Death Therapy

The Destroyer #6

by Warren Murphy

Men and women in key government positions are being influenced. Controlled. Made to act in ways completely contrary to their nature, and to the interests of the nation. And they do so happily, humming a merry tune, all the way to their death. If anyone in the corridors of power can be made to dance to a puppet master's tune, American foreign policy will be for sale to the highest bidder.

When the president can trust no one else—because everyone is suspect, everyone is vulnerable—he reaches for a very special telephone and asks for "that person" to be activated. That person is Remo Williams.

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

172 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

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the sixth Destroyer novel, the authors satirize group therapy and it’s all rather funny. Someone has put the United States government up for sale. To prove that they can pay the goods, they have a nuclear bomb (that does not explode) dropped on St. Louis. The pilot then ejects from his plane without a parachute humming a strange song as he happily falls to the earth. CURE is able to connect that individual to a high-priced residential therapy clinic and send in Remo and Chiun to find out if there is a connection to the coming auction for the United States. The resulting therapy sessions created the most light-hearted atmosphere in a Destroyer novel yet. There’s still plenty of action, but the satire that will dominate the later novels is very much in evidence here. Overall, this one is a lot of good fun.

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

[George Hanline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Either you love em or hate them

To me this book along with most all of the other Destroyer books that I've had the good fortune to read is what a good action, adventure should be .Unfortunately is seems that most people either love them or hate them with no middle ground.

[S. Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Death Therapy, Remo and Chiun are launched into a race against time to find out who is auctioning off control of the U.S. government to the highest foreign bidder, and how they are influencing high-ranking government officials into acts of destructive suicide, eventually leading them to mental health facility run by yet another Femme Fatale.

My copy of Death Therapy includes a strange forward by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir written in 1984, in which they make a vague apology about how not all of the kills in the book "deserve termination with extreme prejudice" (I assume because Remo kills a Navy frogman just following orders, oh my), and another vague reference to a recent television show stealing the idea in this book, the latter of which is weird considering that nothing in this novel's plot is overwhelmingly original or new.

Once again Nixon is assumed to still be president based on the time the book was written, but no contextual hints are dropped like in the previous novels. This could be due to them considering the longevity of the series now that it was becoming a solid series, but as I recall from later books in the series I have read, this does not remain the case.

Pretty standard poor-man's espionage story in this one, with a lone Bond-type villain threatening the security of America. Healthy doses of patriotic xenophobia scattered throughout, and a couple of underwhelming twists to keep the plot moving along.

HIS NAME WAS REMO: "HIS NAME WAS REMO and when he stepped up to the first tee of the Silver Creek Country Club in Miami Beach, he was mad."

THE BAD GUY: Just like Dr. Quake, the Bond-type villain behind the auctioning off of American powers is fronted by a ridiculously beautiful femme fatale (although this time just one) that rouses Remo's libido. The secret identity of the main heavy is predictable but not blatantly obvious, so I'll leave that name unspoiled in this review. The gorgeous patsy in this case is Dr. Lithia Forrester, head of the Human Awareness Laboratories (HAL, intentional?), a high-profile mental health facility that includes powerful government officials as its customer base. Using her feminine charms and psychiatric know-how, Dr. Forrester coordinates Manchurian Candidate styled acts of terrorism triggered by a Disney film song (like I said, not exactly a new concept). This falls right into another Destroyer series staple, highlighting progressive or new-age movements of the time period as absurd and-or exploitative, and raises one of the weird contradictions found in some of these earlier novels; the theme and tone of the book obviously leans towards a conservative readership, yet there are always one or two more liberal moments that strive to dispel stereotypes that are unflinchingly reinforced in other sections.

REMO & CURE: Remo starts this book disillusioned with his roll as American assassin (again), and threatens to quit CURE, but is pulled back in when Smith appeals to his compassion for the other innocent patriots killed because of their proximity to the criminal plot.

REMO & CHIUN: Chiun is dragged away from his soap operas to join Remo undercover at the Human Awareness Laboratories due to his crippling of a celebrity boxer in the hotel restaurant, and Chiun really gets into the group therapy interactions while Remo gets down to business. It's a warmer and more humanized Chiun that appears in this book, even though it is also the first time Chiun tells his racist story of how God made Koreans.

SINANJU Wisdom: "We are weaker than the buffalo and slower than the horse. Our nails are not so sharp as the lion's. But where we walk, we rule."

REMO’S LADIES: Sex plays a major role in Death Therapy, but the authors always manage to put a different twist on the sexy stuff. Dr. Lithia Forrester isn't much different from other Femme Fatales in the series in that she uses sex to manipulate others, except that she hypnotizes her "victims" to believe they actually had sex. Ironically, the main villain uses her sexual desires for them to manipulate the cuckolding dominatrix to do his bidding. On top of that, everyone involved in these sexual escapades makes it a point of accusing the other of not being "good in bed." Beyond all of that wackiness, Remo only has sex with Forrester (she's bad at it), although he also sexually interrogates Forrester's hot secretary.

BODY COUNT: Remo only racks up 7 kills in Death Therapy: 3 special forces assassins on a golf course, a General killed in his sleep, one unfortunate Navy frogman, and our two main baddies.

Chiun only gets 3 confirmed kills this time, as he takes out three FBI agents foolish enough to interrupt his soap operas.

Once again, the vague apology in the forward seems to be for having Remo kill U.S. military and government agents who are used by the main villain yet not complicit in the plot, but it's a weird thing to apologize for when you are writing about a professional assassin and international espionage. Whether it's actual writer's remorse or an attempt to answer complaints from a growing conservative readership is beyond me, but I find it interesting.

Overall, Death Sentence is a very standard Destroyer novel, and signals that the series is settling down into a soon to be familiar pattern.

[Tom · Rating 1 out of 5]

The genre of 70s men's action fiction is far from the most progressive, and many times the most interesting features of these books will be the historical context in which they were written and the interests and sensibilities of their intended audience. This specific book stretches the ability of the modern reader to maintain objectivity. The racial content in particular is pretty egregious. I think if you're looking for throwback espionage adventures, you're better served by the average Nick Carter or James Bond (of course) novel. Not to say that those don't have their share of objectionable content by the modern standards, but this book felt particularly antagonistic.

[Andy Rausch · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a weak last outing with Dr. Quake, Murphy and Sapir rebound nicely with the sixth entry in the series. (Again, if you're counting, this was their fifth book of 1972!) This time out, Remo's mission is to find out who is trying to sell control of the United States government, and stop them. The perpetrator has managed to gain control by drugging and hypnotizing high-ranking government employees and making them do dastardly things such as bombing St. Louis in an airstrike and trying to destroy the Statue of Liberty. Interestingly, these things accomplished by making the subjects (through drugs and post-hypnotic suggestion) hum the song “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” from the film Mary Poppins before carrying out these acts.

After having found a successful formula with the previous book's twin sister sex bomb baddies, the authors go this route again. This time out, the evildoer is a sexy psychiatrist (whom we are told repeatedly is the most beautiful woman any man in the book has ever seen). Because all of the male characters (aside from Remo, of course) only think with their dicks, she is able to use her wiles to bed (and then lull into her control) the government employees.

This is a solid entry in the Destroyer series. It doesn't break a lot of new ground, but it does all the things a reader wants such a book to do.

One interesting flub to note is that Smith is erroneously referred to as Harold K. Smith (rather than Harold W. Smith) throughout most editions of the book.

[Bryan457 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A plan to sell control of the US government to the highest bidder is discovered. CURE is also discovered when a phone security man finds a scrambler phone to Folcroft. Remo is sent to discover who is behind the plot and find out who knows what about CURE.

Good book. The story moves along at a good pace. Remo and Chiun really work together well. I think this is the last one that has the whole “peak” nonsense.

Favorite tidbits: Chiun beats up heavyweight contender Ali baba whatever his name is.

Warning, sex and graphic gory violence.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the ending of this novel. The whole book is the typical fun and enjoyable Destroyer type story. Thumbs up!

[Suresh Vijendran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though it went predictably. This was one of the best of this series, that I have read so far.

[Miralinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Как ни странно продолжает затягивать эта серия. не могу понять, в чем её прелесть, но читаю с огромным удовольствием, правда разбавляя слэшем.

[Glen Engel-Cox · Rating 2 out of 5]

The sixth installment of the Destroyer series improves somewhat over the last, but not by much. Like the last, one of Remo’s antagonists in this book is a woman whose sexual attraction is superhuman; in this case, she uses it to lure in government employees who she then hypnotizes to await her call as a sleeper agent a la The Manchurian Candidate. The “mystery” here, however, is whom she works for. Of course, these pulp adventure novels are not really mysteries, so it doesn’t take long to discover who the mastermind is.

What’s interesting about this book, written in the early 70s, is its depiction of a black man who has worked hard for his education, gained a PhD, and become one of the US’s top atomic scientists. But he has a breakdown after a traffic stop when he realizes that none of that matters to your average cop: to them, he’s just the color of his skin. Fifty years later, and it’s still a goddamn thing. Given that the readers of this series at the time were likely white conservative men, I applaud Murphy and Sapir for including this.

The other nice bit here is the ending where Remo confronts the US president to determine if he’s been made a sleeper agent. The series hinges on the idea that Remo’s organization is outside the US government, although its mission is to protect the constitution. This ending is a perfect illustration of what the authors mean by that, showing that even though the president knows about CURE, he’s not above it. Which, of course, means that the three at the top of CURE are beholden only to the mission. Who watches these watchmen? I suspect somewhere in this series, Murphy and Sapir will explore that question.

[A. Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has one big spoiler.

As always, it's the villainess characters that I go to these books for (no matter how incidental they might be to some readers), including the big showdown with each one, and the Lithia character is one of the best villainesses when it comes to both things.
As Andy Rausch says, Remo is the one male character who can think clearly when it comes to her, but the story also has it both ways - as with "Jacki and Jill" in the previous book, he "enjoys" her thoroughly (this time without the book even CLAIMING that he doesn't, a subject that wears thin in some other entries), then gets rid of her pretty brutally, this time in the same scene (!).
Unlike others who don't hate Destroyer books, I never go in for the political stuff in them, or most of the other topical stuff, but they usually get things just right with the femme fatales!

[World's Okayest Brother · Rating 1 out of 5]

My second Destroyer book after Dr. Quake, and similarly stinky.

I feel like these guys enjoy building up progressive strawmen too much—which stands to reason, I guess—and the progress from Dr. Quake's villains being Vietnam War protesters to Death Therapy's villain being an aggrieved Black scientist is hard to miss. I feel like the entire backstory informing these characters is only there to allow the authors to drop the N-bomb a few times.

The best scene in the book, by far, is when Remo gives a speech about how the winner of the auction for control of the government is the United States of America. That shit was so wild I had to show it to my wife, who responded by spontaneously combusting.

[Josh Hitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are satires of Men's Adventure books that at the time were very popular. Knowing what you are getting into this wasnt bad, was actually fun in parts. This is my third of these earlier number ones and this is by far the best one. There was actually a plot and a conclusion that made sense based on what this series is anyway.

Like all of these it's hard to recommend, it can be humorous and from my experience it's a good example of this series. However I assume the audience for them now anyway would be slim. Though if you enjoy Men's Adventure novels of the 70s and 80s then you might like a book which copies the plots but plays them for humor.

[D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

By the time you hit the 6th book of this series, published in 1972, you pretty much know what to expect: a good dose of "tough guy" action, some very, very un-PC characters and situations, and a lot of satire on politics and social issues. DEATH THERAPY sees Remo struggling against an antagonist that seeks to auction off the United States government to the highest bidder, while trying to figure out how they are going to make it happen.

Yes, it's dated, and yes, there's sections that might make a modern reader cringe a bit, but these novels are great fun, and surprisingly strong satire.

[Sonus Wellstar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series of books is a great bedtime read for me. Fast paced with shortish chapters-that still remain fairly linear-and I go through them about once a week. 'Death Therapy' has been my least favorite so far. It wants to be a 'whodunit?', but doesn't introduce enough characters for suspense. Kinda like a 'Matlock' episode (you know Andy and his daughter and the regulars are innocent, so that just leaves the special guest star that didn't get murdered). These books are great when it's Remo v. Bad Guy-ass whuppin' abounds, and this book did have that. The 'twist' just felt superfluous and weak.

[Damon Henrichs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Middle of the road mindless fun.

[Vincent Stoneking · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s Remo Williams, Remo Williamsing. What else is there to say?

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

#6 in the Destroyer series. Remo and Chiun uncover a plot to auction off the US Government. Much chaos ensues.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious.

The saga continues as Remo and Chiun deal with yet another problem for the US. I can’t wait to start the next one!

[ShanDizzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

CURE, founded years before when the clouds of chaos and anarchy hung over the American future, was simply an admission that the United States Constitution did not work. The man who made that admission was the POTUS. The war against crime was being lost. Crime was growing. Chaos was growing. America would soon go under or become a police state. A young President made a choice. He could not let the nation's law enforcement armies run wild and so he created an extra-legal force to fight crime. He created CURE. So that no succeeding President could extend his powers through this extra-legal force, the contract stipulated that the President could issue only one order: disband. Everything else was a request. And so the CURE would not itself become too powerful, it was limited to only one man who could use force. That man had been picked wisely. He had been a normal human being who, CURE had decided, could die without being missed. So in a public electrocution, after a neat, all-ends-tied-tightly frameup, the young Newark policeman was electrocuted, but survived and awoke to become CURE's only weapon: The Destroyer. Remo Willams.

[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 these 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.

[George K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Θανάσιμη μελωδία", εκδόσεις ΒΙΠΕΡ.

Βαθμολογία: 7/10

Από χρονολογικής απόψεως είναι το έκτο βιβλίο της σειράς, πλέον με αυτό έχω διαβάσει τα έντεκα πρώτα βιβλία. Από δω και πέρα, δηλαδή, θα τα διαβάσω με την σειρά που εκδόθηκαν.

Η ιστορία είναι αρκετά απλή: Μια πανέμορφη και πανέξυπνη ψυχίατρος, η Δρ. Λίθια Φόρεστερ, έχει καταστρώσει ένα διαβολικό σχέδιο: Χρησιμοποιώντας τις ψυχιατρικές και υπνωτιστικές μεθόδους της με σκοπό να ελέγξει τους πελάτες της που είναι ανώτεροι κυβερνητικοί και στρατιωτικοί υπάλληλοι, βγάζει στην φόρα διάφορα κυβερνητικά μυστικά, κάνει διάφορες δολιοφθορές, με απώτερο στόχο να πείσει ξένες κυβερνήσεις να αγοράσουν, έναντι χρυσού, υπηρεσίες της Αμερικάνικης κυβέρνησης! Ο Εξολοθρευτής, η υπηρεσία του οποίου αποκαλύφθηκε ως ένα βαθμό, καλείται να βγάλει το φίδι από την τρύπα...

ΟΚ, όχι και το πιο πειστικό σενάριο, πολλές είναι οι παραδοχές που πρέπει να κάνει ο αναγνώστης για να πειστεί ως ένα βαθμό, όμως προσωπικά μου φάνηκε ενδιαφέρουσα και ευχάριστη ιστορία. Αλίμονο, είμαι λάτρης της σειράς! Κατά τ'άλλα, όλα τα καλούδια της σειράς τα συναντάει κανείς και σ'αυτό το βιβλίο: Τρελή δράση και ακόμα πιο τρελή πλοκή, απίθανες σκηνές βίας, εξαιρετική 70's ατμόσφαιρα, μπόλικο χιούμορ και έντονη σατιρική διάθεση απέναντι στους πάντες και τα πάντα. Η γραφή, κλασικά, πολύ καλή και μέσα στην ειρωνεία. Όχι το πιο δυνατό βιβλίο της σειράς, σίγουρα όμως στα γνωστά επίπεδα ψυχαγωγίας.

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 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. Someone is mind controlling the leaders of America and Remo and Chiun must stop them.

[Greg Studer]

This was, by far, the worst book I have ever (started) to read. It cost me 0.05p and 15 minutes of my life that I will never get back. The book is like sitting blindfolded in a terrible action movie while overhearing a 13 year old describing the poorly-executed special effects on a cell phone.

[Jeff Chase · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this entry in the Destroyer series. Figuring out who was behind the entire plot was didn't require a whole lot of brainpower, but it was a well-paced Remo book. I especially enjoyed how Remo tied up the loose ends at the end, double checking that everything was back in order.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mine has an older cover.

[Will Hudson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely not one of the best Destroyer books. You can tell they were still finding their way. I am hoping the next one is better, as I seem to remember it being a classic.

[Petrit Rugova · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was a very bad book and I do not think anybody should waste their time with this. If you do read it and not like it do not say that i did not warn you

[Steve H · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm really getting into these books now, fast paced, easy to read nonsense.
A decent little book when your brain requires little taxing.

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this hack series faithfully for years. Now I hear a movie (another move) is in the works. Not a bad read, And emojis a sympath tic character