4/5/22

Tenth in the Destroyer series. This one was really hard to read for me personally because of the subject matter. It opens with a Muslim terrorist group hijacking a plane, raping a female passenger, and brutally murdering her infant son. A rash of other successful terrorist airplane hijackings soon follow. It becomes clear that someone has found (1) a way to very rapidly train novices to become successful terrorists and (2) smuggle weapons onto aircraft. These terrorists eventually plan to hijack multiple aircraft and crash them into each other mid-air over New York City.

As it turns out, the terrorist training and hijackings are just a means for Chiun's nephew Nuihc to set up an ambush to kill Chiun and Remo. Apparently, Remo and Chiun first encountered Nuihc in book #7, Union Bust. Unfortunately, I have not yet read this one, but that makes little difference, as it was perfectly readable without knowledge of that initial interaction. The radical left of the early 1970s is royally skewered (and rightly so), particularly in the character of a female college student radical who Remo keeps running into (she is a hopelessly naive catspaw of Nuihc). In the end, Remo proves himself to be the true heir to the Master of Sinanju.

This one really hits home, post-9-11, because of the topic, and I recommend it as an interesting read.

Review copyright 2008 J. Andrew Byers ( )