The Radioactive Camel Affair

Number 7 in the novel tie-in services to the popular TV show The Man from U.N.C.L.E. I haven't read the first six or any of the seventeen (!) following novels. Yet anyway.

I can't really remember much about the show but was familiar enough with the characters of the show with the unwieldily acronyms to get into the book straight away. In this story the evil organisation THRUSH are stealing plutonium and our UNCLE heroes Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin are sent to find out whats going on.

The rather mysterious title of the book stems from the cunning THRUSH plan to transport the plutonium to their secret base in Sudan by caravan. Solo follows the trail while Kuryakin follows other leads. And much of the book is taken up by what feels like an endless romp through the desert. It does get a bit dull at times.

Fear not, the action hots up at the end when we get to the SEKRIT THRUSH base complete with nuclear reactor in a cave and nuclear missiles hidden under bushes. Well of course! If the desert part of the book could have been shortened somewhat it would have been all so much better but as it is the book isn't bad. Total campy 1960s secret agent nonsense of course but enjoyable.