Balance of Power

The Destroyer #44

by Warren Murphy (Series Creator), Richard Sapir (Series Creator), Molly Cochran

Remo and Chiun track down ex-CIA agent and hired assassin Barney Daniels to learn his secrets concerning the Russians, the tropical jungles of Hispania and threatening high-powered missiles

Genres: Adventure, Action, Pulp

Paperback

Published January 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

[hotsake (André Troesch) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5
This book is very hard to rate. As a pulp adventure novel, it's pretty good and would rate 4 stars but as a Destroyer novel, it completely fails as Remo and Chuin had cameos in their own book and barely had a chance to do anything at all. I was left frustrated and disappointed even with the good story and that isn't a fun way to read.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best thing about this weak Destroyer novel is the foreword by Warren Murphy in which he gives some insights into his partnership with Richard Sapir in writing the books and sort of explains why Sapir has disappeared from the covers. Sapir then writes his own forward which I hope was meant to be humorous but makes him look insane.

The story is not actually much of a Destroyer novel. It’s really about an aging CIA man named Barney Daniels who has lost himself in a bottle and is both outing the CIA and killing people. Much of the novel is dedicated to finding out how Barney got this way and seeing if he can pull himself back together. I suppose it was an okay story, but it wasn’t what I look for in a Destroyer novel.

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

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating 3

Change of writer again for this series.
I guess when I was younger and first reading this series the variable quality of story, on-off humour and inconsistent skill sets of temp/chuin passed me by.
This was not the worst of the first 44 books but it is definitely not in the top 10 either. The regulars appear to be guests in their own story and although the story sort of worked as a early 1980’s action thriller it was not a Destroyer novel.
The best I could say it that it was okay nothing more.

[Marko · Rating 3 out of 5]

A return to form for the series. Although the story focusses less on Remo and Chiun and more on a drunken man who's lost his memory, the story offers enough twists and turns to keep it interesting. Remo and Chiun are more like supporting cast in this one, though, so it may not be everyone's favourite. But the story is strong.

[Beorn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an unusual story. All these are fun reads, but this had a little something extra because it felt like the main character was not Remo. I don't want to give any spoilers, but I'm giving it an extra star.

[Jeff J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

#44 in the Destroyer series. Remo and Chiun play supporting roles in a tale about a rogue CIA officer. Regardless, much chaos ensues.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A weird detour in the Remo Williams universe, with not a lot of Remo and even less Chiun. Instead this is largely about to a random CIA agent who goes native, has his life destroyed and then returns for (justified) vengeance. Which is OK, I guess. If I were Murphy, I'd be pretty bored writing about Remo by book 44 also.

Standard ludicrous plot (sneak nuclear attack on Washington because....why?), and significant and extremely uncomfortable racism. These are still an interesting insight into deeply conservative American minds, though.

[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 CIA agent has begun to tell all the secrets he knows and Remo is sent to deal with him. Recommended

[WonderGoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better Destroyer novels. It shows its age, but still a fun read.

[colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

read 07.19.84