THE RAT CATCHERS

The Rat Catchers is a small department inside British Intelligence.

It is an ultra-secret organization and does not show up on any official listing of bureaus or departments. It is answerable only to the Prime Minister and its missions are those that it chooses. For all its secrecy, though, it has enough pull among officialdom to request and get the best detective that Scotland Yard had to work as its newest agent.

The department is run by an extremely dour man, balding and in spectacles who does not look like one who would order men to kill or die unless you looked into his eyes. Brigadier General Davidson is a smallish man who very seldom smiles, though the edges of his mouth sometimes gives away a very subdued sense of humor, and if he has a life outside his rather spartan offices, he makes sure few know about it. Being a retired military man, his strict disciplinarian nature is always on display. Be a couple minutes late for a meeting and one hears about it. Be a tad flippant with a remark and his biting retort can put most anyone in their place. That being said, however, Davidson demands independent thinking from his people and for all his posturing, he will tolerate a modicum of insubordination as long as the agent is producing results.

That may be why he lets so much go past him without comment when it comes from his oldest and most capable agent, Peregrine Smith. Known as Perry to his friends but as Smith to his colleagues, this man has been an agent with the Rat Catchers for quite a long time from the sound of it. From upper-class background, Smith is an Oxford schooled man who greatly enjoys the finer things in life and has the luck to be able to afford them. He goes for fast cars and pretty objects and seems as though he has few real cares in the world. While it is likely that much of what others see is true, what he keeps hidden is a solid determination to get the job done and he does not let his party facade interfere with that. Smith likes everyone to think of him as a playboy and he works hard to keep up that image but when the situation calls for it, he can ben incredibly cold-blooded.

The last of the Rat Catchers, or at least those who have had their activities chronicled, is Richard Hurst and if ever a man did not belong, certainly to his way of thinking, with the other two, it is Hurst. This man is a policeman through and through. He has absolutely no love for the bad guy and will gladly put him away whenever possible but he has a love of the law and procedure that trumps everything else and if a man is discovered trading secrets or causing sabotage, he should be arrested and tried, all according to rules of law. Since this is seldom how the Rat Catchers operate, he is usually found in a funk. He has been practically forced into the Rat Catchers because they needed someone with his qualifications of detection and he was considered the very best the Yard had to offer. He could always demand to be returned to the Yard but for some reason he has yet to do it.

The official cover for the activities of the Rat Catchers is an apparently quite successful company called Trans-World Electronics. Its managing director is Smith which gives him entry into many otherwise closed spots in the government because TWE does a lot of work for it. Likewise Hurst has access as needed as he is on record as being the Security Officer. The Brigadier has no official capacity with the company that can be determined, not that he needs it since he never leaves his office.

There are other agents for the Rat Catchers, men and women who are referenced from time to time and more than one who has lost his or her life in the performance of the job but these three are the ones whose adventures are recorded.

It is often the sad fact that books coming from television shows are pale imitations of the original. Many of the Man From U.N.C.L.E. book (though not all) are that way. This series' two books are most likely NOT so.

I say most likely because so little of the tv drama remains available for viewing. I have only watched the snippet of Episode 3, The Unwitting Courier, but it is, luckily, enough to get an idea of the martinet-esque quality of Brigadier Davidson, the irritable disdain for the whole business that former police detective Hurst has, and the calm, somewhat playful air of ease that Smith enjoys.

As for the books, they are very much worth the time. The writing is very solid and the pacing excellent. Things do move a tad quickly but you certainly will not be bored. I recommend the books as excellent examples of the 60's attitudes especially in Britain. Smith was definitely ahead of the free-love movement which causes Hurst more than a little annoyance.

Pay particular attention to Smith if you read the first book. He has a scene 3/4 through in which he performs one of the most cold-blooded eliminations (i.e., killing) that I have ever read. I had to blink and re-read the chapter to make sure I understood it. Then I read it a third and fourth time just because. The act makes sense and is not gratuitous at all but it was certainly shocking in its execution.

Note that I have given 'Creator' credit to the producer for the series, Cyril Coke. I do not know for sure if that is accurate.