UNACO
UNACO, the United Nations Anti-Crime Organization, is a fictional agency within the United Nations created by author Alistair MacLean.
Literary function
In 1980, MacLean was commissioned by an American movie production company to write a series of story outlines to be subsequently produced as movies. He invented UNACO as the device for the stories, writing notes and outlines for a number of adventures. MacLean himself did not expand the finished product, leaving that to other writers.
While some of the outlines were completed as screenplays, a greater number were expanded into novels. In 1980 and 1981, John Edwards (former editor of the BBC's That's Life programme) and Denis Frost worked together under the pen name "John Denis" on the first two novels/screenplays. A few years later, (1989–93) Alastair MacNeill wrote some screenplays and a number of novels from the source outlines. In the later 1990s, author Hugh Miller completed the last two UNACO novels, still working from MacLean's original notes and outlines.
Some of the works bear little resemblance to MacLean's style, especially in their use of gratuitous sex and violence.
UNACO fictional history
The prologue of each novel repeats the formation story for UNACO. The concept is that, "in September 1979, the Secretary-General of the United Nations chaired a meeting attended by 46 envoys representing virtually every country in the world...", creating UNACO to "...avert, neutralize, and/or apprehend individuals or groups engaged in international criminal activities. ...UNACO's clandestine existence began on March 1, 1980".[1]
UNACO uses groups of people to form "strike forces". Each strike force has a leader who communicates with UNACO's top commanders. UNACO also works with other agencies around the world.
Characters
- Malcolm Philpott - founder and head of UNACO, a former professor at a New England university.[2]
- Mike Graham - a former Delta Force officer and CIA operative, Graham's pregnant wife was killed by a terrorist.[2]
- Clarence Wilkins Whitlock - C.W. is an African-American cat burglar, dubbed the "Black Spiderman".[2]
- Sabrina Carver - a high class jewel thief, Sabrina like C.W. was personally recruited by Philpott.[2]
Although the character names remain the same, their backgrounds are changed from the John Denis books (detailed above) to the Alastair MacNeill books. Philpott is changed to Scottish and is the former head of Scotland Yard before forming UNACO. Graham comes straight to UNACO from Delta Force after his wife and 5 year old son are kidnapped by terrorists and never found, Carver is changed to a languages graduate who studied at the Sorbonne and joined the FBI before leaving for UNACO and Whitlock is a 44 year old Kenyan who was educated in Britain and then returned home to Army Intelligence before being recruited by UNACO. Sergei Kolchinsky, a former KGB agent, is heavily featured as Philpott's deputy in the Alastair MacNeill books (in the John Denis books Philpott's deputy is Sonia Kolchinsky and the two are romantically involved). Jacques Rust, based in Zurich, is also a recurring character in the Alastair MacNeill books. He was formerly part of Strike Force 3 with Whitlock and Carver before being paralysed by a bullet to the spine and replaced by Graham. Rust now heads up European operations.
List of works
Year | Title | Author, using MacLean's notes | Films |
---|---|---|---|
1980 | Hostage Tower | John Denis | Hostage Tower (1980) |
1981 | Air Force One is Down | John Denis | |
1989 | Death Train | Alastair MacNeill | Death Train (1993) |
1989 | Night Watch | Alastair MacNeill | Night Watch (1995) |
1990 | Red Alert | Alastair MacNeill | |
1991 | Time of the Assassins | Alastair MacNeill | |
1992 | Dead Halt | Alastair MacNeill | |
1993 | Code Breaker | Alastair MacNeill | |
1997 | Prime Target | Hugh Miller | |
1998 | Borrowed Time | Hugh Miller |
References
- ^ MacNeill, Alastair (1995). Dead Halt. HarperPaperbacks. pp. Prologue. ISBN 0-06-100825-7.
- ^ a b c d "UNACO Spy Fiction Character Page". www.spyguysandgals.com. Archived from the original on 2012-06-22.
- v
- t
- e
- HMS Ulysses (1955)
- The Guns of Navarone (1957)
- South by Java Head (1957)
- The Last Frontier (1959)
- Night Without End (1959)
- Fear Is the Key (1961)
- The Dark Crusader (1961)
- The Golden Rendezvous (1962)
- The Satan Bug (1962)
- Ice Station Zebra (1963)
- When Eight Bells Toll (1966)
- Where Eagles Dare (1967)
- Force 10 from Navarone (1968)
- Puppet on a Chain (1969)
- Caravan to Vaccarès (1970)
- Bear Island (1971)
- The Way to Dusty Death (1973)
- Breakheart Pass (1974)
- Circus (1975)
- The Golden Gate (1976)
- Seawitch (1977)
- Goodbye California (1978)
- Athabasca (1980)
- River of Death (1981)
- Partisans (1982)
- Floodgate (1983)
- San Andreas (1984)
- Santorini (1986)
- All About Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
- Captain Cook (1972)
- Where Eagles Dare (1968)
- Puppet on a Chain (1971)
- When Eight Bells Toll (1971)
- Breakheart Pass (1976)
- The Guns of Navarone (1961)
- The Secret Ways (1961)
- The Satan Bug (1965)
- Ice Station Zebra (1968)
- Fear Is the Key (1972)
- Caravan to Vaccarès (1974)
- Golden Rendezvous (1977)
- Force 10 from Navarone (1978)
- Bear Island (1979)
- The Hostage Tower (1980) (TV)
- River of Death (1989)
- Death Train (1993) (TV)
- Night Watch (1995) (TV)
- The Way to Dusty Death (1995) (TV)
- Air Force One Is Down (2013) (TV)
- The Hostage Tower (1980) (with John Denis)
- Air Force One Is Down (1981) (with John Denis)
- Death Train (1989) (with Alastair MacNeill)
- Night Watch (1990)(with Alastair MacNeill)
- Red Alert (1990) (with Alastair MacNeill)
- Time of the Assassins (1991) (with Alastair MacNeill)
- Dead Halt (1992) (with Alastair MacNeill)
- Code Breaker (1993) (with Alastair MacNeill)
- Rendezvous (1995) (with Alastair MacNeill}
- Prime Target (1997) (with Hugh Miller)
- Borrowed Time (1998) (with Hugh Miller)
- Golden Girl (1992) (with Simon Gandolfi)
- Golden Web (1993) (with Simon Gandolfi)
- Golden Vengeance (1994) (with Simon Gandolfi)