Customer Reviews

The Mind-Twisters Affair (The Man from U. N. C. L. E. #12)

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This is number 12 in the regular (adult) series of "Man from U.N.C.L.E." novels. "The Mind-Twisters Affair" was written by Thomas Stratton and published by Ace Books of New York in 1967. One review I read says that the adult novels were "grittier" compared to the network TV series episodes of 1964-1968. I disagree. I think that all the novels, both those written for adults and for children, would have fit in very well with made-for-TV episodes and movies. Every single one of them would have made a good addition to the TV episodes. You have to remember that the first and fourth seasons were more "serious" and that the second and third seasons used far more campy "humor" - the likely reason for the demise of the series. "The Mind-Twisters Affair" is set in an Indiana college town. U.N.C.L.E. agents Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin are sent there by boss Alexander Waverly to investigate just why so many locals (particularly those academics hired by U.N.C.L.E.) have become outwardly critical and hostile toward U.N.C.L.E. (the "United Network Command for Law and Enforcement"). The reason is obvious - it is yet another plot by the bad guys of T.H.R.U.S.H. ("Technical Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity"). The means used to brainwash and control people here is two-fold: one through subliminal TV messages and the other through a special drug. Subliminal TV messages have been known to be used by advertisers - a short message will come through - too short to be seen and heard but just enough to be picked up by the subconscious mind. The drug in this case is one special drug concocted in the basement of his huge mansion by the evil devil-worshiping Professor Jabez Whateley. This strange man's father dabbled in wizardry, but he went all the way. Whateley's daughter Flavia never joined her father's insane practices, and is one of the characters sympathetic to U.N.C.L.E. This book features the special U.N.C.L.E. car - complete with gull-wing doors and gadgetry similar to James Bond 007. Ian Fleming of James Bond 007 fame was a real-life consultant to the U.N.C.L.E. series, so you can see the close connection between the two productions. Both the U.N.C.L.E. car and the James Bond vehicles were made as toys by Corgi of the UK - once owned by Mettoy Playcraft and now owned by Hornby Hobbies of England. If you're a fan of toy cars, I highly recommend the book "Scale Model Collectible Cars" by Marc Nonnenkamp - also available for purchase right here on Amazon in the USA, Canada, the UK, Germany, Austria, France and Japan. The U.N.C.L.E. car has stuff like bullet-proof glass, armored plating, armed projectiles and a sophisticated computer communications system. This U.N.C.L.E. novel by Thomas Stratton is yet another form of light entertainment from the good old 1960s that won't disappoint the millions of "fans from U.N.C.L.E."

In this so-so outing in "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." series, Napoleon and Illya investigate a Thrush plot to use subliminal advertisements enhanced by drugs to advance the evil organization's nefarious ends. As in the previous Stratton MFU novel, "The Invisibility Affair", the international intrigue is rather incongruously set in the bucolic precincts of the Midwest (rural Indiana, mostly). This book is notable as being the only one in the series where the specially-designed U.N.C.L.E. car is extensively used. Really recommended only for series completists.