Review: Voodoo Die by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir

Destroyer 33 Voodoo Die by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir

The plot of Voodoo Die is fairly weak. A fictitious Caribbean nation has discovered a new superweapon that disintegrates people and the nations of the world are trying to make a deal with them to obtain it. Their dictatorial leader is erratic at best and there is a parody of spies racing around trying to find the weapon and obtain it. In fact, just about every nation in the world has sent their spies except the U.S. because the CIA of Jimmy Carter’s Administration is so terrified of Congressional investigations that they don’t do their job anymore—at least not until Carter twists their arms and they agree to send a part-time untrained woman named Ruby Gonzalez to pacify the president.

 

Ruby is the highlight of the novel. She’s smart, practical, competent, and funny and her interactions with Remo and Chiun are often hilarious. She lifts a mediocre plot into something much better, and because she is going to appear in at least the next two novels, that is a very good thing.