Inside Sinanju by Richard Sapier and Warren Murphy

Inside Sinanju by Richard Sapier and Warren Murphy

This quick guide to the Destroyer series doesn’t really offer very much other than a great novella reviewing the events of Remo’s training in the first book from the perspective of his trainer, Chiun. When Sapier and Murphy wrote Created, the Destroyer, they did not yet have a full understanding of what Sinanju was. (Let’s be honest, they probably didn’t have even a basic understanding of it.) This retcon permitted them to tweak the origin story to fit in to the understanding developed later in the series and by itself it is worth the price of admission.

 

There are also a bunch of throw-ins such as a list of major villains, snippets about the main cast, and a tongue-in-cheek addressing of some of the issues that have come up in the series. The one thing I found most interesting was Warren Murphy’s list of his ten favorite Destroyer novels and why he felt that way. In a couple of cases I strongly disagreed with him, but his reasoning interested me.

 

Here's Murphy’s top ten with the number of stars I gave the same books:

1. Chinese Puzzle ****

2. Union Bust ****

3. Judgment Day *****

4. Assassin’s Playoff ***

5. Funny Money ****

6. In Enemy Hands ***

7. Mugger Blood *

8. Killer Chromosomes *****

9. Firing Line ****

10. Profit Motive **