Review: Brain Drain by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir

Destroyer 22 Brain Drain by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir

This novel opens with a horrific multiple murder in which terrible things have been done to the victims’ bodies. The crime was carried out by recurring Destroyer foe Mr. Gordons on his perpetual quest to become more creative and destroy Remo and Chiun as the major threats to his long-term survival. Mr. Gordons is a great opponent. He doesn’t think the way we do and his mechanical nature makes him a particularly difficult foe for Remo and Chiun. Perversely, he also (in my opinion) proves to be quite creative in the ways in which he goes after Remo and Chiun—even if no one in the novel admits it. (And humorously, it’s uncreative Harold Smith who finds himself most in sync with uncreative Mr. Gordons.)

 

This isn’t one of the better Destroyer novels. It struck me as being slower moving than most books in the series so far, but it’s fun to see Mr. Gordons and it was an utter delight to watch Chiun get starstruck when he gets to meet his favorite soap opera actor, Rad Rex. And even if this wasn’t my second time through the series, it would be difficult to imagine that the threat of Mr. Gordons is actually ended at the end of the book.