Andrew Cartmel's Miss Freedom comes as a huge disappointment after
the excellent first entry in the series, The Prisoner's Dilemma by
Jonathan Blum & Rupert Booth. Although Cartmel claims to be a fan of
The Prisoner, Miss Freedom comes across as if it was written by
someone unfamiliar with the series, who, having been given a
commission to write a book about it, has hastily set to work after a
hurried screening of A, B & C and The Girl Who Was Death.

None of the characters ring true but one character in particular, the
cartoonish Wing Commander – on the surface a Terry Thomas type cad
but in reality a twisted pervert who kills women for sexual
gratification – is just so out of step with the television series
that it beggars belief. Calling him The Chelsea Ripper brought back
unpleasant memories of the Yorkshire Ripper and just seemed a bit
sick to me (although perhaps that's because I'm a female reader). I
wasn't at all sure about The Village having links to a sex-slave
syndicate either, and I can't imagine McGoohan approving anything
like that.

Another thing that McGoohan might have problems with is Number 6's
lusting after Number 666. It's so out of character that it just stops
the Prisoner-literate reader dead in their tracks (at least it did
this reader). As for the spy story that our hero comes up with –
story within a story – well, let's just hope Number 6 wasn't
contemplating a career as a writer when he resigned his day job (the
section describing the of making a cup of tea was particularly
excruciating!). And while I understood why certain parts of the
narrative kept repeating themselves that didn't stop it from becoming
dull and irritating.

As for Miss Freedom herself, despite the wonderful cover that has you
half-expecting an Emma Peel/Modesty Blaise/Sonia Schnipps type
character, she's actually rather dull. And, despite a couple of red-
herrings, you'll have no trouble guessing which Villager's identity
she is hiding behind. Despite her fate being left open for a sequel I
shall shed no tears if I never hear from this character again.

I don't wish to spoil the story for anyone who hasn't read it but
Miss Freedom is nothing more than an ill-conceived and badly executed
rehash of A, B & C. It deserves to sit in the same circle of Hell as
both Hank Stine and David McDaniel's efforts – yes, it's THAT bad.

Verdict: Nice cover, shame about the book.