Chinese Puzzle (Destroyer, 3)

Rating:
Summary: *NOW* we're cooking.
Review: If this is the first Destroyer novel you pick up, you've gotten it right on the first try. This is where the hysterical banter between Remo and Chiun really hits its stride, and you get character development in an action novel that readers had no right to expect back when these were written.

Lest ye forget, the Destroyer novels competed with "The Executioner", "The Butcher", and "Edge" for rack space at the drugstore. While Mack Bolan is rightly the inspiration for Marvel's Punisher character (it's so blatant they should cut a check to Don Pendelton's estate each time Dolph Ludgren makes his sewer soliloquy on late-night cable), the Mack Bolan character doesn't stand the test of time, and after about a dozen or so, it's all the same novel.

"Chinese Puzzle" sets the stage for an enjoyable twnety years of Destroyer novels. If you have to get one classic, this is the one to get.