The Final Crusade

The Destroyer #76

by Warren Murphy (Series Creator), Richard Sapir (Series Creator), Will Murray

A greedy TV Evangelist has started an unholy war against Middle Eastern powers, using his crusade for a religious relic as an excuse. The Iranians have responded with terror attacks that threaten the U.S. CURE must intervene, but keep a low profile. An Ayatollah, oil company and fanatics all make a deadly and not so politically correct mix as Chiun must convince Remo that Sinanju still has all the answers -- and power.

Genres: Adventure

223 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 4, 1989

About the author

Warren 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.

Reviews

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 2 out of 5]

An evangelical minister becomes convinced that one of the nails used to execute Christ on the cross has been discovered in Iran and he takes this as a sign that he should start a new crusade, take over the Middle East and rule it. Frankly, the adventure is weak. What sustains the book is the typical interaction of Chiun and Remo as they bicker and Chiun worries that Remo is thinking way too much about his life before Sinanju.

In the history of the series, this novel is primarily important because it leads Remo’s decision to move Chiun and him out of Folcroft Sanitarium (the secret headquarters of CURE) and to buy a residence. For the first 76 books of this series, Smith has opposed Remo and Chiun having a permanent address for security reasons, but Remo has decided he deserves a house to call his home. It’s a small thing, but not a lot changes in a series like this over time, so it’s worth noting.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating 3.5

A fairly standard entry in the series I thought.
The actual plot felt like it had been done before in the series or at least variant of it.
An extra .5 on the rating as I did enjoy the start of the novel and some of the banter between the 3 main leads was very good and slightly better than has been the case In some of the recent entries in the series.

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

#76 in the Destroyer series. A televangelist launches a crusade against Iranian mullahs. Much chaos ensues.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

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. The evangelist, Eldon Sluggard, starts a crusade to obtain from the Middle East what he believes is one of the nail from the Cross and gains a great number of followers as well as the condemnation of the Ayatollah who puts a price on his head. Recommended