The Prisoner: Who Is No. 2?

The Prisoner #2

by David McDaniel

He's a top-level agent, highly skilled and ultra-secret. But he wants out, and they won't let him quit. He quits anyway. Then suddenly comes the dawn when he wakes up in captivity, in a pleasant, old-style, seaside town-one packed solid with electronic surveillance hardware. This is The Village. And he is The Prisoner. If he was good enough, sharp enough to be a top-flight cloak-and-dagger man, is he good enough to escape the men who've chained his life to the wall?

Genres: Science Fiction, Media Tie In

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

Reviews

[Jefferson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dull and meandering. Tries to explain away some of the series' more mysterious details, while at the same time failing to cover any new ground.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s not a stellar novel, lacking the playful inventiveness of Thomas Disch’s attempt, but in its failings it nonetheless captures some of the charm of the show, while adding somewhat to the mythos (mainly: Number 6 gets a cat). Plot points fizzle. Entire sequences have no clear point. Supporting characters are developed to a point just shy of being compelling. Number 6 spars with Number 2, and their exchanges are compelling stacks of cliché. The callbacks to the show are fun. I’m not sure I’d recommend this book per se, and definitely not with the enthusiasm I’d recommend Disch’s, but if you’re someone who wouldn’t mind another story of the Village, it’s a decent read.

[David Allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite decent original novel that in some ways has more of the series' flavor than did Disch's attempt, for instance by incorporating the Penny Farthing bicycle and everyone's "Be seeing you" farewell. Still, Number Six's engineering work on his car consumes an awful lot of pages.

[Jordan West · Rating 4 out of 5]

Around 3.5; surprisingly good considering the tie-in origins - an entertaining novel that successfully recreates the tone of the source material while at the same time exploring and playing with its conventions in a manner that the original show never got the chance to.

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

the second novel based on the British series by the celebrated author of the best of the Man From U.N.C.L.E. series.