Loved everything connected to the TV series! ( )

The Doomsday Affair pits Napoleon and Illya against an enemy known only as Tixe Ylno, a mastermind who is preparing to destroy the world, and only the top team from U.N.C.L.E. has any chance of stopping the madman. The plot takes them from Hawaii to Mexico and to California as they follow the trail to catch a man no one can identify and stop a catastrophe, though they don't know what exactly that might be.

The second Man from U.N.C.L.E book had a couple really good bad guy characters -- and spots in the plot which were so annoying I found it difficult to keep reading. The chase scene through the streets of Honolulu could have been shortened to a couple paragraphs with a much better feel. Illya's incredibly stupid move to walk right into the room with the bad guy just drove me over the top.

But still, the character of Sam Su Yan had some interesting touches in an egotistical, crazy way. Violet managed her part well, too. Illya and Napoleon were closer to the television characters in this book, but still lacked in the overall story feel.

The plot depended too much on the two main characters doing stupid things and more than a little coincidence, as well as UNCLE not bothering to check out a place obviously connected with Thrush.

So the second book wasn't as well done as the first, and I think part of the reason may still be based on how early this book was written (like the first book in the series). Solo wasn't very suave in some of the story and Kuryakin was stupid a couple times for no apparent reason I think there could have been a better story here with less coincidence and a bit more logic. ( )