to take matters into their own hands. Trouble is, Remo's suffering from a midlife career crisis, and he's flirting with retirement....With the backbone of America melting into Silly Putty, will the land of the free be transformed into the land of the Lotus-Easters? It;s a loaded question, and the answer lies with an 80-year-old Korean assassin and his rebellious pupil....

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Adventure, Action

199 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1983

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]

This one will pull you right in. The novel begins with a rather typical Destroyer problem. Someone has found a way to infuse pure heroine into coffee and coffee fanatics across the country are dying in droves from the resulting (and unexpected) drug overdose. CURE begins to investigate and discovers that something far more troubling to them personally is going on. Everyone that Remo has contact with ends up dead by an unknown assassin’s hand suggesting someone knows about CURE and also putting Smith in great danger.

As Remo continues to try and track down the source of the tainted coffee, Chiun races off to protect Smith who is already in trouble. And then things get really exciting. Remo is facing off against a master of the mechanical trap and while the reader knows he has to survive to star in the next 100+ books in the series, the threats seem genuine as he encounters them. Remo is also going through a sort of existential crisis (again) about his profession (i.e. killing people) and I thought that his resolution was the best one they have come up with yet for his periodic distaste for his profession.

Let me add that the ultimate villain should have been obvious but wasn’t. I’m embarrassed I didn’t catch on earlier. Murphy actually used the tropes of the series against me, and I loved it. This is four books in a row that the author has found his mojo again, giving me a lot of hope for the next novel.

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

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating between 2.5 & 3

An enjoyable entry in the series, the humour to me at least felt more like how it should be. The darkish humour mainly centred on drug dealers becoming penniless when a new coffee comes into the market which has heroin as a key ingredient. Considering the proliferation of coffee shops in the last 20 years, perhaps this has happened already although much more subtly.
The main trio were all present and had good scenes.
The slight downside for me was it starts as another story where Remo wants to give up being an assassin...again
I’m sure in real life that would happen but how many times can the writers go back to the same character issues before it gets repetitive and stale.

Overall though a definite recommendation, definitely a step up from the previous sci-fi / time travelling story

[Marko · Rating 2 out of 5]

When tainted new brand of coffee is making people kill themselves all around the states, Remo and Chiun must act quickly. Not the best of Remo/Chiun stories, but entertaining enough. The bad guy even (almost) manages to be a challenge to Remo.

[Jeff J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

#54 in the Destroyer series. Coffee laced with heroin is disrupting the illegal drug trade in America. Much chaos ensues.

[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. A new drug is causing people to go crazy across the nation and it's free. The CURE agents must find how and stop the source. Recommended

[Christopher Peruzzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story was particularly brilliant. Think about how many people in this country drink coffee and now think about how many people are dependent on that. Cross breeding coffee with heroin (or some kind of narcotic) was a stroke of genius. Throwing Remo, Chiun and Smith into the mix was pure magic.