The Man From UNCLE 3: The Copenhagen Affair by John Oram

The Man From UNCLE 3

The Copenhagen Affair

by John Oram

1963, Ace Books

Napoleon and Ilya uncover a THRUSH flying saucer factory in Denmark.  Less reliant on capture/escape set pieces than most of the series, with stronger characterization and emotion than the others I've read.  You get a better sense of risk and sacrifice from the good guys, and even a sense of fear and regret from the henchmen.  There's a very effective torture scene which relies only on the reactions of those who witnessed it.  The plotting was a little different with multiple climaxes, each with lower stakes.

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The Man From UNCLE 2: The Doomsday Affair by Harry Whitington

The Man From UNCLE 2
The Doomsday Affair
by Harry Whittington

Illya and Napoleon meet with a THRUSH defector in Hawaii, only for her face to be blown off by a trick lei.  Then we're off for a series of chases, captures, and escapes, many involving paralyzing nerve gas.  The underlying plot is about as standard as these Bond pastiche's get, but there was enough variety that it didn't get stale.  Better written than Avallone's - Harry Whittington (the author, not the guy Dick Cheney shot in the face) was a highly respected pulpster, but it seems to be the standard that a writer's novelization work doesn't match up to their original material.

A running theme in the books is subject of Waverly's age.  In the last book it was said he was in his sixties but looked a decade younger.  Here, he is in his early 50s.  Leo G. Carrol was 77 (and looked it) when the series started.

I've watched some more of the TV series, and I'm warming up to it, but it probably doesn't lend itself to binge watching.

Paperback from AbeBooks

Man From UNCLE 1: The Thousand Coffin Affair

Man From UNCLE 1
The Thousand Coffin Affair
by Michael Avallone
1965 Ace Books

A nominal plot involving chemical warfare, this is mainly a series of capture/escape set pieces with very little linking them.  Lively enough, but got very repetitive as Avallone ran low on ideas pretty quickly.  Only so many times you can read Solo taking flight and having a rough landing, and two of his escapes consist of him being clever enough to karate someone.

A bit more adult than the series: Solo gets laid a couple times, some nude bondage, rotting corpses, etc.  Nothing crazy for 1965, but more than the TV show.

The rest of the series is written by a variety of authors.  I want to like UNCLE, it's in my DNA, but the show never really clicked with me the way James Bond or even Get Smart did.

Paperback from Amazon