Bamboo Dragon: Its a Jungle Out There and the Destroyer May Become the Next Endangered Species (Action/Adventure Series, 108)

Rating:
Summary: Hardly a Destroyer novel.
Review: Unlike most previous books in the Destroyer series, this book had no humor, almost no dialog (witty or otherwise), little continuity and very little originality. Usually the reader is entertained by the banter between Remo and Chuin, Remo and Smith, and Remo and victim, but this time Remo was cold for 349 pages. There was no light satire of current events or public figures (not even one of the Clintons). And what's this stuff about Remo studying herpetology?? The new author (Murphy hasn't written them in years and Sapir died in the 80's)should have known better than to write Remo even thinking about eating bacon, eggs, or coffee. Caffiene does not tone Sinanju nerves...it destroys them! The whole book was boring and, as a fan, my heart hurt for the injustice done to the characters. There was no discussion of the art of Sinanju, no hints on technique, no (worthwhile) stories from the Scrolls, and in short, nothing to set it apart from any other bland adventure series. Remo has never been a great thinker; he couldn't convince anyone he used to be a cop (which he was), much less a known scientist. Chuin has never been so silent, or as useless. Remo, although he sometimes regrets being good at his job, rarely gets sentimental over his victims, and never over his bed-partners. The line most missed from this book: "That's the biz, sweetheart!"

Rating:
Summary: New Title: "The Ghost Is A Hack"
Review: Wil Smith did a creditable job ghosting for Warren Murphy; his adventures took Remo & Chiun new directions but still had the flavor and humor of "the old ones". Alas, the new ghost writer has failed to pay attention to even simple story guidelines. Eating meat and eggs--Chiun would have taken Remo back to the New York warehouse and started over with the training at step one! Remo scared of snakes? Flirting with Audrey? Worried about how to take out a handful of pitiful rebels? It's time for Chiun to adopt... There's no excuse for a writer taking over a series with this kind of history making these horrible mistakes. Sinanju is doomed unless swift action is taken. I suggest a "perfect accident"...

Rating:
Summary: New Title: "The Ghost Is A Hack"
Review: Wil Smith did a creditable job ghosting for Warren Murphy; his adventures took Remo & Chiun new directions but still had the flavor and humor of "the old ones". Alas, the new ghost writer has failed to pay attention to even simple story guidelines. Eating meat and eggs--Chiun would have taken Remo back to the New York warehouse and started over with the training at step one! Remo scared of snakes? Flirting with Audrey? Worried about how to take out a handful of pitiful rebels? It's time for Chiun to adopt... There's no excuse for a writer taking over a series with this kind of history making these horrible mistakes. Sinanju is doomed unless swift action is taken. I suggest a "perfect accident"...