Death Check

Surmaaja #6

by Warren Murphy

Someone has taken a special interest in the Brewster Forum think tank. Compromising photos have been taken. Their security officer is dead under suspicious circumstances. Information about its members is being traded in shadowy places by shadowy figures. This wouldn't normally be a job for America's most deniable covert agency, but the Forum has recently devised what they call a "simple little plan to conquer the world." That makes it a national security matter of the greatest delicacy, which makes it a job for Remo Williams. Remo Williams is The Destroyer, an all-American cop recruited—through highly unorthodox methods—by a secret government law-enforcement organization. Trained in the esoteric martial art of Sinanju by his aged Korean mentor, Chiun, Remo is America's last line of defense against mad scientists, organized crime, ancient undead gods, and anything else that threatens the Constitution. An action-adventure series leavened with social and political satire, the Destroyer novels have been thrilling readers worldwide for decades.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Adventure, Pulp, Action, Crime, Espionage

162 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1972

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

[Balkron · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Rating Scale:
1 Star - Horrible book, It was so bad I stopped reading it. I have not read the whole book and wont
2 Star - Bad book, I forced myself to finish it and do NOT recommend. I can't believe I read it once
3 Star - Average book, Was entertaining but nothing special. No plans to ever re-read
4 Star - Good Book, Was a really good book and I would recommend. I am Likely to re-read this book
5 Star - GREAT book, A great story and well written. I can't wait for the next book. I Will Re-Read this one or more times.

Times Read: 1

One of the first series I read consistently. This series and the Executioner series are responsible for my love of reading and stories.

Characters - Looking back to my younger reading days, I loved Remo Williams and thought he was one of the coolest characters in history. I still think Remo is a good character. Unique in a number of ways even today.

Story - The stories are average and fairly typical. Bad guys going to kill or hurt, Remo is going to kill them first (no way he is going to die not with Chuin as his teacher). Not much in creativity but it really worked for me as a male teenager. I started learning Judo and Karate partly because of Remo.

Overall - I started reading these when I was 16. I enjoyed them up until about age 19. My tastes changed from Military intrigue to Fantasy / SciFi. I would recommend reading these especially for younger males.

NOTE: I am going to rate all the books in this series the same. Some of the stories are a bit better or a bit worse but I can't find one that I would rate a 2 or 4.

[Michael Rudzki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although these are quick reads, and reflective of some of the social problems of the time, these never fail to entertain.

In this book, eight years have passed since Remo ended one life and began his training to become the Destroyer. This is perhaps a bit of retconning to make JFK the president who instigated the program known as CURE. It's a bit ironic that when LBJ tells Nixon about it, Dick is uncomfortable with an extralegal organization. Of course, this was before Watergate and the revelation that Dick was responsible for the deaths of thousands of US troops in Vietnam just so he could win the presidency.

The main conflict in Death Check, apart from the mystery of who is subverting the think tank, is an internal one: Remo has been forced to stay at peak readiness too long. This has led to his skills deteriorating over the course of the book, until he is barely more than he was when he was a cop. As will become evident as the series progresses, it is the training and the relationship between Remo and Chiun which is the heart of the Destroyer novels.

One of the highlights is a scene in which Remo and a fellow agent discover they have a common friend in their past: Conn Macleary, who recruited Remo, and who was his first assignment to kill. Like many of those written by Murphy and Sapir, this could easily play extremely well on screen. It has much the same feel as the drunk storytelling scene in Jaws.

[Secret Agent Fan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second book in the Destroyer series focuses on the Brewster Forum, a think tank located in Virginia. The Brewster Forum is stocked with academics and intellectuals living in cozy cottages on the campus. They work together in a collegiate atmosphere devoted to thought and study, as well as leisure time activities such as chess tournaments and demonstrations of hypnotism.

The Brewster Forum is developing a theoretical plan for world conquest. CURE has obtained some very compromising photographs of most of the scientists and academics at the Brewster Forum, and are concerned that bad actors are planning to obtain the plans for world conquest through blackmail or by other means. Enter Remo Williams, undercover as chief of security. The last one was murdered--giving credence to the suspicion that something is rotten at the Brewster Forum.

"Death Check" has a lot of fun putting Remo in an environment totally unsuited to him. He can't really make heads nor tails of the squishy academics he's dealing with. The academics, on the other hand, view Remo as a slightly more evolved version of an Ape Man.

The book almost plays as a satire of academia (it's not hard to figure out whose side authors Sapir and Murphy are on). The humor of the situation makes for some delightful confrontations. Of course, there are some beautiful women on the campus to make things interesting, and a cute little girl whose genius doesn't interfere with her wanting to play Frisbee.

All this plus exciting action involving bikers, perfidious sky-diving instructors and a sadistic dominatrix make for an excellent installment in the Destroyer series.

[Bryan457 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Remo infiltrates a think tank that seems to be working on a plan to conquer the world. Some of the greatest brains in the country are working together but some of them start turning up dead. Remo has to find out which of the brains is behind the killing and the possible plot for world conquest.

Quite an improvement over #1. Remo is doing more advanced training. Chiun is still not an active player which does take away from the overall feel of the book. Very little humor. Remo is getting to be more sarcastic but has not developed the Remo attitude yet. Remo loses much of his ability when he is at peak too long.

Favorite tidbits: Remo and Smitty have a meeting in a club where women dance on tables for tips. Remo gets Smitty to put a bill in the woman's bra and Remo causes the bra to come off in Smitty's hands. Great scene when Remo takes out a gang of bikers.

Warning, sex and graphic gory violence.

[Damon Henrichs · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this because I'm curious how "The Destroyer" develops from the first book (which is dark and takes itself seriously) to the fun, silly, crazy series it becomes.

Sadly, this one is a pretty crappy transitional book that was hard to follow, featured almost no interaction between Remo and Chiun, AND was taking itself seriously, despite being fairly lame.

There was a preview of book 3 at the end . . . which has some of the trademark interaction that becomes the trademark of the series. Honestly, it was the best thing about book 2.

Thank God publishers saw past this one and allowed the series to continue.

Two stars might be grnerous. I'm giving it two since I know what it will become. Only read this if, like me, you REALLY want to see how the series evolves.

[Lurple · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another mildly entertaining tale of Remo Williams, super assassin guy. In this, book #2 out of a hundred+, Remo infiltrates a think tank and beats the hell out of people and plays some chess. Pretty lightweight entertainment despite the sometimes serious content-Nazis show up and a man makes love to a giraffe. Seriously.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally read this in the 70s - action/adventure series geared to guys. Remo is a NJ cop set up by the gov't to publicly die to be brought back as an assassin who takes out plots they don't want the common people to know about.

This time, a blackmail scandal threatens a government think tank of brilliant scientists.

Good action and humor, with a nice twist at the conclusion.

[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. This issue the heroes must fight a rogue think tank of American patriots. Recommended

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second volume of the Destroyer series occurs eight years after the first. Remo’s training has greatly advanced, but the authors still don’t have the full understanding of what Sinanju is and the book still does not have Chiun enjoying a major role in the story. So in many ways, this book still does not feel like a Destroyer novel.

Yet, it does fit the genre of action novels pretty well. Remo has been brought to a training peak in readiness for a job and held there so long that by the time the job finally appears, his skills are starting to deteriorate. He has to infiltrate a brain trust which is developing a plan to conquer the world. Technically it is doing this for the U.S. government, but there’s evidence that all is not well in the trust and Remo’s work is cut out for him.

There’s a lot of fun in this novel as Remo verbally spars with pompous academics and physically spars with a biker gang and others. This book may not be the Destroyer “proper” yet, but it’s still a fun read.

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

[Mikepottz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Remo knew you don't peak every week. You build to a peak. You plan for a peak. You work for it. Remo had a new mission to set up the deaths of everyone of the top staff at Brewsters Forum. A bunch of doctors looking into controlling the world through studies they were doing in a think tank. Picking up a package Remo will crush a man's testicles and smash a guys vertebrae into his throat. He will work as a cop at the think tank and take out 7 bikie gang members, he didn't want to kill them just destroy their kneecaps, eyeballs and break noses. A guy gets his dick chopped off, a guy likes watching his daughter bang guys, and Remo will play chess and shove the queen's point through a guys eye, penetrating the brain and he will say CHECKMATE!

[John E Bailor · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite of the first few books in The Destroyer series.

Eccentric supporting characters who are described in a fun and quite politically incorrect way. Great descriptions bring this very violent thriller to life.

The authors were still feeling their way around the series. We do get a glimpse of eastern mysticism, but very little Chiun in this one. Remo is in the very early stages of learning to harness the extraordinary powers he eventually develops.

Unless you are easily offended, this action adventure comes with my highest recommendation.

[A. Grant · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm surprised no review of this book mentions the bed scene between Remo and the villainess of the story, because it has to be just about the most controversial scene of the series (or it would be if the series were better-known outside of "Men's Adventure" circles). It's a SPOILER, but one of the last things a reader might expect of an adventure book protagonist (even a very violent one) is to see him nearly kill the villainess with rough sex (!). Whether that's "politically incorrect" in a good way or a bad way is up to the reader, but either way it's a "WTF?" kind of scene.

[S. Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unlike the majority of the books in the Destroyer series, this second entry finds Remo on a solo mission to protect American interests from... well, American Interests. And NAZIS!!!

Death Check sets up the intended tone of the series after Created, the Destroyer laid the foundation. Oddly enough, the second book takes place eight years after the first one, despite being published a year apart. A flashback (of sorts) demonstrating how the outgoing POTUS passes the knowledge to the incoming one establishes that Cure has been operating since JFK by eavesdropping on LBJ passing the torch onto Nixon; as with future books in the series, no names are given, only hints as to the true identity of political figures. Considering that JFK was assassinated in 1963, that places Death Check no later than 1971.

In Death Check, Remo Williams takes on the identity of Remo Pelham to investigate the death of a CURE agent at the government think tank Brewster Forum, where somebody appears to be gathering blackmail photos of the resident geniuses, potentially to obtain their plans on how to "Conquer the world." Remo's mission is to find out who is behind the blackmail attempt, and if all else fails, eliminate the think tank members. Complications arise from Remo having held himself at peak physical condition to the breaking point while waiting for the assignment, and from him falling for a think tank psychiatrist with a hidden agenda of her own. Unlike the first book in the series , Death Check is a straight up espionage story, albeit with a sardonic Destroyer twist.

I started reading the Destroyer series at eight or nine, when an Uncle I was visiting one summer told me to help myself to any of the books on his shelf if I was bored. He was not a good babysitter. Revisiting the series nearly four decades later, Death Check contains two mental images that have stayed with me since I started reading the series as a child; Remo increasing his body temperature to recover from an illness, and a man being castrated with a whip. It turns out the second memory was slightly faulty, as the castration was not performed with a whip, a whip just happened to be in use at the same time. Kids, am I right?

Death Check is a simple novel as far as setting and characters; the majority of the book takes place on the grounds of the small think tank community, which is populated with stereotypical too-smart-for-their-own-good intelligentsia. Speaking of stereotypes, some of the ones on display reflect 1970 mindsets that don't read as well from a new millennium vantage point, and might inspire some to label parts of the book as homophobic and misogynistic. But we are talking about a seventies men's adventure series, so we can't really pretend to be too surprised. Liberals are also a favorite target of the series, and the arrogant elitist director of the think tank fills that role in spades.

Outside of some dated sociopolitical attitudes, Death Check is a solid start to the series, and establishes many of what would become standard staples of the series. If I have one complaint, it's that the first of the Chapter Two "His name was Remo..." opening lines is a tad unwieldy:

"HIS NAME WAS REMO and the gymnasium was dark with only speckles of light coming from the ceiling-high windows where minute paint bubbles had burst shortly after workmen had applied the first layer of black."

Thankfully, they manage to tighten them in future novels.

THE BAD GUY: Remo's first government agent adversary is former Nazi Doctor Hans Frichtmann, who is utilizing his nymphomaniac daughter and knowledge of psychotropic mind control to acquire blackmail material. He does this while masquerading as a chess instructor, which provides a cat-and-mouse game with Remo, and is alluded to in the book's title. Frichtmann's motivation and background never strays too far way from being a Nazi (this guy REALLY doesn't like Jewish people), and it's a shame that Murphy and Sapir couldn't weave a little Project Paperclip origin into the works.

REMO & CURE: We're only two books in, so even though there is an eight year gap, Remo still sees his position with CURE as a captive agent, and contemplates "running" multiple times.

REMO & CHIUN: Chuin is almost entirely absent in Death Check, with the exception of an occasional flashback, Sinanju wisdom, and a couple of trips to Remo's mental "safe room." It seems as if the eight year gap between the two books was partially to set it up that Remo now only sees Chiun at occasional scheduled training sessions. Not yet the inseparable duo they become later in the series.

REMO’S LADIES: Only four women have any real interaction with Remo this go round, and the only one he sexes is the Nazi Doctor's nympho daughter, in a scene that gets rather uncomfortably rapey. His doesn't get around to sleeping with his romantic interest, who is unsurprisingly the only positive female character in the book. The other two are an obnoxious woman in a car at the think tank that Remo is unpleasant to, and another obnoxious woman that Remo shares a taxi with before destroying her luggage and stranding her in Manhattan because women, am I right guys?

BODY COUNT: Death Check's total body count comes in at 10, with 7 belonging to Remo. Highlights include an electric paint-mixing machine, some skydiving hi-jinks, and a rather unorthodox chess move.

[Michael Fortenberry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the series when I first read it many years so. I re-read the first 12 in February. I still enjoyed the, especially #1 and #3. I am looking forward to Mr. Gordon's and Nuic's return.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I lovingly call my chiun books. A fun series to read. Thanks to the guys at Bobos Arcade for turning me on to this series.

[Craig Adamson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book as I stumbled upon it at HalfPriced Books a few weeks back. They had books 2-9 on discount rack for a buck apiece. I was going to buy all of them but decided buying one to see if I’d like it first seemed the best choice. Anyway I had forgotten about them and how much I enjoyed the first one I read (#17 I think). Plenty of sex and violence and witty conversation for any 7th grade boy to enjoy! So I immediately started reading the remaining 6 or 8 books they had at the local library.

Ironically the next year the movie “Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins” came out which was a huge hit with a bunch of school buddies and me. I had to break it to them that the movie was based on a book series. None of these guys were eggheads like me, but they all immediately went to the library and checked out books for the first or second time in their lives. So in my opinion sex and violence is good for promoting literacy in teenage boys.

No I’m not 13 any more. And this book was half-baked. I didn’t know why Remo was going to this place and I didn’t understand why the people who were there were part of this supposedly sophisticated old folks community/think tank. It never really held together. So I’m not sure if this early book wasn’t as fun as the later books (as one reviewer mentioned) or if I’m just now a grown up who can’t enjoy childish things things anymore.

I’m going to have to try and find one of the later books where there was more banter between Remo and Chiun. Those were the most fun parts to read besides the sex parts. And I’ll have to see if my 13 year old son will watch the movie with me. He’s probably more sophisticated than me and will hate it.

[Glen Engel-Cox · Rating 2 out of 5]

The second in the Destroyer action-adventure pulp series about Remo Williams and his Korean tutor Chiun. This is still early in the series (although the time between the first book and this one seems to be around a decade), before Murphy and Sapir realized that Chiun was the more interesting character, so this one is a bit dull as Chiun only appears as a thought in Remo’s head, although there’s one good “Korean proverb”: Only rub your eye with your elbow.

The plot is standard fare allowing the authors to comment on nazism (bad), women who tease (bad), academics without any common sense (bad), and think tanks that receive government funding (bad). Remo, for all his superhuman abilities, makes several mistakes, supposedly because the government has kept him at peak readiness. That, of course, enables the book to have points of interest as the reader tries to determine if Remo can extricate himself from this situation. Of course he does; there’s another 148 books (as this writing) that he stars in.

I’m reading these as an exploration of how a particular kind of thriller/pulp is written, analyzing the plot points against Lester Dent’s formula and other pulp patterns. What was interesting here is how often Murphy and Sapir tell you something is going to happen, typically at the end of a chapter. You’d think that would remove the tension, but it actually heightens it as you wonder exactly how that is going to occur. A nice trick.

[Andy Rausch · Rating 4 out of 5]

The pieces are starting to gel here in the second book. Not knowing the series would end up with more than 150 books in all, authors Murphy and Sapir decided to skip ahead and make this story take place 8 years after the first. (Not that the characters will ever really age much, so I guess it doesn't matter. And the jump does fix a problem from the first book, which is Remo having an adequate amount of training.) Remo and Chiun still don't reside together at this point, and in this story Chiun is only present when Remo visits him in his mind.

The plot isn't the best of them, but it's immensely better than the plot of the first book in the series. Here, Remo is sent out to investigate a think tank that is hatching a plan to take over the world. It's a decent book as far as Destroyer books to go and it gives us the chance to see Remo almost fall in love and also kill a man with a chess piece. This is also the first Destroyer book to deal with Nazis (there will be a few more, such as Return Engagement to come).

[Holly Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm going to have to toss this book away there are pages missing which I didn't realize. But over all it's a quick read and if you disengage your thinking mind and just go with the story it is a lighter take on extraordinary abilities of a killing machine Remo Williams who is the top agent for the secret government agency CURE and there is nothing he won't do and no where he won't go if and when he is asked. This time Virginia to a scientific think tank where they have formed a plan for world domination they must be killed or protected which is Remo's choice to make when he gets there. Different but a quick read at 187 pages

[Paul Baumeister · Rating 5 out of 5]

Old classic revisited

I used to read a lot of the action books that were coming out back in the 70’s, most notably The Destroyer & Don Pendleton’s The Executioner. It was great to go back to check up on Remo, & find that not only were these good action reads, but actually damn good, well written action reads. Looking forward to working my way through the series, to catch all the books I missed back then.

[Christopher Rush]

Though the cover price indicates this is a twelve-and-one-half dime novel, I did in fact pay one dime for it (in 2017 dimes, that was basically a cover-price ha-penny) to support the Habitat for Humanity. There's not much else to say about this. It's pretty raw at times. Gritty, if you will. Sort of like a Westerosi James Bond, perhaps. But I bought it for a good cause, so it's okay.

[Felix · Rating 4 out of 5]

The adventures of Remo Williams continues. The book was funny but nothing new about Remo's development. It did mention something about him being at peak for too long and needed Chiun's help to get back to normal. As usual, there were lots of funny anecdotes and turn of phrases from the authors. Some of Remo's comments, just cracked me up.

Book is short and easy to read, a fun read!

[KDawn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sadly, very, very dated. I don't understand the genre (this is not the only one) whose author thinks a woman falls in love with someone after an hour of talking to them. It's terribly unrealistic. Awfully brutal and crass in several ways. I just did not enjoy this book at all. I had to reread sections because it was hard to read. Just...meh.

[Elizabeth Rebecca Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay action book about Remo Williams. He is definitely not woman friendly in this one. He infiltrates a think tank and takes on an ex-Nazi and his depraved daughter. Of course everything works out in the end.

[Tom Fredricks · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the 2nd book of this series Remo (our protagonist) puts various smug acedemics in their place using moxy and mystical martial arts training. Enjoy it for the ride, the plot in this one turns out to be a bit thin.

[D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as strong as the first novel, but still an entertaining adventure novel. It's a time capsule from another era -- basically a "grindhouse" thriller in paperback form. If that sounds like something you'd like, you'll definitely dig it. If not, stay far away.

[Mark James Wooding · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another very entertaining adventure. I wasn't going to read the third one for a while, but now I feel compelled to read it before moving on to a different world. I think I'll read the first five of this series before I read anything else.

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mission Murphy #2
The Destroyer #2
I read book #1 of this series many moons ago, but finally got around to hitting up book #2, full of action and well not much substance but ok for the genre of geezers action books popular in the 70's.

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read. Remo takes on a nazi cell in the US that is continuing their “research” using government grants.

[Pablo Snazzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

good pulp, fun.