Otto Penzler and the Mystery Writers of America present Grandmaster by Warren Murphy and Molly Cochran, winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Paperback Original in 1985.
Two men, born on the same day on opposite sides of the world, driven to oppose each other--for only one man may be the Grandmaster. Justin Gilead and Alexander Zharkov, two men driven by powerful forces they can neither understand nor deny--driven to fight each other in a battle for power that only one of them may win. Gilead, a magnificent athlete, an American, a genius, and a spy. Zharkov, a master strategist, head of the feared secret service agency, Nichevo, a determined, ambitious man. They first meet as ten-year-old chess prodigies-both lonely, both meaning to win, both born under the magical sign of the gold coiled serpent. They will come to know the uses of pleasure, the secrets of pain, the impact of evil turned upon itself. They will understand the deadly forces that grip the world in swift violence, sudden death. And they will finally know that only one man may be the Grandmaster. Grandmaster is an extraordinary tale of spymasters and assassins, murder and intrigue played against a background of Far Eastern mysticism from Moscow to Washington, from Havana to Tibet.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
"A tour de force."--Philippe Van Rjndt, author of Samaritan on Grandmaster
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
WARREN MURPHY's books and stories have sold fifty million copies worldwide and won a dozen national awards. He has created a number of book series, including the Trace series and the long-running satiric adventure, The Destroyer.
MOLLY COCHRAN has written more than twenty-five books, including The Temple Dogs, High Priest, The Hand of Lazarus, and World Without End.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Warren Murphy's first jobs in life were working on a pig farm, then as a movie usher, a sequin polisher, a public relations man for a brothel, a newspaper editor and a Democratic politician in Jersey City, New jersey. "And then I went bad," he says, "and became a novelist."
That was back in the last century and now some 200 books and several threatened retirements later, he is still at it. And now he is moving full-bore into the world of electronic publishing. Murphy has collaborated with his sons in forming his own publishing company; Ballybunnion Books. The Ballybunnion banner was initially used for the release of special edition books on a limited basis. Now, having acquired the digital rights to the ever popular Destroyer series of adventure books. Murphy's Ballybunnion Books has taken on the arduous task of re-releasing the books digitally. Formatting errors from the previous releases are being corrected to give the readers what they deserve.
Murphy is probably best known for the Destroyer series, which he created with the late Dick Sapir, and which has produced 150 books with worldwide sales of over 50 million copies. The books also spurred a movie, "Remo Williams: The Adventure begins" --(a second movie is threatened to be in the works)-- and a TV pilot and more film and TV ripoffs than anyone could ever imagine.
But Murphy is no one trick pony. As St. james Guide to Mystery Writers said, "The breadth of Murphy's talent staggers the imagination. Comic detectives, caper novels, large suspense novels, sword and sorcery spy novels, and locked room mysteries, together with short stories, comic books, movies, and countless collaborations do not even begin to mark the parameters of his creative genius."
Some of the other work on Murphy's resume would include: The Trace series of novels The Digger Series of novels The Razoni and Jackson series... and... Leonardo's Law, Ceiling of Hell, Grandmaster and The Forever King (those last two written with Molly Cochran) and dozens of other works.
His books have won ten national awards including a pair of Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America and a handful of nominations, including two Shamus winners from the Private Eye Writers of America.
In Hollywood, he has worked on The Eiger Sanction with Clint Eastwood, on Lethal Weapon II, and his Trace series was the creative spark that led to the ABC TV series, Murphy's Law.
As St James Guide says, "Murphy is the professional's professional with work of consistently high quality" and Encyclopedia Mysteriosa called him "a mentor and teacher to a whole generation of crime and thriller writers."
He has served on the board of the Mystery Writers of America, and also has been a member of the Private Eye Writers of America, the International Association of Crime Writers, the American Crime Writers League, and the Screenwriters Guild.
Murphy is also a member of the Adams Roundtable, a New York writers' social group, among whose members are Mary Higgins Clark, Peter Straub, Susan Isaacs, Lawrence Block, Harlan Coben, Judith Kelman, Mickey Friedman, Dorothy Salisbury Davis, Justin Scott, Stanley Cohen and Whitley Strieber, and who occasionally produce mystery anthologies.
Murphy, a New Jersey native, now lives in Virginia. He has five children, most of whom, he says "wash up pretty well."
I found this book for the first time in a box of family give away books. I read it and loved it. That was several years ago, and now I re-read it every time I run out of books to read. Warren and Cochran do a great job of relaying the eternal struggle of good and evil alongside the modern storyline of international spy-games. I didn't want to stop reading this book when I reached the last page. I was happy to find that Warren and Cochran wrote High Priest to follow where Grandmaster left off. Both of these books are quick reads that often times go too quick.
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Yes. this is my second copy of Grandmaster..... this book hits a satisfying spot inside me. It's intense, a great combination of spy thriller and eastern mysticism. I can read it every 2 years or so, and love it every time. Too bad the new edition has such a cheesy cover compared to the original paperback issuance. It looks like a chess manual, which it certainly is not, although chess plays a serious part between the two main characters as they meet again and again throughout life. Get it!
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What a rattling good yarn. I read this book, and its sequel, a number of years ago... and was lucky enough to find a battered, tattered old copy in my local library just the other day.
I don't know where it came from: it's not on their computerised index.
This a good read. A great way spend a cold winter's afternoon. Justin Gilead is all that's good about America and the East, and the bad hats are truly nasty. There's plenty of magic and mystery.. and the chess games are as tense as they should be. The characters are well-written, the story's a beaut, even the cover design's good.
If this book is ever re-released, I want it. You should, too.
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