JOHN DRAKE

John Drake is an agent with NATO and later with M9.

His nationality is a bit confusing, at least the part he reveals, because for a while in his earlier career as a roving agent with NATO, he once refered to himself as Irish-American but later, when he was lured away to work for the branch of British Intelligence known as M9, he was clearly a British subject though he continued to be proud of his Irish roots. It is likely both are true as having one parent from America and another from the UK would have worked, especially if his actual birth took place in the States.

Regardless of his original nationality or dual-citizenship, John Drake is a man of the world having seen more places in his many years in the clandestine services that most of us have even heard of. No one continent is his territory, even when working for NATO he went far away from the member countries. Once he went to work for M9, the travel got even wider range. He must have enjoyed it, though, because he seldom complained and he certainly kept at it.

When his first recorded cases happened, Drake was in his very early 30s. That being in 1960, he would have been too young for service in WWII but a very good age for the Korean War. At one point he admitted he had not gone to college so it is not too much of a stretch to assume he did serve in that conflict and it is likely that his exploits therein got him noticed. Whether he was in Intelligence in the military or recruited by NATO after he mustered out, he joined that organization not too long afterwards as he had already been in NATO's employ for some time. This latter is based on his experience and his skill in the first recorded cases which clearly show he was no novice.

He was still, though, fairly idealistic and liked to look for the good in people. This is not implying any naivete as that word would never fit Drake probably at any time in his adult life. He is far too sophisticated and smooth to be so labeled. But he clearly expected better of many of the people with whom he dealt and those he brought to justice met with considerable dislike from him. After his service with NATO ended and he joined M9 he was not nearly as ready to think well of his fellow man. A certain cynicism had unfortunately entered his life. Considering the double dealing and the evil he witnessed, it is not surprising.

Drake has always been a loner. In virtually no case recorded did he work closely with anyone for very long. He relied on his own abilities to get him out of any scrapes and considering the many he had and survived, that showed confidence instead of conceit. He had no steady romantic interests. Clearly a pretty woman or two caught his eye during his assignments but his steadfast dedication to duty did not allow him time to indulge when he was on duty and he seemed to be almost always on duty.

Despite his constant facing of danger and the threats to his life, Drake held firmly to his distinct dislike of guns. He could use them if he had to, which he did on a couple of occasions, but he never wanted to nor did he enjoy it. His attitude towards firearms was simple - they were loud and they hurt people. He preferred to use his own hands to disable opponents and he was very good with the martial arts so his anti-gun bias seldom caused trouble.

Drake's unofficial codename was Danger Man and over the course of a hundred recorded assignments, he proved his deserving of it many times over.

The six books that chronicle further adventures of John Drake, Danger Man/Secret Agent, are all original works by several highly experienced espionage writers. Understanding that the writers were limited greatly to what they are could do with the character, nevertheless, they are good stories and worth reading.

One mark against them, though, is the fact that because they were written by different authors with understandably different takes on the character, the thoughts and responses of Drake to events varies greatly so it is best to gloss over these parts.