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The Destroyer #1
Created, The Destroyer
When you're on death row, minutes from the electric chair, and a hook-handed monk offers to save your life if you'll just swallow a simple little pill... what've you got to lose? You take the pill. Then you wake up, officially "dead," in the back of an ambulance, headed for an undisclosed location. Welcome to your new life, working for CURE, the most secret, most deniable, most extra-judicial government agency ever to exist. Only the President knows about it, and even he doesn't control it.
That's what happened to Remo Williams, a New Jersey cop framed for a murder he didn't commit. Framed by the very people who saved him, in fact. And now, trained in esoteric martial arts by Chiun, master of Sinanju, he's going to become the ultimate killing machine. Remo will be America's last line of defense against mad scientists, organized crime, ancient undead gods, and anything else that threatens the Constitution. Remo Williams is the Destroyer.
An action-adventure series leavened with social and political satire, the Destroyer novels have been thrilling readers worldwide for decades.
That's what happened to Remo Williams, a New Jersey cop framed for a murder he didn't commit. Framed by the very people who saved him, in fact. And now, trained in esoteric martial arts by Chiun, master of Sinanju, he's going to become the ultimate killing machine. Remo will be America's last line of defense against mad scientists, organized crime, ancient undead gods, and anything else that threatens the Constitution. Remo Williams is the Destroyer.
An action-adventure series leavened with social and political satire, the Destroyer novels have been thrilling readers worldwide for decades.
187 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1971
About the author
Warren Murphy
361 books113 followersWarren 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.
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.
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August 25, 2020
Back in the 1970s I was fond of what were then usually called "Men's Adventure Books". Today I suppose that would be considered Politically Incorrect. However I did enjoy them at the time...no apologies here I also like double cheeseburgers, french fries and chocolate malts...not to mention the occasional beer.
Oh, and Coca-Cola, I love Coca-Cola...my one true addiction.
Of late my attention has been drawn back to these old treasures of violent yet simplistic action by a younger friend here on Goodreads who has discovered them (thank you Frankie).
These books (and here we're talking about The Destroyer) were largely a reaction to a sharp rise in the crime rate. The country was in in the throes of a fairly pacifistic reaction to...well to almost everything. This was also when I was in the military and Vietnam was at it's height. Criminals were largely being viewed as victims and many people were very frustrated with it all. It was the era that gave us Dirty Harry (Callahan), Paul Kersey (Death Wish), Bullitt (1968), The Punisher and other vigilante type heroes.
Here we meet Remo Williams, a police detective going to "The Chair". He's to be executed for killing a drug dealer.
BUT he is swept away to receive training in all forms of combat and stealth. He is at last given over to the tutelage of Chiun. I won't go into Chiun as to avoid spoilers but he does seem to have written the introduction to the edition of the book I have.
Anyway Remo now works for CURE a secret agency set up by President Kennedy... They must deal with criminals the system can't.
If you read any of these series you'll see that as a popular theme. Either an agency, a shadowy group or an individual sets out to fight some criminal element that the courts simply can't deal with, criminals who always end up walking free due to some technicality.
Okay...I like many if not most of these books (though some do give me a good laugh from time to time). Like the huge soft drink, the large steak meal at the steakhouse, like the huge burger with extra cheese and maybe bacon, like a boilermaker or that triple fudge sundae this is great mental junk food. This book, it's sequels and the others in this almost forgotten group of series books it/they are pure adventure. There is violence, obvious good guys and bad guys usually a touch (or sometimes much more than a touch) of sex it's all fast action in a quick tale.
Enjoy, I plan to catch up on a lot of these I haven't looked at for like 40 years.
Oh, and Coca-Cola, I love Coca-Cola...my one true addiction.
Of late my attention has been drawn back to these old treasures of violent yet simplistic action by a younger friend here on Goodreads who has discovered them (thank you Frankie).
These books (and here we're talking about The Destroyer) were largely a reaction to a sharp rise in the crime rate. The country was in in the throes of a fairly pacifistic reaction to...well to almost everything. This was also when I was in the military and Vietnam was at it's height. Criminals were largely being viewed as victims and many people were very frustrated with it all. It was the era that gave us Dirty Harry (Callahan), Paul Kersey (Death Wish), Bullitt (1968), The Punisher and other vigilante type heroes.
Here we meet Remo Williams, a police detective going to "The Chair". He's to be executed for killing a drug dealer.
BUT he is swept away to receive training in all forms of combat and stealth. He is at last given over to the tutelage of Chiun. I won't go into Chiun as to avoid spoilers but he does seem to have written the introduction to the edition of the book I have.
Anyway Remo now works for CURE a secret agency set up by President Kennedy... They must deal with criminals the system can't.
If you read any of these series you'll see that as a popular theme. Either an agency, a shadowy group or an individual sets out to fight some criminal element that the courts simply can't deal with, criminals who always end up walking free due to some technicality.
Okay...I like many if not most of these books (though some do give me a good laugh from time to time). Like the huge soft drink, the large steak meal at the steakhouse, like the huge burger with extra cheese and maybe bacon, like a boilermaker or that triple fudge sundae this is great mental junk food. This book, it's sequels and the others in this almost forgotten group of series books it/they are pure adventure. There is violence, obvious good guys and bad guys usually a touch (or sometimes much more than a touch) of sex it's all fast action in a quick tale.
Enjoy, I plan to catch up on a lot of these I haven't looked at for like 40 years.
December 19, 2022
I love the pulps. They are not ALL the epitome of literature, but a lot of them are. I would not call Created, the Destroyer hardcore literature, but it certainly was a little more high-minded than some of the others. With the most current novels numbering 152 and 153, clearly there was a tremendous interest in these books, and this #1 with Remo Williams as our protagonist is one of the best. Remo Williams is jailed and executed in order to convert him into an instrument of assassination. He becomes very good at his job. I call this novel a classic because it fits my three criteria. I believe a classic must have longevity. I always use the number 50 years. This book was published in 1971. It meets the longevity criteria. Paradigm creating or changing is my second criteria. This book took the beloved tropes of the popular espionage movies and satirized them. The fact that there are 150 plus books that followed this established paradigm also demonstrates my last criteria: exceptionalism. I leave you with a word of caution/trigger alert. This book was published more than 50 years ago when misogynistic tendencies and racial epithets were a commonplace occurrence even in polite company. This book is a product of its established milieu. It therefore may shock people with more modern sensibilities. I caution you, because it is my methodology to never hold a book's age against the book. Huck Finn is a classic despite its rough language. Same with this. If you can't take the heat don't walk into the kitchen. It reminds me of my grandmother when she was living with us. She would walk around the living room passing heinous gas without even realizing it, because the Alzheimer's had already claimed her. Do you think it bothered me one little bit that my Nana was passing gas while my friends and I were watching some stupid show? Do you think I wouldn't give days of my life for more time with Nana? That's how I see some of these classics, as sacred as Nana walking around farting up the living room.
June 1, 2015
The 1971 novel which is the first in the long-running Destroyer series. Remo Williams, former Marine and cop, is convicted of a crime he didn't commit and placed on death row. A small conspiracy revives him on the other side of his electrocution and convinces him to work for CURE, a very secret government organization which tasks assassins with cleaning up those pesky criminals that make life difficult for average citizens. Remo is quickly trained by Chiun, elderly Korean master of the martial art Sinanju, and is sent after a lead named Maxwell who appears to be running crime in New York City.
A weird yet fun action-adventure, Remo's origin, training, and first mission are described in a very matter-of-fact manner, as though it's obvious that what Remo is doing will save the country. He never really questions who he's killing or why he's doing what he's doing, though surely he feels some gratitude toward CURE for saving him. I never quite turned my brain off enough to just accept that Remo was doing the right thing, but the enemies he faces off against here aren't exactly model citizens. The criminal organization depicted lacks subtlety and complexity, though this was just prior to The Godfather and a large influx of realistic crime stories. Remo appears to be cut from the same rough cloth as anti-heroes like Parker, though his training and exploits have subtle dark comedy and satire injected into them. The big draw here is seeing a tough Everyman leverage his magical martial arts powers in strange ways, a concept which must have just started to become popular around the time this was published.
A weird yet fun action-adventure, Remo's origin, training, and first mission are described in a very matter-of-fact manner, as though it's obvious that what Remo is doing will save the country. He never really questions who he's killing or why he's doing what he's doing, though surely he feels some gratitude toward CURE for saving him. I never quite turned my brain off enough to just accept that Remo was doing the right thing, but the enemies he faces off against here aren't exactly model citizens. The criminal organization depicted lacks subtlety and complexity, though this was just prior to The Godfather and a large influx of realistic crime stories. Remo appears to be cut from the same rough cloth as anti-heroes like Parker, though his training and exploits have subtle dark comedy and satire injected into them. The big draw here is seeing a tough Everyman leverage his magical martial arts powers in strange ways, a concept which must have just started to become popular around the time this was published.
September 8, 2009
I first started reading these books because I was a fan of the Executioner books by Donald Pendleton, and published by the same company--Pinnacle books. In the end I read them longer, and more regularly return to them. (I haven't read an Executioner or Mack Bolan title in about 20 years.)
The concept here is that the government is tired of being tied by the rules as they try to get the bad guys. So they create an organization called CURE, which really doesn't exist, to fight the bad guys without all those annoying rules. They have a Dr. Smith, and hire the world's best assasin, Chiun, from the House of Sinanju in Korea. Then they frame a NYC cop for murder, execute him, ressurect him as the Destroyer and turn him and Chiun loose on the baddies.
This series was created and co-written by Warren Murhpy and Richard Sapir.
As I got older, I came to realize that these books were full of hysterical satire, that was just below the surface. And it's this intelligence that really has kept me coming back to them every so often when I want some brain candy.
For a lot of fun, you really can't beat these books. Ultimately this has been an action series that has continued to satisfy.
The concept here is that the government is tired of being tied by the rules as they try to get the bad guys. So they create an organization called CURE, which really doesn't exist, to fight the bad guys without all those annoying rules. They have a Dr. Smith, and hire the world's best assasin, Chiun, from the House of Sinanju in Korea. Then they frame a NYC cop for murder, execute him, ressurect him as the Destroyer and turn him and Chiun loose on the baddies.
This series was created and co-written by Warren Murhpy and Richard Sapir.
As I got older, I came to realize that these books were full of hysterical satire, that was just below the surface. And it's this intelligence that really has kept me coming back to them every so often when I want some brain candy.
For a lot of fun, you really can't beat these books. Ultimately this has been an action series that has continued to satisfy.
August 4, 2022
A good start to the series. Looking forward to the characters and their relationships developing more into what the later books in the series present. But overall a great first effort that delivers on action, adventure and thrills.
October 23, 2014
The series now has over 150 books in it & any one of the books is fun, light read. The early books with Richard Sapir are quite entertaining. Sapir was a political columnist, I think & it shows in the tongue in cheek plots which make fun of everything, but especially pick on one current event or attitude per book. Around the 75th book or so the plots really lost their zest, to me. I quit reading the series on book #104.
The Destroyer is a New Jersey cop who is 'killed' & now serves CURE, a secret government organization that works outside the Constitution to protect it. Led by Dr. Smith, an acerbic New Englander & trained by Chiun, a Korean who is the world's best assassin, Remo Williams, the Destroyer & second best assassin in the world, goes around fixing problems that would otherwise topple the US or possibly the world.
Remo constantly gets into trouble since he has been trained in 'Sinanju', the 'sun source' of all martial arts. He has superhuman abilities, but is childish & not particularly bright. Chiun is pretty smart, extremely vain & somewhat clueless about western custom. He has crippled two pro football players for calling him 'Chinese' rather than Korean since he is extremely prejudiced.
This book was made into a particularly bad movie.
The Destroyer is a New Jersey cop who is 'killed' & now serves CURE, a secret government organization that works outside the Constitution to protect it. Led by Dr. Smith, an acerbic New Englander & trained by Chiun, a Korean who is the world's best assassin, Remo Williams, the Destroyer & second best assassin in the world, goes around fixing problems that would otherwise topple the US or possibly the world.
Remo constantly gets into trouble since he has been trained in 'Sinanju', the 'sun source' of all martial arts. He has superhuman abilities, but is childish & not particularly bright. Chiun is pretty smart, extremely vain & somewhat clueless about western custom. He has crippled two pro football players for calling him 'Chinese' rather than Korean since he is extremely prejudiced.
This book was made into a particularly bad movie.
May 8, 2019
This is the first entry in the legendary "Remo Williams"/The Destroyer series of action/adventure paperbacks.
I am a fan of the 1980s film based on the "Remo Williams" novels so I was a bit disappointed with this one.
My understanding is this series doesn't really get off the ground until either the third or fourth entry.
Besides Warren Murphy (often with Richard Sapir co-writing) there were a couple of other authors who contributed in writing the novels.
The Destroyer is a much loved series, its fans are legion.
Until I've read more novels in the series I'll have to reserve recommending this book.
I am a fan of the 1980s film based on the "Remo Williams" novels so I was a bit disappointed with this one.
My understanding is this series doesn't really get off the ground until either the third or fourth entry.
Besides Warren Murphy (often with Richard Sapir co-writing) there were a couple of other authors who contributed in writing the novels.
The Destroyer is a much loved series, its fans are legion.
Until I've read more novels in the series I'll have to reserve recommending this book.
February 8, 2011
In the early seventies as Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris and a variety of martial arts schools and styles were emerging in popular culture, The Destroyer arose as a satire or perhaps evolution of pulp novels by combining the excessive violence and gunplay of book serials like the Executioner and merging it with the philosophy of Oriental fighting.
In this first novel Remo's teacher Chuin had not yet rose prominantly as a lead character, figuring in rather exactly as Yoda does ten year later in the Empire Strikes Back- a teacher more of wisdom than power who only plays as a mid-story turning point for the protagonist. Hence this book lacks much of the fun interpersonal play that helps the Destroyer series to stand out (and provided the only good bits from the movie adaptation). But Remo stands on his own here in his debut appearance. He is tough as hell, and likable even through his worst actions. Even the villians of the story, short lived and somewhat under-developed, are the type of guys you love to hate.
I plan on loaning this book immediately to the nearest person I know who enjoys a good action story.
In this first novel Remo's teacher Chuin had not yet rose prominantly as a lead character, figuring in rather exactly as Yoda does ten year later in the Empire Strikes Back- a teacher more of wisdom than power who only plays as a mid-story turning point for the protagonist. Hence this book lacks much of the fun interpersonal play that helps the Destroyer series to stand out (and provided the only good bits from the movie adaptation). But Remo stands on his own here in his debut appearance. He is tough as hell, and likable even through his worst actions. Even the villians of the story, short lived and somewhat under-developed, are the type of guys you love to hate.
I plan on loaning this book immediately to the nearest person I know who enjoys a good action story.
August 27, 2020
The first entry in long-running The Destroyer series starts out with how Remo Williams is “recruited” into the secret CURE agency and expertly trained by Asian Master Chiun, followed by some dull drunken angst scenes, then finishing up with a bang and an unexpected twist. This book, and perhaps the series in general, doesn’t take itself quite so seriously as the other men’s adventure series, which are typically somber and humorless. I really liked the lighter tone and the self-satirizing drollness. I like that Remo merely kills someone without going into graphic detail and gore, which gets tiresome in other series since there are only so many ways to describe a guy’s head getting blown off. I would have liked to see a lot more of Chiun and his wise sayings and clever insults. Looking forward to reading other entries in the series, and hopefully more of Chiun.
December 24, 2008
I really enjoyed this first one in the series. Made me want to read more.
January 11, 2016
Read this thirty years ago and then again last week. Awesome! Violent, silly and perfect escapism.
February 24, 2023
oh my GOD. dunno what i expected from literal pulp fiction that has over 100 sequels but youch this hurt to read. the amount of cliches per page was brutal, and i took so many double takes at the racism and misogyny (every single female character is sexualized or attracted to the main guy, who is trained by some mysterious old asian who is a blend of every sterotype and culture mm yummy love that). Anyways it was kinda fun to read but yeah shows its age
June 12, 2012
I wanted to read these books after watching the Remo Williams movie again. It was blissful.
I'll give this book (...and #2-#5) 2/5 stars because I'm torn between the story and the formatting of the eBooks for my Nook. The story is fantastic. Truly. Keeps my attention, makes me laugh. However, the formatting is SO UNBELIEVABLY BAD I can't honestly recommend it to anyone unless I'm recommending the printed edition. So, if you're thinking of getting a printed book...5 out of 5 stars!
I know Warren Murphy and his sons have started a publishing company...but they don't seem to know how to properly format an eBook. That, or they need to have Remo eliminate their programmer.
Mr. Murphy--show me you care about your readers enough to provide quality for the money we, as readers, are willing to spend for your eBooks, and you can have 5/5 stars...and my help in promoting you to everyone I know.
Not until then.
I'll give this book (...and #2-#5) 2/5 stars because I'm torn between the story and the formatting of the eBooks for my Nook. The story is fantastic. Truly. Keeps my attention, makes me laugh. However, the formatting is SO UNBELIEVABLY BAD I can't honestly recommend it to anyone unless I'm recommending the printed edition. So, if you're thinking of getting a printed book...5 out of 5 stars!
I know Warren Murphy and his sons have started a publishing company...but they don't seem to know how to properly format an eBook. That, or they need to have Remo eliminate their programmer.
Mr. Murphy--show me you care about your readers enough to provide quality for the money we, as readers, are willing to spend for your eBooks, and you can have 5/5 stars...and my help in promoting you to everyone I know.
Not until then.
February 8, 2016
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. Great starter book to the series. The character and story have a very Pulp era feel to them. Nice Read, Very recommended
February 8, 2021
Great premise, great start, but kind of got wandering and aimless, and the hero feels less a destroyer than just a surly ex cop with a bit of martial arts training and excessive charisma. The book overall has the feel of being a section of a larger work, like a serial in a magazine that you haven't gotten the next installment of.
February 19, 2012
This was a lot of fun.
September 25, 2014
originally posted at: http://thebookplank.blogspot.com/2014...
Last month I send out a media alert with an upcoming blog tour featuring this book, Created, The Destroyer. The Destroyer series was originally published back in 1971, and this year Little Brown and Co has decided to reissuing all the books published so far in The Destroyer series in ebook format. The series is written by Warren Murphy, who also wrote the screenplay of several movies likes Lethal Weapon 2, and Richard Ben Sapir who wrote besides this series also several non-destroyer related books. I am a big fan of these kind of assassin - secret agent kind of books: think Mission Impossible, James Bond or The Bourne Trilogy.
Created, The Destroyer picked up in a most interesting kind of way, normally agents are recruited because their excel in what they do, top of the class or have shown other remarkable skills. The protagonist of this story is recruited in a quite different kind of way. Remo Williams has faced early retirement in terms of facing the electric chair, all for a crime that he didn't commit...Everything is being prepped to deliver Remo one final jolt, but what Remo doesn't know is that several people from higher up have different plans in store for him this leads in eventuality to that his encounter with the electric chair is being rigged. Remo from this point on is presumed dead. But this is only the start of his new career as what better assassin could you wish then someone who has died and doesn't have anything that ties him to his past, a completely free man able to do what ever he is asked to do. Since Remo was a normal street cop he does have to be schooled in the ways of assassination. The schooling he receives is in many different types of martial arts by the old Korean Master Chiun, by this he becomes the most valuable asset to CURE.
The story of Created, The Destroyer has everything that you want to see in a first book in a series. As the name of the book already implies, the created aspect mean that Remo is being created as the agent of CURE. And with becoming an agent, also come missions and his first mission that features in Created the Destroyer is to hunt and take down Maxwell but whether this is a person or a much larger something like a shadowing organization remains to be seen. With Remo being completely new on the job and with few leads to follow, he must do everything to remain the last person standing. Or truly be presumed dead.
I have to say that I highly enjoyed the story of Created, The Destroyer and when I come to think of it, this book was first publised back in 1971 so basically this book didn't have that much to steal from and comparing it to some of the current crimer - thriller books, this was a quite unqiue concept back than. Also Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir did a nice job in letting the main protagonist Remo stand out. What I normally like to see is that when you have these sudden career changes is that you see them occur gradually and this is preceisely what is done to Remo, from the beginning of the book right down to the end of it you see him grow and develop into the perfect "cure". (no pun intended). I also liked to read about the Korean Martial Arts master he is a bit like the Mr. Miyagi of Karate Kid really cool but not one you want to have on the wrong side of you.
The action of Created, The Destroyer is very cool and intense and exactly something that you want to see featured in a crime book. There are several shoot outs and fighting scenes that will linger in the back of your mind for quite sometime. What makes them enjoyable to read is that all the action scenes are bolstered by the characters and their emotions making them come out that much better.
My only objection to Created, The Destroyer, is the writing style. When I read the first few pages I was hooked, the scene with the electric chairs was pretty cool, but as soon as Remo was concripted into CURE it felt like the writing style suffered a bit in a sluggish way that tended to put a drag on several dialogues. Not really making the story easy to get into and continue reading it. It could also be the fact that the writing style isn't something that features in the current fiction books that are being published.
Created, The Destroyer, is an action packed crime book that has one of the best opening chapters that I have come across, highly inventive and just very cool. The main protagonist that is introduced by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir, Remo Williams, is an unlikely of heroes and is defeinitely not used to being the only solution left standing for problems. His personal conviction of that he was to die in the chair and the emotional side that was offered to you as a reader was very nicely put that that directly made you feel for him. And as the story continues you learn that life as a CURE agent is far from easy, as Remo is put to the test again and again. Despite the writing style that made it a bit hard to really dig into the story, Created, The Destroyer is still a very good read and with only a pagecount of 200ish makes it the perfect afternoon read!
Last month I send out a media alert with an upcoming blog tour featuring this book, Created, The Destroyer. The Destroyer series was originally published back in 1971, and this year Little Brown and Co has decided to reissuing all the books published so far in The Destroyer series in ebook format. The series is written by Warren Murphy, who also wrote the screenplay of several movies likes Lethal Weapon 2, and Richard Ben Sapir who wrote besides this series also several non-destroyer related books. I am a big fan of these kind of assassin - secret agent kind of books: think Mission Impossible, James Bond or The Bourne Trilogy.
Created, The Destroyer picked up in a most interesting kind of way, normally agents are recruited because their excel in what they do, top of the class or have shown other remarkable skills. The protagonist of this story is recruited in a quite different kind of way. Remo Williams has faced early retirement in terms of facing the electric chair, all for a crime that he didn't commit...Everything is being prepped to deliver Remo one final jolt, but what Remo doesn't know is that several people from higher up have different plans in store for him this leads in eventuality to that his encounter with the electric chair is being rigged. Remo from this point on is presumed dead. But this is only the start of his new career as what better assassin could you wish then someone who has died and doesn't have anything that ties him to his past, a completely free man able to do what ever he is asked to do. Since Remo was a normal street cop he does have to be schooled in the ways of assassination. The schooling he receives is in many different types of martial arts by the old Korean Master Chiun, by this he becomes the most valuable asset to CURE.
The story of Created, The Destroyer has everything that you want to see in a first book in a series. As the name of the book already implies, the created aspect mean that Remo is being created as the agent of CURE. And with becoming an agent, also come missions and his first mission that features in Created the Destroyer is to hunt and take down Maxwell but whether this is a person or a much larger something like a shadowing organization remains to be seen. With Remo being completely new on the job and with few leads to follow, he must do everything to remain the last person standing. Or truly be presumed dead.
I have to say that I highly enjoyed the story of Created, The Destroyer and when I come to think of it, this book was first publised back in 1971 so basically this book didn't have that much to steal from and comparing it to some of the current crimer - thriller books, this was a quite unqiue concept back than. Also Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir did a nice job in letting the main protagonist Remo stand out. What I normally like to see is that when you have these sudden career changes is that you see them occur gradually and this is preceisely what is done to Remo, from the beginning of the book right down to the end of it you see him grow and develop into the perfect "cure". (no pun intended). I also liked to read about the Korean Martial Arts master he is a bit like the Mr. Miyagi of Karate Kid really cool but not one you want to have on the wrong side of you.
The action of Created, The Destroyer is very cool and intense and exactly something that you want to see featured in a crime book. There are several shoot outs and fighting scenes that will linger in the back of your mind for quite sometime. What makes them enjoyable to read is that all the action scenes are bolstered by the characters and their emotions making them come out that much better.
My only objection to Created, The Destroyer, is the writing style. When I read the first few pages I was hooked, the scene with the electric chairs was pretty cool, but as soon as Remo was concripted into CURE it felt like the writing style suffered a bit in a sluggish way that tended to put a drag on several dialogues. Not really making the story easy to get into and continue reading it. It could also be the fact that the writing style isn't something that features in the current fiction books that are being published.
Created, The Destroyer, is an action packed crime book that has one of the best opening chapters that I have come across, highly inventive and just very cool. The main protagonist that is introduced by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir, Remo Williams, is an unlikely of heroes and is defeinitely not used to being the only solution left standing for problems. His personal conviction of that he was to die in the chair and the emotional side that was offered to you as a reader was very nicely put that that directly made you feel for him. And as the story continues you learn that life as a CURE agent is far from easy, as Remo is put to the test again and again. Despite the writing style that made it a bit hard to really dig into the story, Created, The Destroyer is still a very good read and with only a pagecount of 200ish makes it the perfect afternoon read!
January 15, 2013
An okay read.
Different origin story than the movie. I don't think it even synchs with the comic book.
There could've been more action and mayhem. But one has to remember that this book was written decades ago. What carries it are the tone, plot, and concept. They're woven together in such a way that you see a very gritty, realistic, dark world in need of a hero. But since there aren't any around, they send in Remo Williams.
Good thing is that I've got a bagfull of these puppies for Xmas. And I'm curious how the writing develops over these many little tomes.
Different origin story than the movie. I don't think it even synchs with the comic book.
There could've been more action and mayhem. But one has to remember that this book was written decades ago. What carries it are the tone, plot, and concept. They're woven together in such a way that you see a very gritty, realistic, dark world in need of a hero. But since there aren't any around, they send in Remo Williams.
Good thing is that I've got a bagfull of these puppies for Xmas. And I'm curious how the writing develops over these many little tomes.
February 16, 2023
A secret gov agency wants Remo to be their weapon. So they "kill" him, change his face, train him, and unleash him on a New Jersey criminal empire.
That's basically it. I read a number of random novels in this series, back when I was a teen. I have no memory of how prosaic his training was presented as, here. Karate. Chiun trains him in Karate. Later (maybe starting with book 2?) they retrofit that to Sinanju, the secret art. And what Chiun teaches is basically like wuxia, from the movies. A Master of Sinanju is a superhero, among mere humans.
Fun action/adventure.
That's basically it. I read a number of random novels in this series, back when I was a teen. I have no memory of how prosaic his training was presented as, here. Karate. Chiun trains him in Karate. Later (maybe starting with book 2?) they retrofit that to Sinanju, the secret art. And what Chiun teaches is basically like wuxia, from the movies. A Master of Sinanju is a superhero, among mere humans.
Fun action/adventure.
October 11, 2009
This book has been in my top ten favorites since 1978 or 79 when I first read it. I own the first 120 or so in the series. Yeah, it's a long one. But they are generally a fun read. It's all about Remo and Chiun, baby!!
February 9, 2012
I've grown up reading the Destroyer series, which I discovered through my father. I have enjoyed every single books in the series, and still go back to reread them all of the time. Also, Remo Williams, the Adventure begins, has always been one of my favorite movies!
September 12, 2010
This is such a fun short story book series. I usually find them at powells for 2-3 bucks. Action, adventure, hilarity.
June 29, 2017
J'ai beaucoup lu "l'implacable" pendant ma jeunesse, sans jamais avoir réussi à l'époque à mettre la main sur les premiers volets de la série, publiés au début des années 70. (J'ai du en lire une bonne quarantaine sur les 150 que compte la série).
Avec le recul ce n'est pas plus mal, ce premier volet des aventures de Remo l'implacable ne cassant pas trois pattes à un canard.
Comme souvent avec les premiers volets d'une série prise en cours de route, il est à la fois surprenant et décevant.
Surprenant car on passe au moins la moitié du roman du côté des "méchants" du livre, sans que cela ne suscite d'intérêt particulier, leur profil n'ayant rien d'exceptionnel (ce sont de banals tueurs de la mafia.) Dans la suite de la série, les "méchants" seront bien plus exotiques ou originaux (de Fu Manchu à Raspoutine, en passant par la déesse Kali, des cyborgs, des Maîtres Vampires, et j'en passe...)
J'ai également été surpris par la relative bonne qualité de l'écriture, par la personnalité de Remo (qui n'a rien d'un volontaire pour devenir une machine à tuer pour une agence secrète) et par la trop courte apparition du maître de Remo, Chiun. Le vieillard Coréen apparait pour une formation express de ce qui sera par la suite la base de tous les autres livres : une maitrise totalement fantasmée, mi-débile mi-burlesque, des arts martiaux. (Remo au fur et à mesure de la série deviendra un quasi super héros.) Chiun sera par la suite le moteur comique de la série avec des ressorts comme la détestation absolue de la culture américaine tout en étant accro aux Soaps Opéra, par exemple.
Mais j'ai surtout été déçu par la platitude de ce premier volet, son côté roman d'espionnage raté, ses méchants qui ne font pas peur du tout, ses scènes d'actions peu convaincantes.
Sa misogynie revendiquée ("les femmes sont comme les vaches : elles sentent venir la pluie et le danger") pourra surprendre, mais il ne faut pas s'y arrêter, la série étant très provocatrice, très satirique, c'est du second degré pour l'essentiel.
On peut passer à côté de cet aspect comique dans ce premier volet : la série qui ressemble ici à un avatar de James Bond / SAS deviendra très rapidement une série teintée de fantastique, très amusante, avec un maître zen (le fameux Chiun) hilarant et un Remo invincible, accomplissant les exploits les plus improbables qui soient (sauter d'un avion en plein vol sans parachute par exemple).
Bref, un premier volet qui vaut essentiellement pour son côté historique, pour les lecteurs ponctuels de la série dans les années 80 ou 90 curieux de découvrir ses prémisses.
Mais il ne me semble pas que cela puisse avoir le moindre intérêt pour les autres (ce premier volume en tout cas).
Je remercie cependant les éditions Milady de m'avoir permis cette découverte.
Avec le recul ce n'est pas plus mal, ce premier volet des aventures de Remo l'implacable ne cassant pas trois pattes à un canard.
Comme souvent avec les premiers volets d'une série prise en cours de route, il est à la fois surprenant et décevant.
Surprenant car on passe au moins la moitié du roman du côté des "méchants" du livre, sans que cela ne suscite d'intérêt particulier, leur profil n'ayant rien d'exceptionnel (ce sont de banals tueurs de la mafia.) Dans la suite de la série, les "méchants" seront bien plus exotiques ou originaux (de Fu Manchu à Raspoutine, en passant par la déesse Kali, des cyborgs, des Maîtres Vampires, et j'en passe...)
J'ai également été surpris par la relative bonne qualité de l'écriture, par la personnalité de Remo (qui n'a rien d'un volontaire pour devenir une machine à tuer pour une agence secrète) et par la trop courte apparition du maître de Remo, Chiun. Le vieillard Coréen apparait pour une formation express de ce qui sera par la suite la base de tous les autres livres : une maitrise totalement fantasmée, mi-débile mi-burlesque, des arts martiaux. (Remo au fur et à mesure de la série deviendra un quasi super héros.) Chiun sera par la suite le moteur comique de la série avec des ressorts comme la détestation absolue de la culture américaine tout en étant accro aux Soaps Opéra, par exemple.
Mais j'ai surtout été déçu par la platitude de ce premier volet, son côté roman d'espionnage raté, ses méchants qui ne font pas peur du tout, ses scènes d'actions peu convaincantes.
Sa misogynie revendiquée ("les femmes sont comme les vaches : elles sentent venir la pluie et le danger") pourra surprendre, mais il ne faut pas s'y arrêter, la série étant très provocatrice, très satirique, c'est du second degré pour l'essentiel.
On peut passer à côté de cet aspect comique dans ce premier volet : la série qui ressemble ici à un avatar de James Bond / SAS deviendra très rapidement une série teintée de fantastique, très amusante, avec un maître zen (le fameux Chiun) hilarant et un Remo invincible, accomplissant les exploits les plus improbables qui soient (sauter d'un avion en plein vol sans parachute par exemple).
Bref, un premier volet qui vaut essentiellement pour son côté historique, pour les lecteurs ponctuels de la série dans les années 80 ou 90 curieux de découvrir ses prémisses.
Mais il ne me semble pas que cela puisse avoir le moindre intérêt pour les autres (ce premier volume en tout cas).
Je remercie cependant les éditions Milady de m'avoir permis cette découverte.
August 28, 2022
Remo ex Nam Marine and police officer is sentenced to the electric chair for the death of someone he didn't kill. Before the execution he is given a pill and told to chew it just before they put the metal helmet on him by a mysterious monk with a hook for a hand. After the electrocution, he is taken away in an ambulance by some nefarious individuals and resuscitated. CURE is a psychological research project to operate outside of the law to break up organised crime. Remo will become a man that doesn't exist, for a job that doesn't exist, in an organisation that doesn't exist. Instructors teaching Remo locks, armaments, code breaking, killing, killing, and killing. Chiun an old martial artist the best killing machine will train Remo. Remo will have facial changes through surgery and be let out on his first job. Swift - accurate, accurate, he will use his hand to chop the back of a skull and send warm fluid out of someone's eyes. He will enter and exit a virgin, ask her to marry him just to get close to an extremely difficult target's father. He will dump a dead body into a dryer and watch it go round. Remo is not just doing a job, he is living his role in life, fulfilling what he was born to do.
May 9, 2019
Read in two nights. One thing about reading fiction from another time is that it can have warts. As a whole, the story here was pretty decent. However, in the telling of the story, there are some racist words used for minorities, and a lot of sexism -- every woman in this novel exists only to serve men in one way or another rather than actually being characters of any depth, which I found disappointing.
The character of "Chiun, master of Sinanju" is very compelling, and I understand he becomes moreso throughout the series (this novel has over 50 sequels, I have to assume it probably gets better?) so I might go ahead an read another in the series sometime.
The character of "Chiun, master of Sinanju" is very compelling, and I understand he becomes moreso throughout the series (this novel has over 50 sequels, I have to assume it probably gets better?) so I might go ahead an read another in the series sometime.
October 7, 2020
As a teen I read an absolute ton of the Destroyer series. I also enjoyed the movie that was made "Remo Williams, The Adventure Begins".
I found that Amazon had the first book for free and scooped it up. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but also realize it was an element of its time being written in the early 70's. That means it is very politically incorrect and kind of racist. All that said, I enjoyed revisiting the book and the start of the series.
I found that Amazon had the first book for free and scooped it up. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but also realize it was an element of its time being written in the early 70's. That means it is very politically incorrect and kind of racist. All that said, I enjoyed revisiting the book and the start of the series.
July 9, 2019
Sure it's a little dated but a ripping good yarn...well written and excellent pacing.
What used to be called men's adventure and now it would be called a thriller.
Sexist, a bit racist, but a whole lot of fun for men...and maybe women too.
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars.
What used to be called men's adventure and now it would be called a thriller.
Sexist, a bit racist, but a whole lot of fun for men...and maybe women too.
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars.
July 27, 2020
Seksismiä! Väkivaltaa! Muinaisia kiinalaisia viisauksia!
Tästä ei kioskinovellit parane!
Paitsi ehkä niissä n.150 jatko-osassa.
Tästä ei kioskinovellit parane!
Paitsi ehkä niissä n.150 jatko-osassa.
September 1, 2020
Trigger warning for racism. The author at the beginning of the book explains why they didn't edit the book. It was written in the 1950's. There was only one word used.
March 8, 2018
I have enjoyed all of these books immensely. They are quick reads, often hilarious yet touching to see the characters develop as more than student/master.
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