Frightening Strikes

The Destroyer novels have had over a dozen authors over the years, including Victor Milan (now writing for The Outlander and Rogue Angel series), Will F. Murray (Doc Savage, Mars Attacks), and James Mullaney; the scribe for the last twenty or so Gold Eagle Destroyers was Tim Somheil. The series has since been rebooted into a Mac Bolan copy, and seems to have sunk without a trace. Too bad. I've noticed that the reviews of these books are short on the description of the novel's plots, so I'm going to rectify this. I reveal nothing that somebody won't learn in the first fifty or so pages anyway. Anywho, if you think that the Destroyer's heritage is confusing, then this series of novels is even more so. "Frightening Strikes" seems to be the culmination of a four novel arc, and t all started vaguely with "No Contest" (#138), was continued in "Dream Thing" (#139) that was a full-blown Lovecraftian/Howardian weird/horror/adventure novel. The storyline continued somewhat into "Dark Ages" (#140) and the whole thing seems to come into completion with "Frightening Strikes" which ties up all of the loose ends on this story arc, and which is a direct sequel to "Dream Thing". And it all went over like a lead balloon with the conservative readers of the Destroyer series who hated anything with a little imagination, and just didn't get it. You could almost see their little brains short-circuiting. I also don't hold it against the author because the publisher's proofreaders didn't do their job properly. In "Frightening Strikes", the Lovecraftian elements are played down. In "Dream Thing" a large deep-sea squid was captured and sent to the Chicago Aquarium for display, and in "Frightening Strikes" the now-dying squid has laid some eggs at the bottom of it's tank. The aquarium's curator dives into the tank to investigate both the squid's death and it's eggs and is killed and dissembled for her trouble. She is discovered, the police are sent for, and Oscar Bedders, professional diver, and dedicated a-hole, is sent in to recover her corpse, but somehow the (now dead) squid is able to send out electrical shocks, killing Bedders. When both bodies are eventually recovered it is found that the wounds on both bodies, and their assorted parts, have healed. As autopsies are about to commence, Bedders sits up and attacks. Not being human anymore, Bedders has to absorb the flesh, body parts and life forces of others to live, so he "eats" nearly everybody within range in a hungry, bloody rampage. Under the influence of Sa Mangsang (Cthulhu), Bedders mission is to recover the squid's eggs, and get them to the sea to help destroy the world. Although, as "Frightening Strikes" progresses, we find that this may not really be the reason. Trying to stop Bedders at the aquarium our man Remo is defeated, because Bedders is now nearly indestructible. Bedders can now instantly heal, has super speed and strength, and has control over his amputated body parts.

I have no idea what is the obsession with giant squid and I had very low expectations for this book, but I was happily surprised. This book was enjoyable. I can understand how long time Destroyer fans might not enjoy this book as much as some of the "original" novels, but I personally like the direction these books have been going in since No Contest. In order to survive, there needs to be growth and change. Remo becoming a master and the change in cast only add to the story, in my opinion. But I also miss the old sardonic edge the books have. I also miss Wil Murray, couldn't we have him back please? But still, even with giant squid, this book was entertaining.