Angry White Mailmen

The Destroyer #104

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

When disgruntled postal employees launch a series of federal bombings and random massacres, Remo and Chiun are sent to root out the cause and learn that a deadly master plan that targets middle America is already in the works. Original.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Action

352 pages, Paperback

First published September 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

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Usually for this series, I'll say something along the lines of "you couldn't write this today," but this is one of those interesting circumstances where you probably couldn't have written this just a handful of years after its publication. At the center of our plot, Islamic extremists infiltrate the US postal system and carry out a string of bombings that bring the nation to its knees. Because it's the Destroyer, it's all played for laughs along with direct parodies of various pop culture and political personalities like Hillary Clinton, Newt Gingrich, etc. I assume this was inspired by a combination of the original World Trade Center bombing in 1993 and the Unibomber.

If you're thinking of reading one of these, this probably wouldn't be the one I'd recommend. It's alright, but doesn't come together quite as well as some of the other books from this era of the series.

[hotsake (André Troesch) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Inanely stupid and childish and that is not praise.
2/5

[The Murderist · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Good: There are some genuinely funny moments of dialogue. The absurdist take on the action genre provides some inspired moments (this is true of the whole Destroyer series).

The Bad: The book is blatantly racist, sexist, and extremely critical of Islam; rather than being satirical, these moments tend to be cringe-inducing. The first third of the book seems to be the ending of the previous book. The plot is meandering and improbable (and not in a good, absurdist fashion).

The Ugly: Though there was no way the author could have known this at the time, any book (especially one played for laughs) that features an attack on the World Trade Center comes off quite badly. The plot already takes a fairly crass attitude towards the OKC and first WTC bombings, but having the climax of the book involve Islamic radicals impacting a vehicle into the World Trade Center leaves a bad taste.

[Colin Hopper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another High Camp adventure

Another funny high camp adventure full of intrigue and humorous escapes, well written, Remo and Chiun save the day again, the Post office workers have gone a Postal.

[Jeff J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

#104 in the Destroyer series. A terrorist cell infiltrates the postal service. 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. The title seems to say it all. The postal workers are up in arms and some of them are using those arms to strike out. Soon no one wants near a postal employee and the mail comes to a sudden halt. Remo and Chiun are sent by CURE to find out who has got the employees into such a lather. Recommended