The Secret Service

There's the really weird sense of banal nihilism that pervades most of Millar's work. It's just always there, even in this precursor to the Kingsman movie. In fact, the entire evil plan of the book's villain is so straightforward that it succeeds in horrifying where a spandex villain couldn't. It's a very clever narrative trick that would otherwise have made The Secret Service just another Bond wannabe.

BTW, if anything this book points out how impressive the Kingsman adaption was. It somehow keeps Millar's basic feel but also adds a human element (particularly Colin Firth's analogue to Uncle Jack) that helps the story from coming across as bleak as this original.