Fool's Gold

The Destroyer #52

by Warren Murphy, Richard Sapir

Remo and Chiun are sent to South America to safeguard a hidden cache of gold recently revealed by an ancient inscription on an archaeological find

Genres: Pulp, Adventure, Thriller, Action

245 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 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

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best Destroyer novel in several books. Chiun and Remo look like the master ultra-human assassins they are and they have a mission which shows off their skills nicely. The main plot revolves around an ancient plaque inscribed with the writing of a lost South American kingdom of traders that is found in a cave in the U.S. and tells of a mountain of gold hidden somewhere. The world is instantly interested and Remo and Chiun get the job of guarding the U.S.’s expert in the language as she tries to decipher the texts. A rival house of assassins is trying to get their hands on the woman so their employer can find the treasure, so Remo and Chiun have their work cut out for them. And that’s where this book shines the brightest. As one would expect from the Master of Sinanju and his apprentice, Remo and Chiun are never really worried about their rivals—only about whether they can keep their charge alive.

There’s also a subplot revolving around the CURE computers getting dumped into the computer of a Hollywood screen writer. The subplot was ridiculous, but gave Harold Smith something to do while Remo and Chiun were on their mission, and gave Murphy a chance to satirize Hollywood again.

This one is just loads of fun.

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

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating 3

An enjoyable entry in the series I think.
It was nice to have the banter back between Remo and Chiun which was missing from previous novels.
It did repeat some of the previous story ideas featuring another very old house of assassins coming into conflict with Sinanju but was still worked well.
The 2 plots running in the book, even though they were both fairly minor, were self contained and fun to go read.
The loss of CURE’s computer records plot was purely based around Smith which made for an interesting storyline. The ‘main’ storyline was essentially a world wide treasure hunt which again although slight did allow for some very good banter between the two lead characters.

Overall a solid recommendation.

[Marko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fun Remo/Chiun story with a plot that takes the heroes all around the world. The end twist is a bit easy to guess, however, as Chiun's comments give it away relatively early. Still, Remo stumbles along as blind as ever until the final moments.

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

#52 in the Destroyer series. Rumprs of a mountain of gold. Much chaos ensues.

[Eddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Satire at its best fun. No one is safe.

[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 recent archaeological find could lead to a mountain of gold and CURE must protect it. Recommended

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trvial, but a fun read with some nice jokes about Bond, James Bond ;-).

Reread
I actually liked this, despite the usual sexism and racism threwn into the mix. It is always amusing when highly competent killers are running up against the house of Sinanju.

[colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

read 02.05.85