I READ THE UNPUBLISHED MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. NOVEL AND I MUST SCREAM

Airing from 1964 to 1968, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. combined humor and action (and more subtext than you can shake a Special at) to become one of the decade’s most popular and enduring spy shows. Like any popular property, it inspired an avalanche of merchandise, including a series of tie-in novels. One of those novels had a more difficult journey than the others, and since dissecting books based on ’60s TV shows is apparently a thing I do now, that’s the one I’m discussing today. Grab your scuba gear, amigos, because we’re going in for a deep dive.

As you may have guessed from the title, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was originally supposed to have just one star. Napoleon Solo, played by Robert Vaughn, was a Bond-esque super spy with the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. And for the first two episodes, it was indeed a solo act (lol). Then another U.N.C.L.E. agent, the oddly spelled Illya Kuryakin, showed up. Female viewers lost their shit over David McCallum, Illya’s role was expanded, and the show as we know it today was born.

The show’s success spurred the creation of two dozen tie-in novels. David McDaniel wrote several of these. The last novel he wrote was, appropriately, The Final Affair. It was supposed to have wrapped up some stuff from the show, particularly the ongoing fight between U.N.C.L.E. and their evil counterpart, Thrush. Unfortunately, by the time McDaniel finished writing this book, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. had been cancelled, and so The Final Affair was never published.

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