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Search (Probe) #1
Search
Novelization of the pilot for a short-lived TV series. Weverka also novelized a later episode under the title Moonrock.
His body is a receiving set monitored a thousand miles away. What his eye sees is projected on mammoth TV screens to be analyzed by a group of scientifically trained agents. His heartbeat, his brain waves, his tensions and his private passions are subject to scrutiny at any time of the day or night. With the miniscule mechanical device that has been surgically implanted in his head, "Probe" agent Hugh Lockwood is the world's first electronic private eye...
Lockwood charges up for a European encounter and unleashes a nightmare of espionage, ex-Nazis, diamonds, and dazzling dames...
His body is a receiving set monitored a thousand miles away. What his eye sees is projected on mammoth TV screens to be analyzed by a group of scientifically trained agents. His heartbeat, his brain waves, his tensions and his private passions are subject to scrutiny at any time of the day or night. With the miniscule mechanical device that has been surgically implanted in his head, "Probe" agent Hugh Lockwood is the world's first electronic private eye...
Lockwood charges up for a European encounter and unleashes a nightmare of espionage, ex-Nazis, diamonds, and dazzling dames...
152 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
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About the author
Robert Weverka
37 books9 followersRobert Weverka (pseudonym Robert McMahon) was born in Los Angeles and educated at USC where he majored in economics. His novels include March Or Die, The Sting, Murder By Decree, Moonrock, Apple's Way and The Widowed Master.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 18, 2018
Having just read the novelization of a Banacek episode, I figured I'd stay with the TV theme and read this novelization of the pilot episode of the Search TV series from 1972. Like the Banacek book, this was not a new story but an expanded telling of the story in the pilot film.
I was a big fan of this series when it was first on, but for many years it was unavailable to home media or syndication. The lone exception was the pilot film, which would show up on one of the local TV channels as a late-night movie. As such, I've seen the movie many times but not recently, so while the highlights of the story were familiar, none of the rest was that fresh in my mind, so I enjoyed revisiting the setting and the characters.
Basically, Hugh Lockwood is an operative of a company called World Securities, sort of a high-tech detective agency. The high-tech part comes from the control room, which is full of computers and other data-retrieval equipment. Lockwood stays connected to World Securities by way of a two-way radio implanted in his head, and a scanner device he wears clipped to a ring or a tie-clip. It sounds a little goofy, but you have to consider this was the seventies, when a typical computer fit in a room, not in a phone.
The book follows the film quite closely, but there are a few points where ideas in the film are expanded. One thing that I don't remember from the film or the TV series (both of which are now available on DVD) is a discussion about the privacy concerns of such non-stop surveillance of the agents. That alone took some of the goofiness away.
As a fan of the series, I'd recommend the book to anyone who can keep in mind that it was written in a less technological time. It also made me wonder how something like this would be written today, in the age of always-on cell phones and Google- and Facebook-like constant monitoring of our lives. I think I'd like to read that.
I was a big fan of this series when it was first on, but for many years it was unavailable to home media or syndication. The lone exception was the pilot film, which would show up on one of the local TV channels as a late-night movie. As such, I've seen the movie many times but not recently, so while the highlights of the story were familiar, none of the rest was that fresh in my mind, so I enjoyed revisiting the setting and the characters.
Basically, Hugh Lockwood is an operative of a company called World Securities, sort of a high-tech detective agency. The high-tech part comes from the control room, which is full of computers and other data-retrieval equipment. Lockwood stays connected to World Securities by way of a two-way radio implanted in his head, and a scanner device he wears clipped to a ring or a tie-clip. It sounds a little goofy, but you have to consider this was the seventies, when a typical computer fit in a room, not in a phone.
The book follows the film quite closely, but there are a few points where ideas in the film are expanded. One thing that I don't remember from the film or the TV series (both of which are now available on DVD) is a discussion about the privacy concerns of such non-stop surveillance of the agents. That alone took some of the goofiness away.
As a fan of the series, I'd recommend the book to anyone who can keep in mind that it was written in a less technological time. It also made me wonder how something like this would be written today, in the age of always-on cell phones and Google- and Facebook-like constant monitoring of our lives. I think I'd like to read that.
February 15, 2021
I have very fond memories of watching this show when I was a little 'un. To my twelve-year-old mind, the concept of investigators with an implant behind their ear and a small camera carried on a ring or a pendant--allowing them tokeep in contact with their high-tech HQ --was awesome. I had bought the series on DVD as an adult and discovered--though I could now see occasional problems with story contruction--I STILL think the premise is cool.
This novelization of the made-for-TV movie that served as a pilot to "Search" expands on the story, adding a little more characterization and more details to the plot that make the story stronger. It is a well-written and entertaining book and well worth snatching up if you ever see it in a used book store.
This novelization of the made-for-TV movie that served as a pilot to "Search" expands on the story, adding a little more characterization and more details to the plot that make the story stronger. It is a well-written and entertaining book and well worth snatching up if you ever see it in a used book store.
September 7, 2007
This isn't Great Literature, but it's quite fast paced and enjoyable, and even a little thought provoking. One warning: The book is 34 years old, and (by modern standards) includes some rather off-putting casual sexual harrassment.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews