Sole Survivor

The Destroyer #72

by Warren Murphy, Richard Sapir

The Russians who invented it called it the Sword of Damocles-a device that silently sterilized men and women alike. And now the Sword was in the worst possible hands-the out of whack android named Mr Gordons that had returned from outer space to wreak revenge on those who had sent it there. Remo. Chiun. And the entire U S population. America was heading for a fate worse than death unless Remo, Chium and an untrustworthy, supersexy Soviet superspy could defeat this cybernaut chameleon that could destroy and attack with ease.

Genres: Adventure

222 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 5, 1988

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 3 out of 5]

Mr. Gordons is back in the 72nd Destroyer novel. Mr. Gordons is the survival machine who first appeared in Funny Money (book 18). In his last appearance, Remo thought he’d gotten rid of the android for good when it was launched into outer space, but at the beginning of this novel, Mr. Gordon makes contact with a Russian shuttle in orbit and assimilates it, killing the crew and bringing it back to earth.

It takes a long time for Remo and Chiun to discover that Mr. Gordons is the root of their problems. For most of the book, it appears to them that the difficulty is the missing shuttle and Russia’s unhappiness about it landing in the U.S. The Russians are most concerned because they had put a doomsday device that could sterilize all of America onto the shuttle and they don’t want it falling into America’s hands. To this end they send their top spy Anna Chutesov to locate and retrieve it. Anna is one of the only people with knowledge of CURE and has always been extremely competent. She and Remo also have a history that is obviously going to be complicated by Remo’s engagement to Sinanju villager, Mei Li.

This is a fun one. Mr. Gordons is a serious opponent—difficult to locate and nearly impossible to destroy. But then, that’s part of the fun. We know Remo and Chiun will triumph by the end of the novel. The question is how will Mr. Gordons escape to trouble them another day.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating 3.5

A quick entertaining read in this series.
One of the better stories that features the return of a very hard to kill enemy Mr Gordons and also the return of a Russia agent Anna.
Own of them survives the story and one doesn’t, no prizes for guessing which one.

Definite recommendation for this one .

[Jeff J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

#72 in the Destroyer series. An invader from space arrives with a doomsday weapon. Chiun has a driving lesson. 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. This issue tells of the team's 4th encounter with Mr. Gordons the killer android. Recommended