The End of the Game

The Destroyer #60

by Warren Murphy

Bored billionaires can be dangerous. The mundane checks and balances that limit ordinary people’s actions don’t apply to them, and the unthinkable is an everyday possibility. What if one were to create a game in which unsuspecting participants earned points for random actions? Someone might be awarded five million points if World War III kicks off—five million points, five billion lives…is it worth it? Can Remo and a British agent track down the plutocratic puppetmaster, or will the unthinkable happen, bringing intercontinental ballistic death raining down from the skies? Ultimately, Smith may be forced into a sacrifice play, offering up Remo on the altar of the Constitution.

Remo Williams is The Destroyer, an all-American cop recruited—through highly unorthodox methods—into a secret government law-enforcement organization. Trained in the esoteric martial art of Sinanju by his aged Korean mentor, Chiun, Remo is America's last line of defense against mad scientists, organized crime, ancient undead gods, and anything else that threatens the Constitution. An action-adventure series leavened with social and political satire, the Destroyer novels have been thrilling readers worldwide for decades.

Genres: Thriller, Adventure, Action

205 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

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]

It doesn’t seem like it should, but this novel actually worked. The villain is a young genius game designer who is totally bored with life. The only enjoyment he gets is in manipulating people (or nations) into doing things out of character. He is ridiculously wealthy and he uses his money first to addict people to spending and then (with the threat of removing that money) to get them to do inappropriate (or even horrible) things. When he decides to end his boredom by getting the Soviets and the U.S. to launch their nuclear missiles at each other and start World War III, CURE becomes involved.

This is a very quick moving, very light-hearted, Destroyer adventure. The villain can never quite be taken seriously and the threats are never quite severe enough to make us genuinely worry about Remo, but the story works anyway.

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

[Mornblade Keltoislave · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with any Destroyer book, this was an easy read with an okay story. Destroyer books are always a fun read for me, and I like to throw one in between serious reads to let my brain rest up a bit.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating 3

A solid entry in the series I thought. Better than most .
Some good interactions between the main three characters.
Story itself was okay , downside being that it feels like the plot of CURE being discovered/files stolen/or something has been used quite a few times now and is becoming an unwelcome trope.
Still a definite recommendation though.

[Sheldon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A typical Destoyer novel. Lots of blood and satire.

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

#60 in the Destroyer series. A computer wizard schemes to incite a nuclear war. Much chaos ensues.

[Theophilus (Theo) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes I like to read something rough and tumble, like the "Executioner" series by Don Pendleton. Warren Murphy's The Destroyer series is right up there for really inventive violence, a real anti-hero, and an Asian martial arts masterwho believes "assassin" is as good of a career path as any other. In this volume, an insane video game designer, and his psycho girlfriend, are out to design the ultimate game at the end of which they will destroy the world. However they encounter Master Chiun and his disciple Remo Williams, who are just as violent, but on the side of saving the world. A really good story. By the way Hollywood, I'm still waiting for the rest of the adventure (Remo Williams, the Adventure Begins was a movie treatment of this series, but only one was made. Read it one weekend. It's cheaper than a movie and better than most.

[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. Abner Buell is a genius. Not only can he play video games better than anyone, he can create them well enough to make billions and acquire a sizable following. When he uses his game creations to turn men into killers and women in sultry wantons, CURE takes action. Recommended

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

more of the same. Good.