Never Say Die

The Destroyer #110

by Warren Murphy (Series Creator), Richard Sapir (Series Creator), Michael Newton

Unabridged. Forensic evidence in a couple of assassinations reveals a curious link between the killers: identical fingerprints and genetic code. Could it be twins? But when the next killer's traces show the same result, law enforcement authorities are baffled. The bizarre problem is entrusted to CURE's Dr. Harold Smith, and he puts Remo and Chiun on a trail leading back decades to a literal dead end. Now it's up to the Master of Sinanju and his disciple to sort out the pieces--a long-dead killer and a shadowy global security corporation --before a deadly kind of immortality is visited upon them.

Genres: Thriller

360 pages, Audio CD

First published January 1, 1998

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

[hotsake (André Troesch) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5
This was much different than any of the other Gold Eagle Destroyer books I've read. This story was much less jokey, goofy, and idiotic than the other books while also dramatically reducing page time for both Chuin and Smith.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Destroyer that seems like it probably began life as an unrelated story that was then retrofitted with Remo and Chiun and sent down the production line. Not bad, in general, and if you're reading through the series (for whatever reason, not something that I would actually recommend to anyone else) this makes for a good change of pace from the usual levels of farcical silliness.

[Colin Hopper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Send in the Clones

Another evil scientist, another day for Remo and Chiun, and adventure,mayhem and satire galore. Another great read for us all.

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

#110 in the Destroyer series. Another evil scientist. 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. When the forensics come in on two assassinations, the investigators are surprised. Different assailants have identical fingerprints and matching DNA? Were they really twins? Then a third killing takes place by yet another murderer with the same fingerprints and genetic code. Recommended

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Least horrible book I ever had to script, and the only Destroyer that doesn't read like it was written by a nine year old.

Two stars. Kudos to whatever ghostwriter wrote this one. I think he got fired afterwards because Destroyer nuts thought he didn't follow cannon. I hope he moved on to bigger and better things, like turning compost piles or drinking himself to death.