Review: Destroyer 3 Chinese Puzzle by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir

Destroyer 3 Chinese Puzzle by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir

In the third Destroyer novel Murphy and Sapir finally began to figure out the magic that would make the series work. Chiun travels with Remo through the whole book and their back-and-forth banter brings some wonderful levity to the novel. Plus we learn important things about Remo and Chiun. Remo is a patriot (a change from Chiun’s initial assessment of him) and while Remo is becoming brilliant in the practice of Sinanju (sun source of all martial arts) he is actually not very intelligent. Oh, and Remo really enjoys teasing his boss, Harold Smith.

 

For his part, Chiun, gets his first serious development. He loves American soap operas (and the occasional updates on what is happening in his favorite television show are always hilarious). We also learn that Chiun really hates everyone with the possible exception of Remo. (This comes off at racism at first, until it becomes clear that it’s more akin to universal misanthropy.) Chiun can also be as temperamental as a child, which always causes additional problems for Remo—because this child can kill with a single finger and has no compunction against doing so.

 

The authors also recognize (perhaps after their experience with Death Check) that there is a lot of room for satire in this series. Sometimes this comes off as stereotyping, but it’s really satire. And while the satire is rarely sophisticated, it is almost always fun.