Unite and Conquer

The Destroyer #102

by Warren Murphy (Series Creator), Richard Sapir (Series Creator), Will Murray

Investigating demonic activities in South America, Remo and Chiun find themselves battling a guerrilla army of Aztec Indians and inhuman demons led by the god-figures of ancient Mexico, with only the avatar of Shiva the Destroyer to protect them.

Genres: Fiction, Action

346 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1996

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)]

Absurdist fun
3.25/5

[Tom]

I wasn't overly impressed by the Destroyer novel from the early 70s, so, in the interest of fairness, I thought I might skip ahead to the mid 90s and see how things had progressed in the intervening ~100 books. It takes a rough start with our "hero" indiscriminately murdering squatters in an abandoned building. It's also played for laughs? I think? The series had a somewhat comedic tone before, and it's trying to play that up even more, here, but subject matter makes for a dramatically unfunny scene.

The comedy does succeed later when the novel transitions to a parody of The Executioner series as it follows an ageless soldier/spy/mercenary who goes by the name The Extinguisher who's hot on the trail of an Aztec deity cutting a swath of destruction across Mexico. I guess the series has also embraced the supernatural? Both of these aspects seemed tailored directly to my interests, and as a whole, the novel is anything but forgettable. I will definitely consider popping in on the series again at some point. Still have 4 or 5 other entries sitting on the to-read shelf.

[Alan]

Rating 2.5/3

Average entry in the series for me.
Some on the nose and at times humorous savaging of the violent, gun proselytism , right wing USA might is right ‘mens action adventure novels’ from 1970’s - early 2000’s
Return of Mr Friend …. Again!
Overall okay but nothing really stands out and a forgettable story

[Colin Hopper]

Trouble in Mexico

Another humours read, and old foe, a son reunited, the standard fare, full of satire and excitement. A great read.

[Zeynab Murad]

I wish books like these would be written nowadays too…

[Jeff J.]

#102 in the Destroyer series. Demons in Mexico. Much chaos ensues.

[Jerry Owens]

Love this series. Lots of action, well written, and funny...at times.

[Rick Bywalski]

A fun book and everyone’s favorite survival android is back.

[Little Timmy]

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. With our neighbor to the south on the verge of revolution, CURE feels it best for the interest of the U.S. to settle things down. Remo and Chiun find their mission to Mexico complicated, however, when a violent earthquake shakes the land and suddenly rumors of gods and demons walking the land start to spread. Recommended

[Ralph McEwen]

Good action. Well read with very distinct chacter vocalizations.

[William Cameron]

Good book. I think Molly wrote this one.