In the cutthroat world of the evening news, where "if it bleeds, it leads" is the industry's lifeblood, the dead-last BCN network is hemorrhaging viewers. On the chopping block is million-dollar anchor Kitty Coughlin, who is one ratings point away from early termination. But when a group of armed men hijack her plane and statge a spectacular near miss of one of America's most famous landmarks, Kitty's eyewitness account helps BCN achieve a remarkable ratings rally.
Kitty is riding high . . . until the ratings bubble bursts and her career goes back on life support. Then the next catastrophe strikes
Wherever Kitty Coughlin goes, disaster -- and ratings gold -- follows. Is Kitty's uncanny ability to be at the center of the news storm sheer dumb luck or very bad news?
Harold W. Smith of the supersecret agency CURE knows a thing or two about disaster management. He send in Remo Williams and the remarkable Chiun to tune in, turn off, and pull the plug on whoever is putting Americans at risk.
Every Destroyer novel by Murphy and Mullaney has a central theme, an effigy and a pitard to hoist it upon, and Killer Ratings is no different. This go-round, the skewer is heated, barbed, and pointed at the media, with the usual cast of barely-veiled parodies, with BCN news anchor Kitty Coughlin taking the spotlight.
So small it can't be seen with the naked eye.
So deadly it can wipe out millions in minutes.
If you breathe it, you're already dead...
A daring daylight prison break at a top security federal prison frees the infamous "20th hijacker," the only 9/11 terrorist to miss his flight that clear September morning. Seems Mustafa Mohammed's been hiding a toxic secret right under the noses of federal authorities, and when folks start dying gruesome deaths throughout the country the CDC classifies the virus responsible "UNKNOWN."
Luckily, Dr. Harold W. Smith always knows the most effective treatment for what ails America, and dispatches Remo Williams and his mentor, the magnificent Chiun, to administer the CURE. But this time the usual prescription might not be strong enough.
Someone with an eternal ax to grind against mankind is pulling Mustafa's strings, and this sinister figure with the skull-like face will not stop until the full terrible force of the new bio weapon is unleashed.
Remo wants to destroy it, the antiwar crowd wants to steal it, the Iranians want to duplicate it, and poor little Mustafa just wants to use it to obliterate an American city and please his supernatural boss.
With millions of lives in the balance, this is one day the Destroyer can't call in sick.
. . .Remo Williams is a superhero for the modern everyman. Paired with his adoptive father, Chiun, these two Masters of Sinanju plow forward, undeterred, to get done those things your average red-stater can only fantasize about. Terrorists, cop killers -- any threat to America is casually handed death by these two mercenaries for CURE . . .
Pity poor tobacco tycoon Edgar Rawly. Thanks to lawsuits, government meddling and the inexplicable deaths of many of his best customers, his megabucks industry is gasping its last breath. That is, until the introduction of the Cheyenne Smooths, Rawly's latest product. Not quite tobacco, not quite legal, more addictive than crystal meth. Suddenly customers are once more beating a path to his door. That's when the bodies start piling up. Seems people are not only dying to taste the flavor of a Cheyenne Smooth, they're killing for it.
Enter Remo Williams, the Destroyer, and Chiun, the deadly Master of Sinanju. They've been sent to kick some butt, but wind up in danger of being snuffed out themselves.
Turns out Edgar Rawly is not the only shady character to recognize the value of the Cheyenne Smooths, and things really start to heat up when Remo bumps into a cult of ancient Chinese assassins, an Asian crime lord, and a worldwide addiction that might just send civilization up in smoke...and dump the Destroyer on the ash heap of history.
THE
NEW DESTROYER: GUARDIAN ANGEL
VIVA LA REVOLUCION!
When a dozen border
patrol volunteers are murdered in New Mexico, apparent victims of
Mexican nationals, Dr. Harold W. Smith of the super-secret agency CURE
worries the first salvo in a new border dispute has been fired. His
worst fears are realized with the appearance of the charismatic Santa
Ana, a uniformed, would-be despot with a silver tongue and a thirst for
bloody revolution.
General Santa Anna has
redrawn the border between the U.S. and Mexico to fit his own twisted
version of reality, and thousands of illegal aliens are drawn to his
message of liberation. The Southwest is on fire, and as the revolution
explodes the entire nation is at risk. It seems the brazen general has
planned for every eventuality. Except one...
Mostly MIA for the past
four years, Remo Williams, CURE's one man enforcement arm, has returned
to the U.S. just in time to prevent Armageddon. With his Korean mentor
Chiun, the Master of Sinanju, at his side, America just might live to
see mañana.
But it turns out Santa
Anna is not the only threat to The Destroyer. Remo not only must save
the United States from civil war, he must square off against the only
woman who ever killed him...
Announcement
Warren Murphy has announced the signing of a multi-book contract with
Tor Books, part of the St. Martin's publishing group, for the
publication beginning in 2007 of the long-running Destroyer series.
The books will be written and bylined by Murphy and by James Mullaney who has written some twenty books in the series.
...many laugh-out-loud moments...the writers find a new high-water mark when it comes to going over the top. -- R.J. Carter, TheTrades.com -- Dead Reckoning
"..the book accelerates like a NASCAR on the finishing stretch. Pure fun, action adventure fiction the way it's meant to be.-- Jon Jordan, Crimespree Magazine -- Choke Hold
(An) edge of your seat action thriller with biting satire...a grand old hoot of a time. If you're new to the characters, be warned: one hit of The New Destroyer, and you're hooked. -- R.J. Carter, The Trade's -- Choke Hold (Murphy and Mullaney) have brought back the fun and satirical wit that made the (Destroyer series) so much fun to read.-- Midwest Book Review, Guardian Angel
(A) fantastic reemergence of a classic character. Remo and Chiun are back (and) they could not be in better hands.–- Bruce Grossman, Bookgasm, Guardian Angel
