I’ve just recently had the pleasure of re-reading this book for probably the 2nd or 3rd time. I’ve gotten to the age now where I can read a book and then read it again 5 years later and have virtually no memory of it. As a result, I get to enjoy the same book over and over again.
And with THE DESTROYER series there remains PLENTY to admire and enjoy, believe me.
I’m not into E-Books and such – I like the idea of holding a book in my hands and then putting it back on a shelf when I’m done with it – but I am still excited at the thought of these long-out-of-print books once again becoming available for mass consumption by the public. This means that if you, dear reader, are interested in this series, you can find most, if not all, of them in a Kindle-type format.
Years ago a friend of mine, who did some writing on this series, was telling me about the early days of THE DESTROYER and how he became involved in it. He specifically cited MURDER WARD as being the first book in the series that he’d read. He went on to say that while reading it he couldn’t believe what his brain was telling him was happening in the book. Not until that time had a paperback action series been as clever, as funny, as well written as THE DESTROYER.
Authors Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy really began to hit their stride with book #3, CHINESE PUZZLE, and from there on out, the pattern was set and they began a course of action, comedy and satirical characters/events that none of us had ever seen before.
Books 1 and 2 are canon, of course, but they weren’t really sure where they were going yet and just sort of felt their way along. It’s still interesting now to read CREATED, THE DESTROYER and DEATH CHECK, 1 and 2 respectively, to see how the whole thing started but in those two books the humor that would set the tone for the series was not yet evident.
So, MURDER WARD.
The story starts out in a Maryland hospital and has a doctor there deciding to kill his patient with some Halothane. He then declares the cause of death to be heart failure. This, technically, is true but it’s because of the Halothane.
Long story short, CURE, the organization for which The Destroyer (Remo Williams) works, gets wind of strange goings on at the Robler Clinic in Baltimore. Remo and his mentor, Master Chuin, sort of take up residency there and clean things up on a permanent level. To say anymore than that would be doing you a disservice. You need to read the book/e-book yourself. You can thank me later.
